Poems from The Way by Courtney Hartman

april 4. beginning

breakfast is served
i wake from full sleep to
coffee, tea, water?
watched manchester by the sea
was told it was a real cryer
lost one tear &  thought

what if i walk
but don't feel a thing
is this what i’m most afraid of?

a red line drawn across the sky
grows wider
blurring at the edge

the packing
the practice walking
the lists & the lists
& the goodbyes
the words of advice
the closing my apartment door
the leaving
the boarding
this feeling everything but real

so  my hope  so my fear

may  i be woken
woken enough to be taken by it all

​​

april 5. descending the pyrenees into roncesvalles

there is chaos
in the forest, maximilian the german
said

how else
would it be
that the same kind of seeds, fallen
on the same kind of soil
would make such different shapes of trees
aren't words much
the same
much the same how they fall
how they are
given spoken read
spoken read
heard or seen

​

april 6. only, let me be listening with a keen and present ear

to stories, the wind
chirping
bell tolls, horse hooves
walking sticks, misunderstood
languages, the holy spirit, my heart, the
quiet part of it
my hands, my feet
and my fear
of it
all

​

april 6. to be resonant

def: resonance… a resounding
from the sides of a hollow instrument of music
a sound returned

(we, are musical
our purpose, taking sound
returning it out 
from our hollowness)
​

​april 7. til it  is done 

today. a day of grace
as every day before it
grace to rise, grace to walk
grace to listen, grace to speak
grace to take each moment
as a single 
step one foot
in front 
of the next

​

april 8. pamplona

sounds of the city draw me in
and wring me out
water spinning from a rag
pulled tight
it seduces me
this celebration in the square, friends
parked along the stairs to the cathedral de san francisco
cerveza glasses in hand
chatter & laughter
gathered in the flood of noise
i am caught in
feet bound, staring at the chaos
& order around
today it must roll off me, cool sweat
keep walking

​

april 9. small change

five o’clock, the bells just rang
heat waves carry pilgrims over ripples
on hot roadway
tired, limping, foot weary
i know the feeling
even small change can bring such pain for a short time
if i may paraphrase, what rilke says
it is the difficult things
we must
tend
towards
those ones worth doing
yes even small change can bring such pain for a time

​
​

Bio: Courtney Hartman is a singer-songwriter and a member of the Grammy-nominated string band Della Mae. Her first solo album,  Nothing We Say, was released last year. These poems and photographs are from the first six days of Courtney's 40 day pilgrimage along the camino.

For more information please visit www.courtneyhartman.com.

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