Lectio and

Fasting in New England

 

  by Mary Ann Sullivan

 

 

 

 

Lectio

 

for Emily Dickinson

 

 

the word

comes in at first

a guest

 

then

like the morning sound

of first bird’s note

 

turns the soul

to wing and breast

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fasting in New England

 

 

I love fasting

during Lent

in New England

 

because it makes me light!

and I can run like a leaf

through the woods

in the snow

where no one else goes.

 

and I can swing on the birches

and lick the young branches

and hold ice from the brook

to the sun

as it drips on my face

 

and watch one orange sparkle

until it seems forever

an ave

will pulse

in my heart

 

and with fingertips

in pure white sacrament snow

write words!  words!

that only God knows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Ann Sullivan has a Doctor of Arts degree from Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire.  The poems “Lectio” and “Fasting in New England” are from the E·ratio Editions e-chap, Mending My Black Sweater.  See her video poem, de Campos Tower of Babel Revisited.