Center for Journal Therapy
Grant Street Mansion
1115 Grant St. #207
Denver, CO 80203
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Denver metro: 303-986-6460
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Poem of the Month: November 2001

Daily These shriveled seeds we plant, corn kernel, dried bean, poke into loosened soil, cover over with measured fingertips These T-shirts we fold into perfect white squares These tortillas we slice and fry to crisp strips This rich egg scrambled in a gray clay bowl This bed whose covers I straighten smoothing edges till blue quilt fits brown blanket and nothing hangs out This envelope I address so the name balances like a cloud in the center of sky This page I type and retype This table I dust till the scarred wood shines This bundle of clothes I wash and hang and wash again like flags we share, a country so close no one needs to name it The days are nouns:  touch them The hands are churches that worship the world -- Naomi Shihab Nye Naomi Shihab Nye is the keynote poet for the National Association for Poetry Therapy annual conference April 18-21, Denver, Colorado. Journal prompts: Name the items you touch daily. How do they change when you touch them with hands that are "churches that worship the world"? What is your relationship with mindfulness, the art of living with care and attention to each passing moment? Describe a memorable Thanksgiving dinner. Who was there? What made it memorable? Include this journal entry with your holiday cards, letters or gifts to the people involved. Begin or continue a gratitude journal. Write in it all of the people, places and things for which you give thanks.

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