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Concrete Holiness

A personal reflection on sacred space in Carlisle Cathedral


This is how the Church is made of living stones, compacted by mercy.

Thomas Merton






Following the success of Martyn Halsall's inaugural year as Poet in Residence which has resulted in a forthcoming book Sanctuary to be published later this year I accepted the challenge of becoming poet in residence in 2013.

I began my year with the intention of creating a series of nine spare, terse, schematic works or 'posters' each reflecting an aspect of monastic life and then through an iterative process to make linkages between the monasticism practiced on this historic site and what is coming to be known as New Monasticism.

For each of the nine 'sacred spaces' identified by the Cathedral I have endeavored to make a connection between the ancient practice and current expression e.g. in the first poem between the work in the scriptorium and the contemporary pattern of communicating using the 140 characters allowed by Twitter.

The nine poems are not intended to be definitive but are offered as a contribution to the conversation about sacred space / new monasticism currently being developed in Chapter and through the wider Cathedral community.

Stylistically these poems may be seen as reflective of other poetic forms such as Haiku, although they do not conform to the accepted haiku pattern. Each is however shaped around three verses or paragraphs and to some extent I see this pattern linking to the form developed by Celtic Christians to express their faith in a God revealed as a Trinity of persons in community.

The poems are each connected by the quotation from Thomas Merton, which I use as an epigraph.

This is how the Church is made of living stones, compacted by mercy.

The first poem ends with words I first heard spoken by Bishop David Jenkins, former Bishop of Durham and should therefore be properly used in quotation.

1

Scriptorium

pen
scratching
vellum
scripture
illuminated

today's
scriptorium
allows
140
characters

God is
He is as He is in Jesus
therefore
there is hope






















2

Refectory

simple
food
shared
attentive
silence

today's
TV
chef's
make
food
entertaining
without
taste

yet
here
bread
is still broken
wine spilt
community
made
















3

Garden

cassocked
bee
keeper
tends
hives

fritillary
herbs
grow
flowers
bloom
rich
earth
remains

where now
the pollinating
buzzing of bees?




















4

Cloister

reflective
walking
calming
souls
turbulence

today's
procession
passes
from
Abbey Street
through
Mary's Gate

all
sorts
and
conditions
seeking
mercy
amongst
these
living
stones














5

Chapel

this
empty
space
watched
over by a
neglected
crucified
figure
from Lauds
to Vespers

many
professing
belief
absent
themselves
sunday
by sunday

leaving
ancient
amens
echoing















6

chapter

tasked
with
caring for these stones
meets
beneath
Prior's
painted
ceiling

each judgement
judged
by a fellowship
of other stones
gathered in mercy

compacted
spirit's
power
energised
close
harmony


















7

Cell

prisoner
of faith
enclosed
Julian
poet's muse
all will be well

left
now
just
140
characters
prayers
rise
as birdsong

As from
the enclosed silence
of our screens
all manner of things
will be well

















8

Infirmary

hospitallers
bring
their
sick
to health

now
we interrogate
www
self diagnose
medicate
type
symptoms
on NHS Direct

touching
the screen
restores
well - being?



















9

Road

this
gateway
where
your
road
begins

today
check
this
starting point
into sat nav

your
destination
represents
pilgrim
journeying
into
futures
becoming



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