Matthew Caretti
Presence
We are discussing the Desert Fathers. Something from her tradition. That they engaged in a sort of mantra practice. Something from the ritual of my tradition. Certainly their lives of isolation and deprivation worked to open wounds of the deepest self, we agree. Then some healing balm to cool the mind when doubt and fear overwhelmed them, I offer. As we finish our long walk, she mentions that the watchword they employed was not a repetition of the sacred syllables of Yahweh. Neither was it Jesus, Mother Mary nor any of the Saints. Instead, these humble monks incanted in Coptic, Today . . . Today . . . Today . . . .
soft
underfoot
winter dunes
About the Author
Matthew Caretti began publishing his poems in 2009, though his fascination with Eastern short-form genres began much earlier. In 2017, he won the Snapshot Press eChapbook Award for Harvesting Stones.
How true is that! Today is what matters most.
love the way the haiku – the sensation of soft cold sand on your feet – delivers the conversation gently back to where they presently are yet simultaneously transports the reader – this reader, at least – to a particular moment on a particular beach and back again … very zen