April 25: Warm Day, Saint Mark, and Aftermath

I am not going to be including a poem in today's post.  In fact, it will be a few days before a new poem is forthcoming.  It has been a wonderful journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, full of poetry and, at times, suffering.  I have never given birth, will never give birth.  I witnessed my daughter's birth, and the pain involved.  I will not trivialize the birthing process by saying that, after my last poem was posted yesterday, I felt like I had given birth.  However, I did feel as though I had run a poetic ultra-marathon through a couple deserts, over the Appalachians, and into the swamps of Louisiana.  It was quite a ride.  Now, I just want to bask in the afterglow of that experience for a few days.  Sit back, read of few of my poems, and say to myself, "That's pretty damn good."  Then I will pick up my poet's pen and start writing more poetry.

Today, the sun is shining, and the temperature has climbed into the upper 60s.  Days like this give me hope that Spring has finally arrived in the U.P.  When I went to the English Department to pick up a few papers to grade, there were tulips and crocuses planted outside the doors to the building.  The world is in the process of rebirth, and it's glorious.

If I sound like I'm in a good mood, I am.  I don't know why.  I still have tons of grading to do, and I haven't been for a run in about a week-and-a-half.  But I feel like I could do just about anything today.  I'm not sure if this is an after-effect of my 47-day poetry marathon.  I know that, when I've done journaling marathons in workshops I've taught, I often go home with a strange energy.  I find myself going for five-mile runs, vacuuming the house, or making cookies.  I have to believe what I'm feeling right now is a similar byproduct of my extended period of writing psalms.

The patron saint for today is the apostle Mark, writer  of the second Gospel.  Mark is also the patron saint of notaries.  No matter where I've looked, I can find no reason why Mark has received this distinction.  It would make sense if Mark worked for the government of Rome or Israel in some way.  I can't find any evidence of this fact.  I do know that Mark founded the Church of Alexandria, and he was the first Bishop of Alexandria.  Eventually, in some accounts, he was captured by the pagans of Alexandria.  The pagans put a rope around Mark's neck and dragged him through the streets of the city until he was dead.  The head of Mark was supposedly kept for centuries in Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria.  However, it has been lost for some 250 years.  I don't know how you lose a saint's head.  It's not like a set of keys, for God's sake.  It would be something that would sort of stand out in your memory.  But, it is lost.  I have this vision of some bishop opening up a drawer in the cathedral one day and saying, "That's where I left it!"

Anyway, Mark's head is gone, and mine is filled with sun and tulips and poetry.

Saint Marty is having a great day.

Pope Kyrillos VI and relics of Saint Mark (but not his head)