From Wendell Berry’s ‘How to Be a Poet to remind myself’

The complete poem can be found at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/41087/how-to-be-a-poet

i   

Make a place to sit down.   

Sit down. Be quiet.   

You must depend upon   

affection, reading, knowledge,   

…

work, growing older, patience,   

for patience joins time   

to eternity. Any readers   

who like your poems,   

doubt their judgment.   

ii   

Breathe with unconditional breath   

the unconditioned air.   

Shun electric wire.   

Communicate slowly…

stay away from screens.   

Stay away from anything   

that obscures the place it is in.   

There are no unsacred places;   

there are only sacred places   

and desecrated places.   

iii   

Accept what comes from silence.   

Make the best you can of it.   

Of the little words that come   

out of the silence, like prayers   

prayed back to the one who prays,   

make a poem that does not disturb   

the silence from which it came.

In this poem, ‘How to be a Poet’, Wendell Berry explores a route to creativity that seems to me reminiscent of a Quaker meeting for worship. Berry’s instructions are friendly, expressed simply, and with the authority that comes from experience- not through the accolades he received in his lifetime for fiction, poems and essays. The advice is immensely practical. To begin, one sits, is quiet, connects to patience, moves to a more humble attitude, offers unconditional receptivity, and is careful to set aside distractions, (the electronic kind are particularly named). Friends do all these things end up in ‘expectant waiting’. No surprise then, that Berry speaks of ‘the little words that come / out of the silence, like prayers / prayed back to the one who prays. Something numinous is happening. Berry implies the divine through experience, rather than insisting on direct words for God. These practices bring us to a gathered place, and insight.

The poet proposes that ‘There are no unsacred places,/ there are only sacred places / and desecrated places.’ No spiritual-materialist split here.  Berry’s words also give Quakers a clue to our move in worship to ministry, and later to testimony. Identifying the sacred as the norm, everywhere -by implication identifying the desecrated- calls us to re-establish wholeness: ‘Make the best you can of it’. Berry here encourages us to put the insight to meaningful work, just as Friend Thomas Kelly encourages us to embark into ‘holy obedience’.

His poem concludes by valuing the wonderful worth of silence, and cautioning us about our spoken choices. Wendell Berry nudges us to ‘make a poem that does not disturb / the silence from which it came’. Surely this poet, essayist, environmentalist, essayist and peace campaigner anticipates Quaker ministry at its best?

To my ears, Berry’s ‘How to Be a Poet’ is another way to speak of our Quaker meeting process. When we emerge from an hour’s togetherness, we have given ourselves time to refresh ourselves with the very source of meaning, truth and encouragement. The steps don’t belong to us, because they are there for anyone to discover. We are, however, the keepers of this wisdom, preserved through daily practice. ‘How to be a Poet’ is a reminder that creativity and spirituality each at their best can abide closely to one another: different slopes encouraging us up the same mountain, leading us to the same unique view. It takes effort, but it’s worth it. It brings wholeness, wisdom, and the realisation that good poems, like the spiritual life, remain a lifetime of daily practice.

The Quaker (Zoom) Poetry Group, with participants from WA, SA, Vic and NSW met this week to commemorate the work of poet, environmentalist and peace worker Wendell Berry who died on the 31 August. One of our members Adrian Glamorgan, one of our members made these strong connections between Berry’s insights and Quaker practice.

If you wish to join the Quaker Poetry Group please contact Rose Griffith at rosegriffith@bigpond.com. The group meets every Friday from 5-6.30 pm EST.