An Ode to John O'Donohue

I have been submerged in poetry lately.

Originally, it was just to improve my prose. But now, it's a deep obsession. So much so that I've written my own. It's like every bit of richness that my soul ever longed for exists in this form of writing, and I'm hooked.

As of late, I've flooded my mind with everything John O'Donohue. His words, his imagery, his Irish lilt... everything about him was just so beautiful, it's no wonder he wrote about the essence of beauty.

Speaking of which, you must read this:

"Beauty is about more rounded substantial becoming. So I think beauty in that sense is about an emerging fullness, a greater sense of grace and elegance, a deeper sense of depth, and also a kind of homecoming for the enriched memory of your unfolding life."

—John O'Donohue

That's excerpted from his talk with the ever-remarkable Krista Tippet. I listened to it three times in a row. Listen here.

Also, here are some words on living a creative life and new beginnings:

"To live a truly creative life, we always need to cast a critical look at where we presently are, attempting always to discern where we have become stagnant, and where new beginning might be ripening. There can be no growth if we do not remain open and vulnerable to what is new and different...

There is a certain innocence about beginning, with its excitement and promise of something new. But this will emerge only through undertaking some voyage into the unknown. An no one can foretell what the unknown might yield. There are journeys we have begun that brought us great inner riches and refinement; but we had to travel through dark valleys of difficulty and suffering."

—John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

A jewel, isn't he?

xx