• Excuses & Apologies

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    If this is pinned, it’s got new information Hi there! I haven’t given up blogging the lectionary, I’ve just fallen behind. Overwhelm is real and threatening to morph into depression. I will still write the missing post later this week. Be well, –Elaine

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  • Hope has teeth.

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    Yeah, yeah, I misquoted Dickinson. (She wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers,” not “Hope’s the thing…”) But this is a meme I made a while back that isn’t really a meme because it’s not meming, but it does seem, unfortunately, to be evergreen: Feel free to use it if you like, though.

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  • Putting Down Roots

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    A prose poem about my back yard. Elaine Elizabeth BelzPUTTING DOWN ROOTS Someone who lived here before me had a taste for the exotic in flowers and vines; or else didn’t care for gardening at all, and simply allowed whatever flora came marauding through the neighborhood to take root. Arriving in winter, I couldn’t have…

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  • “And the Word Became Flesh”

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    Back to poems! And stay tuned for a special announcement at the end of this post. This poem was published August 25, 2022 in Earth & Altar Magazine. Elaine Elizabeth BelzAND THE WORD BECAME FLESH O, Bread my tonguehas taken and my teethhave crushed: leave your imprintdeep in my molars, deeperthan the fillings in them,…

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  • Aesthetics, the Church, and the “Spirit of the Age”

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    I interrupt this poetry series to bring you some thoughts sparked by arguments on Twitter. (Clearly I know how to engage readers…) I say “arguments” because attempts at discussion or conversation on that platform invariably lead to arguments—not necessarily because people are terrible, but more, I think, because the limited number of characters tends to…

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  • Habitus

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    Read it here on Earth & Altar‘s website Elaine Elizabeth Belz HABITUS Crossing this threshold, I dip my hand in water,re-inscribe my birth. Stolid airushers me in, thick with dustand smoke and resin and with voices, shuffling feet,creaking floorboard and pew—all musicto uncloak my solitude.A votive wick receives my longing, solid bench my hip’s ache.I…

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  • Kintsugi – a poem response to a photo by Danny Rebb

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    In 2019 I was invited to participate in the second Call & Response at Grosse Pointe Congregational Church. I brought my poem (which is at this post), and I selected this image from photographer Danny Rebb. (Seriously, go check out his work – he’s quite good.) I had written my dissertation (ProQuest link) – well,…

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