Things I Didn’t Know I Loved – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. Things I Didn’t Know I Loved (after Nazim Hikmet) I never knew how much I loved heavy rain on a Sunday morning curled in bed with coffee a Morse code tapping the windows telling me I have no reason to leave. I didn’t realize how much I adored peonies until one May afternoon I spent four hours photographing the bouquet you brought me for no reason on our dining table. I never knew how much I cherished the alchemy taking place in kitchens until I

Aubade – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. Aubade The day opens its white page, spreading herself like so much possibility, you take your pen, pausing before you begin so you can hear the jackdaw caw high above your tiny shadow and the snowdrop’s insistent blooming, somewhere is the knowing glance of badger, each unafraid to write their stories on wind and soil and you see they offer ink for your pen in a hundred different colors. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Wisdom of Wild Grace Dearest monks and artists, Like many monks and writers, I love morning time

The Wisdom of Wild Grace from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. Dearest monks and artists, In these dark and difficult days the one thing that continues to offer me solace and strength is time spent in nature, in growing intimacy with Earth and her wisdom. We try to make time during our weekly Sabbath for a walk in the forest and I am blessed to be able to stroll daily by the sea. Inevitably I return feeling more grounded and centered, more certain how important this Earth-cherishing work is. It has been the dominant theme in my writing this past