image above: Joan Plant, Senior Warden of the Church of the Epiphany in Trumansburg, sings with her quartet, N2Q, at the church’s annual Poetry Soup event. Photo by the Rev. Clark West.
by Kathy Kramer, member of the Church of the Epiphany in Trumansburg
On April 22, 2018, the poets and poetry-lovers of The Church of the Epiphany in Trumansburg, NY held their sixth annual Poetry Soup reading. During the fellowship hour following the service celebrated by Fr. Clark West, members of the congregation shared poems they had written, as well as favorite poems written by other poets.
Mingled with the words of Robert Frost and Mary Oliver were the words of our own poets. There was formal verse, free verse, haiku, and songs. There was laughter and tears. And we acknowledged that poems are like prayers. We noted that, indeed, the deep feelings and the spirit which inspires poetry are the very things that inspire and animate prayer.
And we agreed with the quote from a poem by well-known poet William Carlos Williams: “It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.”
The rich “soup” of poetry was accompanied by the real and tasty soups made by several members of the congregation—all in all, a satisfying event, and one the people of Epiphany plan to repeat next year!
