Daily Signet

The Spirit catches us, uses us when we ask. When we pray, "Use us, Use us, Use us," we are asking the same, the very same Spirit who was at Creation, the very same Spirit who brooded over the face of the water, the very same Spirit of whom the Upanishads sing, "It daily chooses a man upon which to ride”—to use US—you, and you, and you, and me. Furthermore, I believe that such use will reveal the original of us, the origo of each, the divine part of each and all of us made manifest in this time and place.                                                                                                                           

Teri Martin

On This Day…

Denise Levertov born in 1923 in Ilford, Esssex, England, died 1997: after a career as a dancer, moved to America where she spent the rest of her life as writer and peace activist. Winner of National Book Awards for both her poetry and her translations of poetry. Known for poems Breathing The Water, The Stream and the Sapphire and The Freeing of the Dust
Quotes: “You have to come to shore. There are no instructions.” “I long for poems of an inner harmony in utter contrast to the chaos in which they exist. Insofar as poetry has a social function it is to awaken sleepers by other means than shock.” “But as the road unfurls itself, we don’t stop walking. We know we have far to go.”

John Berryman born in 1914 in McAlester, Oklahoma, committed suicide in 1972: winner of Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for his poetry. Remembered for his poems Dream Songs and The Heart Is Strange Quotes: “We must travel in the direction of our fear.” “I didn’t want to be like Yeats. I wanted to be Yeats.” “The artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he’s in business.”