Jamie never fails to write words that move me.

I recently discovered the IndieFeed: Performance Poetry podcast, and have been listening to it non-stop for the last few days. There is such a wealth of good material in it, it’s worth digging through the archives if you like what you hear.

My favourite piece so far is probably still Anis Mojgani’s “Shake The Dust”. He performed it at TWLOHA Heavy & Light tour recently, where this was recorded…

“When the world knocks at your front door
Clutch the knob tightly
And open on up…”

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.
“Please–tame me!” he said.
“I want to, very much,” the prince replied. “But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand.”
“One only understands the things that one tames,” said the fox. “Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends anymore. If you want a friend, tame me…”
“What must I do, to tame you?” asked the little prince.
“You must be very patient,” replied the fox. “First you will sit down at a little distance from me–like that–in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day…”

[The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupéry]

[Thanks, Amos]

“To live in the past and future is easy. To live in the present is like threading a needle.”

[Walker Percy]

[Career advice from Charlie Hoehn, via SwissMiss]

[John C. Sawhill]

Came across this phenomenal quote over on Stephen Brewsters blog (which you should read, by the way). It’s got me thinking deeply about the things we need to fight and kick at until they are destroyed, both collectively and individually. It’s deeply challenging me.

“The very act of storytelling, of arranging memory and invention according to the structure of the narrative, is by definition holy… We tell stories because we can’t help it. We tell stories because we love to entertain and hope to edify. We tell stories because they fill the silence death imposes. We tell stories because they save us.”

[James Carroll]

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

[Walt Disney]

Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think…

I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.

However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.

[Pete Rollins]

HT: Holly

[Pico Iyer]