farming and husbandry

Various Light

Husbandry in Harvest

Sally In The Garden, traditional fiddle tune performed on banjo and fiddle

Holy, the Lesser Saints

the lesser saints

weave their quiet

agile stories

amongst the lives

of greater lights

holy, the lesser saints

the color

upon their brows

they do not cry out

they do not turn

hearts raised like rafters

heavenward

forever orbiting

tireless in quest

the sphere of your glory

to enter and remain

bring newer life

from ancient tribes

all in anticipation

groaning in the yearning

their own eternal ribbon voice

those who have ears…

let them hear

holy, the lesser saints

bring your longing

bring your capacity

for fullness

in the life of the soil

countless prophets

behold and know

see and have understanding

awaken, members of wholeness

you are provision

you are appointed

little lights, you are His

lesser saints

holding up mountains

echoes of distant voice

priests of the eternal present

fierce and strange

are the quiet ones

in silent witness

givers of the heart of God

receiving and giving from the heart of God

celebrating mystery in plain-ness

in infinite variety and order

teach the spiritual truths of rest and labor

sweat and awe

all from silent knees and horns

in the unending world, glory will be known forever

The Eternal Present

Summer waxing

into eternal presence

ancient thunder quivers along the crust

twinning amongst and toppling titans

the smallest witnesses quiet as their gaze

oldest of fault lines wrought with terror for men

Ragnarok not yet come to cleave a line between

the fruits of Eden and the curse

brothers old as Abel and Cain

approach the day with a steady gate

mend the tack and the linkage

the work the day is ready to hand

unfold unfold great sheets unfold

the heavens rain diamonds from the mouth of God

the rye bends, the wheat and barley bend, the corn the teff bend low, below

rust and blood speak and spin

the day is new again

tension speaks in unheard frequencies

felt, like order drawn from skeins of chaos

a fragment of destiny

order from a mystic mind

elder memories

ancient fodder, best fodder

tools for the telling of

tools for the remembering of

the days when Noah stored up faith

quieted his family with peace

as the rim of the earth spilled over

rolling stones

adjoining man with the presence

again, Noah enters day

moored, listening

breathing presence in

wrested in grace

see how the earth remembers differently

manifest ancient eternal presence

The Priesthood of the Land

“In some places the mysterious relation man has with sheep has never been forgotten, people have not so far left the land, and still honor the sheep who help them to live on it. For them there is joy of life in the shearing of the sheep…” Kevin Ford, Shearing Day.

Through Winter

An Interview With Elizabeth Duffy

detail of Go On, John the Baptist, oil on panel, 2008

Elizabeth Duffy has been posting parts of an interview she began with me last spring and summer. To date, this interview consistutes the clearest and really, only articulation of the beliefs and values behind my work. I hope that you will take the time to read it. The interview will ultimately be posted in it entirety on this site, but for now, here is part 1, part ll, part lll, and the final bit part lV. Please take the time to read some of Elizabeth’s writing as well. She is authentic, humorous, and insightful. Her wit and self-effacing style reveal a woman on a significant journey with valuable things to say.