Mining the Bright Birds: Poems of Longing for Home

By Jody L. Collins

The manner in which we chart our lives is less a straight line on a calendar of days and more a song cycle moving upward into the future, circles growing closer as we move towards the center, where God is. Ecclesiastes declares we are made for a longing towards heaven, our true home, and so we journey, often in the dark. Signposts offer safety and comfort, from the miraculous and mundane--birdsong; the somnolence of creation's winter and the surprise of every spring; the familiar sight of a favorite chair; and the way sunlight falls in the same place each morning all help mark time as we cycle through the days.

The poems in Mining the Bright Birds: Poems of Longing for Home reflect this circular, upward journey, one of changing and growth. The closer we move towards God, the more like ourselves we become. The invitation to discover our deepest longings is often a call to lean into the many ways we express ourselves--as poet or painter or simply a person whose hand holds onto the Creator's on the pathway home. Mining the Bright Birds offers a glimmer of light to shine on the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Aug 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666782967

Jody L. Collins

Jody L. Collins is a blogger, poet, and author of Hearts on Pilgrimage: Poems and Prayers (2021) and Living the Season Well: Reclaiming Christmas (2017). She is retired from twenty-plus years of teaching and, when she’s not at her desk writing, enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren. Collins and her husband call the Seattle area home, where she marvels at the birds and messes about in the garden. You can find her poetic encouragement and reflections at jodyleecollins.com.

Book preview

Mining the Bright Birds

Poems of Longing for Home

Jody L. Collins

MINING THE BRIGHT BIRDS

Poems of Longing for Home

Copyright ©

2023

Jody L. Collins. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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Resource Publications

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97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-8294-3

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-8295-0

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-8296-7

Table of Contents

Title Page

Introduction

Acknowledgments

After Psalm Fourty-Five One

WAITING SPACES

Leave Go

Cocoon

Kintsugi

The Heart and What We Mean by It

Exodus 13

Rumble Glory

And Morning and Evening Were the First Day

Lessened Light

Lectio Divina

What Had Been Lost

Rearranging Furniture as an Act of Prayer

Stirring Petitions

Insomniac’s Soundtrack

Garden Prep

TUNING

Mining the Bright Birds

Avian Chorus

Lawn Party

Accompaniment

Lessons

Dialogue

The Melody

Freedom’s Tune

I Corinthians 13:1

How to Measure Time

Liturgy of the Birds

Dew Change

SEASONS

Tree Psalm for Mothers

Spring’s Verb Says

Violet Primavera

Safe

One Must

Sun Day Denouement

We Deserve Nothing Yet Receive Everything

What The Birds Say

Things that Remain, Winter

Twilight, a Small Sonnet

WAYFINDING

Introduction to Poetry

My Grandkids Asked Me

Books Like a Boat

Prodigal

The Scarlet Situation

Wayfinding-One

Wayfinding-Two

Spyglass

Storyteller

"From