What She Does Not Know – Poem Video from Abbey of the Arts on Vimeo. What She Does Not Know (for unsuspecting Selkies everywhere) She does not know there is a reason she always feels out of place her life rigid and small, like living in a doll’s house a marriage more trap than longing and when she chokes on courtesy and convention the salt which burns her throat is not just tears. She does not know that when she stands on the sea’s wild edge and can finally breathe, dream, weep, her body strains forward seawater in her veins,

St Columba and His Horse – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. St. Columba and His Horse The old man hobbles down the road toward the monastery gate, rests on a roadside stone, hears clip-clopping of hooves approach and his faithful companion arrive. The horse nuzzles Columba’s shoulder, shudders all down his white length eyes glisten round and brown, great teardrops pool and drop sounding like rainfall. Columba rests his forehead against the horse’s broad skull, closes his eyes and each imagines the other, galloping together across heather and buttercups. The horse knows his dear friend will soon

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