Credo
by
Judith Roche I believe in the cave paintings at Lascaux, the beauty of the clavicle, the journey of the salmon. I believe in all the gods— I just don’t like some of them. I believe the war is always against the imagination, is recurring, repetitive, and relentless. I believe in fairies, elves, angels and bodisatvas, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. I believe that Raven invented the Earth And so did Coyote. In archeology lies the clue. The threshold is numinous and the way in is the way out. I believe in the alphabets, all of them and the stories seeping from between their letters. I believe in dance as prayer, that the heart beat invented rhythm and chant— or is it the other way around? I believe in the wisdom of the body. I believe that art saves lives and love makes it worth living them. And that could be the other way around, too. From Wisdom of the Body, Seattle, Washington: Black Heron Press, 2007. Judith selected this poem as her “soulfood” poem as part of her featured reading at the SoulFood Poetry Night readings I curate in Redmond, Washington. Her reading was on 15 November 2012. Judith passed away on 14 November 2019. |