 After clicking 'Play', please wait a few moments for the podcast to load. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple, Google and other platforms. Listen to other Forecasts here. Josh and Will explore the most recent Forecasts: 'The Perpetual Pilgrim: Paul Cornelius and Pilgrimage' (Ep 51), 'The Way of a Pilgrim: Prayer and Pilgrimage' (Ep 52), 'What Do We Do When We Arrive?' (Ep 53) and 'On the Camino: Pete Kelly and Pilgrimage' (Ep 54). Among other topics, they discuss leadership in a Christian context, how we can benefit from the Jesus Prayer and the purpose and meaning of devotional practices when arriving at a holy place. Josh Seligman and Will Shine are co-hosts of Forecast.
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By Joseph Teti A poem with folly. To ED. Before or after naps, after labor, after being lowered into my bed with tiredness, I’d glance about my room, weighed down still with my anxious, hasty thoughts and graspings after straws. On my right side, above me, on the windowsill, there stood an icon of the Pantocrator. There my gaze hesitated—my vision blurred-- my right eye looked on Him in clear, straight lines, but my left eye blocked itself on my nose! I winked each eye to prove my theorem, but too dead to hold my left eye shut for now, I satisfied myself with half-veiled sight until it would be time to get up--soon-- Joseph Teti is an emerging poet from Hyattsville, Maryland. He is a recent graduate from Hillsdale College and a fierce defender of Platonism and Romanticism.
By Alina Sayre Suffering Jesus, hungry ribs and tin loincloth, sculpted figure on a wooden cross the size of my thumb. Loop of smooth wood beads: all the prayers I haven’t said, a chronicle of shoulds-- but also prayers said and not answered, an infinity loop of asking and denial, stones and scorpions, each bead a rock in a mountain too massive to move. And at the end again: bronzy emaciated tin Jesus, knobby knees and nailed hands. Can you hear me, suffering, beautiful one? Can you teach me to move the mountain of beads? Alina Sayre is the award-winning author of five books, a graduate student of theopoetics and an editor of Foreshadow. You can learn more about her work here, and you can find her book of poems Fire by Night here, where 'Rosary' was previously published. The poem has been republished here with the author's permission.
Alina's other work on Foreshadow: By Sheila Dougal Said the Pilgrim to her friend, “Let's go home!” He looks at her blank He doesn’t understand The language she speaks She points and signs, But his wrinkled brow Remains inclined Said the Exile to the colonized, “Let's wander on home!” She’s looking for kin Longing for another Who knows this tongue. She’s young in the language Her Brother taught: Love means reaching Truth and grace make a complete thought Said the Sojourner to the resident, “Let's gather at home!” She’s looking for a companion To walk this thorn-covered road Neglected by those who have abandoned it Our mother, wayward as she was, Told us the way. Ammi to her husband, She nursed us in faith Asked the Wanderer of the lost, “Do you know the way home? Will you walk with me? We’ll go the way where free means You can bend your knee.” Asked the Redeemed of the bound, “Do you want to go home?” Won’t you walk with me? There’s a way where high is low And lost is searched for till found Come home with me, friend I’ll motion and sign I’ll walk slow, and if you need to stop, I’ll take the time Come home with me, friend I know you’ll see The goodness of walking this road With me And when we get home The air will be sweet The land I’ve heard is vast Our Brother we’ll meet Sheila Dougal lives in the low deserts of Arizona with her husband and sons. Some of her poetry and essays are published at Fathom Mag, Clayjar Review, The Gospel Coalition, The Joyful Life Magazine and other publications. You can also find her at her blog, Cultivating Faithfulness, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Sheila's other work on Foreshadow: Descent (Poetry, June 2023) Ode to the Day (Poetry, July 2023) By Michael Lyle the man who never pays attention weeps the councilman who wants me gone scribbles in the bulletin margins while his wife holds a Bible between her face and mine a woman beside her nodding husband studies me like a child might an ice cream cone I mention evil, and heads turn to follow a wasp’s perambulations in winter’s dim-lit nave the elderly usher by the door hands a bulletin to the buzz-cut man in a black duster who threatened the secretary Friday afternoon Michael Lyle is the author of the poetry chapbook The Everywhere of Light (Plan B Press), and his poems have appeared widely, including Atlanta Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Crannóg, The Hollins Critic, Mudfish and Poetry East. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
Michael's other work on Foreshadow: Wick of the Soul (Poetry, October 2022) Tennis Players (Poetry, October 2022) Yahweh (Poetry, October 2022) Family of God (Poetry, October 2022) "Carvered" for Christmas (Non-fiction, December 2022) By Patty Willis My heart opened wide yesterday, Thanks be to God cracking from the force of my gifts aligning with your urgings. Each time this happens I wake the next day in wonder at how connections like arteries and vessels can be rerouted until they flow unhampered to and from the heart bursting out with such energy at first and then slowing as horses do, after a sprint as runners do—bending forward, hands on lower legs, and then in a split second they remember that big board with their name and time recorded for everyone to see. We watch from our comfortable chairs: athletes victorious, jumping, no longer tired, a second wind that carries them in a victory lap around the field. But who deserves our thunderous praise, our feet slapping the bare stone? We learn to be silent, tears coming to our eyes. Even when we are alone, we’ve lost the habit of falling to our knees. My heart broke open when I saw them arriving: familiar people slipping into back rows, names forgotten but not to You. Thirty minutes before, they had heard a call to come not bothering to comb their hair or iron a shirt: Come as you are, You said. You will be fed. Their hunger is the thread that holds my Sabbath like the fence around a medicine wheel upon which we can tie our hopes. Our hunger satiated at last by the wide view, the wind moving clouds, the mountainsides once covered in buffalo herds at last seem hospitable for their return. Pray for us, we say to the stranger next to us as if we each hold a piece of the puzzle. All put together we would become the night sky that waits above the clouds for us to roll out our sleeping bags and lie back, each star a heart asunder. Thanks be to God. Rev. Patty Willis is a minister, writer, artist and translator based in Arizona. She has also been active in immigration justice and reconciliation between white settler descendants and indigenous people.
Patty's other work on Foreshadow: Pumping Station in the Desert (Poetry, July 2021) Openings (Poetry, May 2023)  After clicking 'Play', it may take a few moments for the podcast to load. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple, Google and other platforms. Previous Forecasts can be found here. Last September, attorney Pete Kelly walked 500 miles with a friend on the Camino de Santiago, a historic Christian pilgrimage that ends in northwest Spain. Pete highlights the solitude and reflection that the Camino gave him even in the midst of sharing a journey with countless other pilgrims both living and dead. Hearing the diverse stories of other pilgrims sustained him through challenges along the way. Related work on Foreshadow: Into the Mystery (non-fiction and photography by H. Jacob Sandigo, July 2023) Will Shine is a co-host of Forecast.
Pete Kelly is a career attorney and avid boater who plays guitar on the music team at Hyde Park Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida. By Bryant Burroughs “I carry my chains for Christ, which are to me spiritual pearls, more prized than all the treasures of the world.” Ignatius, as he walked from Antioch to Rome to be martyred My chains are my pearls as I hasten to Rome like a bride stepping from her father’s house to her bridegroom’s side. Pearl-adorned, I trek toward one who thinks himself divine and stamps his coins with pride: “the divine Trajan,” conceit upon conceit. "Choose!" he roared at me: "Deny, and you will live. Hold fast, and you will die. My lions will silence you." But will I not surely die whether I hold fast or deny? How, then, could I betray the One who also chose this Way? Devour me, you lions! Roar over my flesh and bones. I am the wheat of God sifted for his Bread! Bryant Burroughs is a writer and lives with his wife Ruth in Upstate South Carolina with their three cats. His work has appeared in online literary sites such as Agape Review, Clayjar Review, Pure in Heart Stories and Faith, Hope & Fiction.
Bryant's other work on Foreshadow: The Widow Whose Son Lived (Fiction, July 2022) The Youngest Day (Poetry, November 2022) The Widow's Psalm (Poetry, February 2023) The Leper and the Healer (Fiction, May 2023) By Noah Craig In the heat of the day faded to white Their clothes weren’t tattered, their shoes were not torn And even when the warmth left them for the night, You would hold them safe until the next morn The mountains and valleys of the desert Exposed them to the truth about our lives That we are but dust crawling over dirt, Utterly helpless to breathe, to survive They’re in the desert but not deserted For God turns on the sun to shine and throws The wind around to make the dunes girded And tells the worm to eat or plant to grow What is the desert to a Provider? A canvas to fill with coats of colors He will sustain because He has died for These specks of dust crossing the desert floor Noah J. Craig is an author and a poet who hopes that his words will glorify the ultimate Author. Originally from New England, he currently lives in Henderson, Nevada. If he’s not writing, reading or drinking coffee, he is most likely halfway up a mountain wishing he had more storage space on his camera. You can visit him online at noahjcraig.com.
Noah's other work on Foreshadow: Strength (Poetry, March 2023) Paramount, for the Speechless (Poetry, July 2023) A Writer's Prayer (Poetry, August 2023) By Nicole Rollender I prayed to fashion something beautiful in words before I died. My wingbones turning to dust in this world. I swept myself up, pouring back bitterness of broken glass & ash, fragile baby’s breath fragmenting in my son’s small hands, & my earned wordlessness. Yet, I heard You within my depths: “You can choose Heaven. Now, change your life.” Unlike a cloistered monk kneeling in silence in his cell -- only the wind, the birdsong in the wind, wind’s leaves blowing past, Your voice in all the noise & silences — disarmed, I enter the world’s chatter again from a quiet stairwell. The sunshower falling on a stone chapel beyond in the woods, You there -- You in light through the stained glass. The light could radiate through me, if I opened my ribs. This is the beginning. They say Heaven’s right there — just a few footsteps. Your words to St. Dismas: “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” The window in the monk’s cell where he isn’t afraid to be without a night candle — warming to the afterlife, since he knows You, luminous & sweet shadow, look in. Trimming back prickly pampas grass in the yard -- my prayer now: “Lord, make me beautiful before I die.” Fanning palms on the dirt, the start of my eternal poem -- my soul’s endless holiday — the anguish here. O, the water of the beyond ready to heal my cut hands. A 2017 New Jersey Council on the Arts poetry fellow, Nicole Rollender is the author of the poetry collections The Luster of Everything I'm Already Forgetting (Kelsay Books, 2023) and Louder Than Everything You Love (Five Oaks Press, 2017), and four poetry chapbooks. She has won poetry prizes from Center for Interfaith Relations, Catholic Literary Arts, Palette Poetry, Gigantic Sequins, CALYX Journal and Ruminate Magazine. Her work appears in Alaska Quarterly Review, Best New Poets, Ninth Letter, Puerto del Sol, Salt Hill Journal and West Branch, among many other journals. She's managing editor at THRUSH Poetry Journal. Nicole holds an MFA from the Pennsylvania State University. Visit her online: www.nicolemrollender.com.
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