Poetry is not my life Ferllenghtti sits perched atop the bathroom radiator And I savor a page every time my body recycles Thanking God for the openings and the hollow places And the subtlety of uncapitalized letters Though a dozen boxes of notebooks with scribbled fragments of verse will crush you if you attempt to open my closet door Poetry is not my life Though there was a time When I left my cozy air conditioned world rode a beat…
In the big news department — My latest play, Driving School of America has been accepted in Vital Signs 9 – a festival of one acts at the VitalTheater in New York. The theater is on 42nd street next to Playwright’s Horizons and the run begins December 1st!!!!
I spoke to a delegation of Russian Muslims last week as part of a U.S. State Department visit. Here’s a photo and brief description. When I spoke about Beslan and the horror I felt when seeing the killing of children in the school seige one of the women asked why Americans do not feel horror about the killing of Iraqi children by U.S. artillery. Intense moment.
FIGHTING THE HOLY WAR THE ROLE OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS IN THE 21st CENTURY: A BRIEFING FROM PARTICIPANTS IN THE 2004 PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS TUESDAY – SEPTEMBER 28th – 7 pm JOIN A DISCUSSION WITH: RABBI DANIEL BRENNER DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR MULTIFAITH EDUCATION – AUBURN SEMINARY NURAH JETER AMAT’ULLAH DIRECTOR, MUSLIM WOMEN’S INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SISTER JOAN KIRBY U.N. REPRESENTATIVE, TEMPLE OF UNDERSTANDING RENEE CHEROWE-O’LEARY ASSISTANT PROFESSOR COLUMBIA UNIVERISTY-TEACHER’S COLLEGE MARK LARRIMORE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR RELIGION AND…
Poetry for the High Holidays 5765 I am allergic to prayer I am allergic to prayer. I write in the other slot. Forms on a latex clipboard. Doctor’s waiting room. Checking off my imperfections. To the rhythm of smooth jazz. Soundtrack to boredom. Supplications too. And exultations, hoshannas, Even hallelujahs. I’m experiencing recurring liturgical aversions. Is there some form of anti-something? A booster shot? An elixir? A purple pill? At fifteen I took a hayride around Stone Mountain, Georgia. The…
A Report from the Parliament of the World’s Religions By Rabbi Daniel Brenner Over the drone of the harmonium in the Sikh’s makeshift Gudwara, I overheard a Buddhist monk and a Sikh discussing species extinction and reincarnation: “What if a person’s soul is destined for a near extinct species, like the spotted owl?” the monk asked. “If the species becomes extinct then would that soul be stuck in limbo for eternity?” The Parliament of World’s Religions, an idea that was…
I just got my first article in a glossy magazine — Spirituality and Health — October issue. This is the piece I wrote awhile back on ‘under God’ While I proudly placed the mag on the radiator by the toilet (I got an advanced copy in the mail) it has a bizarre ad for a biofeedback video game on the back cover that is freaking me out. http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/blank/item_3019.html Under God By Rabbi Daniel S. Brenner Now that the Supreme Court…
Here is the piece that I’ll be submitting to the String of Pearls newsletter: Elohim, ten li et h’atikvah lekabel ma she’ein Ten li et hakoach leshanot et ma sheken. et haomets lenasot letaken et ha’olam. G-d, give me the hope to accept what there isn’t Give me the strength to change what is Give me the courage to try to fix the world. These words, although they could have been chanted in a Psalm by King David, a poem…
from www.nickdenton.org Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you A brilliantly counter-intuitive idea from Daniel Brenner about the rebuilding of the site of the World Trade Center. “Building a mosque on the site would also send a message to the Islamic world about America, and our commitment to the freedom of religion. At a time when many Muslims are being fed endless distortions about America and what we value, it will take more than a publicity mission…
Nothing drives me more crazy than when I hear an athlete thanking God for a 3-pointer, a twenty foot putt, or a touchdown. “Do you mean to tell me that God sits around guiding balls into particular places?” I wonder, “A God in the sky with two hundred channels of ESPN watching and working magic with each play?” Moments like these make me tempted to buy into the philosophy of men like Sherwin Wine. Sherwin Wine, the Michigan Rabbi and…