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May 26, 2023
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Jason McBride's avatar

Thank you. I'm definitely still in the redesigning/redefining phase of my spiritual journey. I think I may be here the rest of my life. I appreciate your comments because I too feel alone as I transition from a very regimented religion to a more open spirituality.

I may be biased, but I think your poetry is an important key to enjoying every present moment as a miracle!

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Peter Blasevick's avatar

Just lovely, really. Good luck the next few days!

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thanks!

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M. E. Rothwell's avatar

This is my favourite piece of yours yet, Jason. Tremendous poem and heart-achingly beautiful essay underneath. Sorry for your loss. You have done your parents and father-in-law credit with this post.

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thank you for your kind words.

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Palimpsestic's avatar

I love this haiku, Jason. Thank you for sharing it with us as well as sharing with us about your grief.

I have recently read a book, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/54883035, Ladder to the Light, which is by an Episcopal bishop who is also an elder of the Choctaw nation, and it startled me to read your post and realize that your description of the traditions of honoring elders in your former faith and that you saw in Taiwan has a lot of similarity to what he describes about kinship traditions extending to ancestors in the Choctaw religion.

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thanks! That book sounds right up my alley! I've added it to my reading queue!

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just mud by Ron's avatar

You do your ancestors well; you truly live.

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thank you.

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Chuck Rybak's avatar

This is a beautiful piece and means a lot to me. The drawings themselves remind me of some Whitman passages, and I mean that as high compliment. I've been thinking about this issue a lot lately (2 of my good friends recently passed away pretty young--early 50's). Anyway, this is really thoughtful and got my mind going.

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Jason McBride's avatar

Thank you for kind words! Uncle Walt (that's what I call Whitman) is always lurking in the corner of my imagination.

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