5th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival
I had to go back to this post to find the earliest reference (Reya’s original blog post is lost in the mists) to the now 
annual Silent Poetry Reading in honor of Brigid (Saint or Goddess, as you prefer). And while the first invitation was for a single day’s blogging event, watching the misty full moon tonight got me thinking of a favorite line from a poem that I want to offer, so I will simply declare that this year’s event has begun!
Life is hard enough; why shouldn’t we take all the full moon weekend leading up to February 2nd to celebrate this patroness of the arts and healing, and read her a poem or two?
For those of you with dormant blogs (ahem, Oak and Pandora!), now would be a great time to dust them off and offer up a poem. And for those of you who are more web-savvy (I’m looking at you, Yvonne and Cat), perhaps there is a way to aggregate everyone’s contributions, so that it is easier to have a glass of wine on Brigid’s feast day and browse through all the great poems.
Update: Yvonne has set up a system: if you post a poem this weekend, go to delicious.com and enter your post url with the tag brighid2010. (Or get a geeky friend to do it for you; it’s not super intuitive.) If you just want to read all the poetry, search for the brighid2010 tag at delicious and all our posts will show up together. Magic!
This is a poem I wrote back in 1990. I remembered it because the last line came back to me tonight, and I still really like it. Here it is.
The Basket
(after John Berryman)
What should I do, evenings, cobwebs
swaying in the rafters and three finely
printed invitations nailed to the
message board? (they quote Neruda, say
Bring the Children, or Softball at the
Reception) But marriage? Why flower
the hair or slip new diamonds through ears,
when the chapels are emptying: vessels
thrown with relief into rivers, small
silver placed in the notches of trees and
bells over arms of sky? The bride’s demure
look is not modesty but ambivalence—notice
the primrose which holds her gaze as he
leads her out of the valley. The day I
ate caviar from your navel and we pulled
each other through the brush to gather
the sweetest berries, I thought you were
a finely feathered basket, serpent-coiled
and watertight. We have been each others’
alibis, laughing as the caterers filled our
plates, saying we were too young to know
better, with the happy couple making the
evil eye behind our backs. Now, three-fingered,
I sit nights mending coil, sedge soaking
in the dish pan. I will make them one with
blue feathers, tell them marriage is not bells
but the basket, and we its constant gleaners.
January 29th, 2010 at 7:07 am
THANK YOU for kicking this into gear.
Yeah, why not??
January 29th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
[...] I am also realizing that I should probably read Anne’s Hill’s Blog of Gnosis a little more often… “Life is hard enough; why shouldn’t we take all the full moon weekend leading up to February 2nd to celebrate this patroness of the arts and healing, and read her a poem or two?” ~ Anne Hill, in 5th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival [...]
January 29th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
A great way to aggregate them would be to borrow from what Pax did on Chrysalis for Pagan Values Blogging Month, and aggregate through MetaPagan (via a Digg tag?). Um, you see how well I remember, er… :)
January 29th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Yeah, that’s about the extent of my memory of it too. Hopefully someone can reply here and set the record straight for all of us!
January 30th, 2010 at 1:21 am
Mr. Linky is a great way to aggregate. I found you via Reya and will post a blurb on my blog. We use it with Theme Thursday and other group related posts. Everyone who wants to participate, enters their name on Mr. Linky and every one can peruse from there. Unfortunately, I have never set Mr. Linky up via Blogger and so don’t have the mechanics or the time frame. Maybe for next year…
January 30th, 2010 at 2:20 am
Hi Anne, thanks for this! This will be my first year participating, so I’ll spend the weekend crafting a half-decent poem in honour of Brigid. Whoop!!
January 30th, 2010 at 4:47 am
Hi Anne and all,
I have posted instructions for aggregating all the posts together at MetaPagan.
January 30th, 2010 at 7:12 am
Prominently posted on my blog today! Blessings of Imbolc and dearest Brigid to all!
January 30th, 2010 at 7:26 am
[...] I’ve totally failed to complete a Read Write Poem prompt for ages, so in honour of the 5th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival, here’s something I wrote in [...]
January 30th, 2010 at 7:28 am
If you do work out a way to aggregate them, I’d like to add my submission to the list: http://rhiannonproblematising.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/poem-women-i-have-loved/
January 30th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Yay, Yvonne! Thanks for this. Everyone, post your contributions to delicious.com using the tag brighid2010 and all the poetry will appear in one place. Excellent!
January 31st, 2010 at 12:15 am
That time of year again already!
One of my favourite online pagan traditions.
January 31st, 2010 at 12:33 am
[...] for the Fifth Annual Brigid Poetry Festival, for those celebrating Imbolc in the northern hemisphere as well as those of us out here in the [...]
January 31st, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Here is my offering (1)
http://fullcirclenews.blogspot.com/2010/01/5th-annual-brigid-poetry-festival.html
Thank you, Anne. I look forward to this every year. My offering, Ode To A Chestnut On The Ground by Pablo Neruda is up on the site and I’ll add it to the list as you suggest.
http://fullcirclenews.blogspot.com/2010/01/5th-annual-brigid-poety-festival.html
Go well, stay well,
Sia
@birdgarden on Twitter
(1) Link corrected
January 31st, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Thanks for hosting this again! My entry is here:
http://orchardsforever.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-honor-of-imbolc-5th-annual-brigid.html
peg
January 31st, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Oh yes, thank you for starting this early. As a solitary, I appreciate the opportunity for a group ritual. Looking forward to reading all the offerings. Bright blessings, ‘Zann
January 31st, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Scrying on the Moon
By sibylline light
appear images I recognize,
creviced captures of my life.
I know her judgment to be my own.
“Nourished by Moon rivers
mythical cavern blooms
unseen by sunlight
glow green.” Thus she sets the scene;
becomes the prophecy.
“Purest white simplicity
curved to suggest fragility
faith fed maiden ready for
plucking,
given in bondage to womanly woes,
hard rows to hoe
for that little bit of hug through
crying of night.
Fate of Trojan soldiers, sacrificed to lust.
Unbended, beg for the boon of drama
high adventure
sneaking into sad hotels
for a fix or a tumble.
Laughs,
deadly play,
danger, a real chance.
Barefoot in the snow
icy roads
winds so strong
I could not make you hear.
I thought you were my destiny.
These thoughts are far from clear;
but I believed
song lyrics from somber deities
would not lie, leave me
dying, fading into winter’s grey
drifting clouds,
endless sorrow endured for naught.
Lost on this careless corner,
dreaming of oblivion, intent on visions
like rain
tapping against eternity’s
vast windowpane.
Scenic serenity.
Nature’s gradations of green
soothes tired eyes,
trembling nerves, throbbing veins.
Slivers of moonlight reflect
in withered refrains, unearth secrets
embedded in song
effervescing through cool pure air”
“cleansing the uprising nestling
set aflame
resurrected
tempered mettle,
pure, wise, tested
engorged with the will
to rise”
February 1st, 2010 at 6:58 am
I’m in! Here’s a link:
http://mysabbaticaladventures.blogspot.com/2010/02/poem-in-honor-of-st-brigids-day.html
(I see from the comments & your post that I think we have some friends in common! :) )
Best wishes for a good Brigid season to you…
Karen
February 1st, 2010 at 8:34 am
[...] Every season a season of poetry, beloveds! But this one especially so. In honor of the 5th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival, I offer the poems below – three poems by three poets who have stirred my soul in these past [...]
February 1st, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Here’s mine: http://emraldekat.blogspot.com/2010/01/5th-annual-brigid-poetry-festival.html
February 1st, 2010 at 8:07 pm
[...] my Sacred Fires 2010 February 1 by Pax As the annual Brighid Poetry Slam messages out there have probably already high-lighted for us, Imbolc-tide is upon us once more. [...]
February 1st, 2010 at 11:44 pm
[...] Blog o’ Gnosis Thoughts on Dreams, Life, and Spirit – by Anne Hill, D.Min. « 5th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival [...]
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:57 am
I posted “Catechism for a Witch’s Child” along with a remembrance of my daughter who was initiated into womanhood on Brighid’s Day. Still trying to figure out this linking thing. Thanks!
http://cariferraro.blogspot.com/2010/02/brighids-day-poetry-celebration.html
Cari
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:34 am
Thank you SO much for keeping this bright flame alive!
Here you go, dearest sons and daughters of Brighid! My link is here.
Blessings!
– Beth Owl
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Great poem. I posted mine here:
http://treeshaveears.blogspot.com/2010/02/lonely-land.html
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Hi!
This is my first year! I found you all through Joanna Powell Colbert…. My offering is here http://ecoaudient.wordpress.com/ and I’ll take a shot at posting on delicious.com too!
With gratitude!
Tracie
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:35 pm
We’ve been putting up poems all week, on the blog and in comments, at my blog, but here’s my “real” offering for this year. It’s old, and well known, not a bit edgey, but, still, if I could only hear one more poem before giving the ferryman my coin, this is the one I’d choose.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Here’s mine!
http://yezida.livejournal.com/216363.html
February 2nd, 2010 at 5:04 pm
my 2nd year participating, i posted 2 originals and one by Tony Hoagland
http://poetesss.tumblr.com/post/367610426/brigidbonathan
http://poetesss.tumblr.com/post/367665410/nietzsche
http://mlle.tumblr.com/post/367637374/brigid2
thanks so much! delighted to be a part and spread the joy!
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Here’s mine:
http://isthereanyoneelseupthere.blogspot.com/2010/02/blessed-brides-day.html
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Here’s mine: http://amusedgrace.blogspot.com/2010/02/for-bride.html
It’s traditional, and in Gaelic! Woo!
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:20 pm
for Brigid: http://lunaramble.blogspot.com
February 4th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Here’s mine:
http://jdove.wordpress.com/2010/02/04/brigid-in-the-blogosphere-2010/
Thanks, Anne :-)