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Jabberwocky
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
– Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll selfie photograph,2 June 1857
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), the pen name of Oxford mathematician, logician, photographer and author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is famous the world over for his fantastic classics Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, The Hunting of the Snark, Jabberwocky, and Sylvie and Bruno.
Published by Second Light Network of Women Poets, Parents, an anthology of poems by women writers (Enitharmon/Second Light, 2000) was the inspiration for this month’s theme. What a wonderful idea. Parents are after all universal, even when the one who parents is a surrogate. This month The Bardo Group Beguines and friends have taken on parenting as well as parents and present an interesting blend of insights and experience.
BUDDHA AS PARENT
Young Prince Rāhula prompted by his mother to ask for his inheritance, left behind by the Buddha after His renunciation. Instead, the Buddha told Venerable Sariputta (Sariputra) to ordain Prince Rāhula, giving him a spiritual inheritance better than the one he asked for.
If you have read the life story of Buddha, you may have been disconcerted to find as I was that the Buddha was an absentee father. Gil says however:
“…that after his awakening, the Buddha became his son’s primary parent for most of the boy’s childhood. From the time Rāhula was seven, he was under the care of his father, who proved to be a remarkably effective parent: Rāhula had reached full awakening by the time he reached adulthood. So we can ask, what kind of parent was the Buddha?”
In exploring the Buddha as a parent, we get some insight into how we too might bequeath a spiritual inheritance.
c Corina Ravenscraft
We move on to read Corina Ravenscraft’s touching feature Art Lessons about the support and inspiration her artist mother provided and Priscilla Galasso’s The Nature of Nurture, about her experience of parenting.
“Parenting is a living thing, a responsive dance with biology, and although we humans are biologically social creatures, heavy-handed social structure can strangle our relationships and bind us into damaging patterns.”
Resident storyteller Naomi Baltuck – whose family wins the award for most original family photos and best costume parties – generously offers two of her wise photo stories on theme.
We have a rich collection of poems under both “Parents and Parenting” and the “More Light” section. These include works by three poets proudly added to our pages: award-winning New York poet, Matt Pasca along with Lance Sheridan and Ampat Varghese Koshy. Incuded among the poets are Myra Schneider and Dilys Wood, who share their poems from the anthology, Parents.
Under music you’ll find Walkin’ Home, so beautifully written and sung by Iris DeMent.
James Cowels and John Anstie offer thought-provoking essays under “More Light” and Marlyn Suarez-Exconde – also new to our pages – combines words and art into a pleasant nugget of wisdom.
Getting to Know You, a new section, features charming interviews of team members, Cornia Ravenscraft and Priscilla Galasso.
Read. Learn. Laugh. Cry … share your thoughs in the comment sections and show your appreciation of contributors with “likes.” Join us next month for “All God’s Creatures.”
Special thanks to Moshe Dickel for letting us use his painting for this month’s header, to team member, Michael Dickel, for introducing Matt Pesca, and to award-winning British poet Anne Stewart for her kind and constant assistance in getting permissions for me from writers and publishers in the UK.
Don’t forget to visit The BeZine sister site, the spiritual community, Beguine Again, where you can enjoy Terri Stewart’s inspirational posts for daily spiritual practice. These have been well-received and are beginning to go viral. Bravo!
On behalf of The Bardo Group Beguines and in the spirit of peace and community, Jamie Dedes
Managing Editor
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A poet by any other name is still a poet.
WALKIN’ HOME
I’m walkin’ home tonight
The streets are glowing ‘neath the pale moonlight
I look around, there’s not a soul in sight
and I’m walkin’ home
Once again I hear my mother’s voice
and all us kids making a bunch of noise
If I’m not careful I might start to cry
Just walkin’ home tonight
I turn my head and hear the screen door slam
and there he is, that tall and dark-haired man
He looks my way but all alone he stands
and I am walkin’ home
He’s my Dad, you know I was his girl
He taught me all he knew about this world
and then he traveled right on out of sight
and I’m just walkin’ home tonight
I’m walkin’ home tonight
The streets are glowing ‘neath the pale moonlight
I look around, there’s not a soul in sight
and I am walkin’ home
Old worn-out couches and a bunch of kids
Four to a bedroom and all Mom’s plates were chipped
but I never knew about the things I missed
and I’m walkin’ home
You see, it’s just the place where I come from
and, good or bad, it’s where the deal was done
Mom and Dad, their daughters and their sons
and I’m just walkin’ home tonight
I’m walkin’ home tonight
The streets are glowing ‘neath the pale moonlight
I look around, there’s not a soul in sight
and I’m walkin’ home
Once again I hear my mother’s voice
and all us kids making a bunch of noise
If I’m not careful I might start to cry
Just walkin’ home tonight
I feel certain I don’t have to say who and what inspired me to create this for our Group discussion page on Facebook. Feel free to share it around. Thanks!
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Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), the pen name of Oxford mathematician, logician, photographer and author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is famous the world over for his fantastic classics Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, The Hunting of the Snark, Jabberwocky, and Sylvie and Bruno.
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 