ection>
Psalms of Gratitude and Prayer
poems by
John J. Brugaletta
Psalms of Gratitude and Prayer
Copyright © 2016 John J. Brugaletta. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Resource Publications
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
www.wipfandstock.com
paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-0247-4
hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-0249-8
ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-0248-1
Manufactured in the U.S.A. 09/17/15
In memory of
Eugene Montague
who taught me what
a poem can do
Acknowledgments
The following poems were previously published as indicated, some of them in an earlier form:
“Acrobats” The Lamp-Post
“Containers” The Lamp-Post
“Christmas” Time of Singing
“Everything Is Otherwise” Relief*
“Finis” The Lyric
“Fox Sparrow” Anglican Theological Review
“Itadaki Masu” Relief *
“Metamorphosis” The Penwood Review
“Naming the Logos” National Catholic Reporter
“Proper Prophet” Christianity and Literature
“Teach Us to Pray” Image
“The Blinding” The Penwood Review
* Because they were especially appropriate to this volume, “Itadaki Masu” and “Everything Is Otherwise” have also been reprinted here from With My Head Rising out of the Water, by John J. Brugaletta. Negative Capability Press, 2014.
Introduction
“[The teachers of the law] devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”
Mark 12 – 40
“Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.”
C.S. Lewis
Itadaki Masu*
I have received water, flowing and pooled, salt and fresh,
cold and hot; wind off the ocean, among the trees,
over wheat fields; wool for warmth.
I am grateful for these, and for the many-touching octopi,
the common beauty of oleanders, tough-limbed
oaks, lithe ocelots, leather-skinned oranges, and
pungent onions.
About me lie perch from farm ponds, peppers and parsnips,
potatoes and tellicherry peppercorns, pork and
peaches, paprika, together with the sweet sadness
of Pachelbel.
I have been given air to breathe, alders leafing out in spring,
crisp apples, deep-flavored apricots, and the shield-
like leaves of aspidistras.
Grapes and goldfinches, garlic and grass are in my treasury;
jackrabbits and jays, ginger and juncos have come
to me as gifts.
I am inebriated on biscuits and bass, bread and bears,
bicycles and barracudas, on basil and brass.
Clouds and rainfall, snow and sleet, sunshine and darkness
are my blessings, as are moonlight and firelight,
starlight and candlelight.
I have been awarded Mozart and Bach, Verdi and Puccini,
Homer and Shakespeare, Thomas More and Martin
Luther, Herbert and Donne.
I have received from on high appreciative dogs and dignified
housecats, deer and raccoons, chickens and grosbeaks,
friendship and children, fuchsias and dahlias, soil,
stone and steel.
May I never be ungrateful for any shelter, any mouthful of
food or sip of water, any friendly gesture, any offer
of help, any touch of understanding.
* Japanese: “I have received from on high.”
Gratitude
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Colossians 2—6
“There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge.”
Samuel Johnson
Before Praying
Like a farmer come from hens and hogs,
his
