Hope

This is a view from the backside of my atelier from last week. I felt kind of hopeless but meanwhile this has changed. There are tiny green leaves on the bushes now and i found this poem at Mo's blog........

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all”

first verse of Hope by Emily Dickinson

Ithaka

Because i love this poem so much............

As you set out for Ithaka hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you. Hope the voyage is a long one. May there be many a summer morning when, with what pleasure, what joy, you come into harbors seen for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, sensual perfume of every kind— as many sensual perfumes as you can; and may you visit many Egyptian cities to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars. Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you are destined for. But do not hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you are old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you would not have set out. She has nothing left to give you now. And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard

(C.P. Cavafy, Collected Poems. Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Revised Edition. Princeton University Press, 1992)

- Original Greek Poem

Sister Missisippi

I made this prayer cloth for the Sister Missisippi Textile/Fiber Arts Project.


This is the story:
On March 1, a group of Indigenous women began their walk from the headwaters of the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico as a healing prayer for the River, for Water. We are calling on all hands and hearts of the world – hands of artists, of young people, of women, of communities, of schools - to create fiber/textile pieces inspired in Water, in the Mississippi, as a healing prayer for the River and to accompany the women and their supporters as they walk the talk. These pieces will be sewn together on April 27-28 with healing, mending stitches to form the Sister Mississippi.

How to Mend Her Broken Heart: The Sister Mississippi River

A vision came of many, many hands coming together in a healing
prayer by creating, weaving, beading, stitching, patching, mending, felting, embroidering, knitting and then putting together the pieces of a long, handmade Sister Mississippi river. The fibers, the stitches, will make her better and she will feel the love from this gesture of many hearts and hands.

Participants should do this art and handwork with all of their intentions and prayers for the River, and all of their support and gratitude for the women who are praying with their walk. People are also invited to share the stories, histories and struggles of their peoples and communities for Water.