March 2015
Whether you’re Irish or Irish-at-heart, March is always associated with St. Patrick’s Day, “wearin’ of the green,” and a bit of poetry, which is so much a part of the Irish spirit. My dad’s family came from Strokestown in Co. Roscommon, Ireland, and my Irish roots are deep. I thought this month would be a nice time to honor the memory of a special Irish friend, Father Patrick Kenny. Fr. Paddy was a Mill Hill Missionary who served for many years in India among the poorest of the Punjabi poor before returning to Ballinasloe, Co. Roscommon.
Because Fr. Paddy often wrote to me about living in the moment and living each moment fully, haiku seems a perfect form for this sequence of “moments.” From 1977 until 1997, I spent a lot of time working in the haiku field and served three terms as president of the Haiku Society of America.
If you’d like to know more about haiku, I invite you to visit my poetry blog: www.adelekenny.blogspot.com/p/haiku.html.
Because Fr. Paddy often wrote to me about living in the moment and living each moment fully, haiku seems a perfect form for this sequence of “moments.” From 1977 until 1997, I spent a lot of time working in the haiku field and served three terms as president of the Haiku Society of America.
If you’d like to know more about haiku, I invite you to visit my poetry blog: www.adelekenny.blogspot.com/p/haiku.html.
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Te Deum Laudamus In Memory of Rev. Patrick Kenny, MHM abbey bells as the hills take shape morning prayer: first crickets and the friars’ baritone voices— sunshadows move the hills bloodroot— each bud becomes a chalice on the garden wall, sparrows fly in and out of their shadows in the churchyard, deer graze between stones where the forest is close on the pond, water striders dart through clouds a blue heron takes its blue into the sky first sounds from the robin’s nest checking his bee hives, Fr. Paddy hums the Te Deum (Some of these haiku were first published in At the Edge of the Woods, Muse-Pie Press, copyright ©1997.) |
©2015 Adele Kenny