Just dropped in on the Rose of Charon site, and she refers to a "Novena on forgiveness." Glancing at the rest of her site, it seems she has been both posting and praying on the topic of forgiveness.
A novena, for you non-catholics, is nine days of prayer, normally devoted to one particular intent. This is a discipline I have followed a few times in my life. For example, I prayed a novena after my father died, as a means of confronting my grief.
Now, it seems I have contracted for a poetic novena. Which, like Rose's postings on forgiveness, will be shared with the ether world.
You see, Elsie is going out of town again. You may recall that the last time she left town (about three weeks ago), she assigned the writing of poems based on words chosen at random from The Word Book; those poems are back in the archives somewhere, database willing. Once again, Elsie will be gone for ten (10) days, this time on a mission trip to Bolivia.
Since Elsie made the assignment last time, I made it this time. You may not be surprised to learn my assignment was for each of us to write a postcard poem per day. I bought Elsie a collection of Chagall postcards; I will probably use a book of cat postcards, unless I find something better quickly.
So — we have committed to a discipline which will last for a little more than nine days. Yet, it seems a holy discipline. It is a daily prayer we will offer on each others' behalf. Whether we invoke the Holy One or not, we invoke the holy spark in ourselves and each other. We invoke the memory of amour shared. We invoke the hope of safe travel, and safe return.
Postscript: Elsie gave me a collection of Monet postcards. I used these, along with a couple of cat postcards, a stray postcard that seemed most appropriate for the “Paul Hill” poem, and a pair of note cards for the longer poems.
I wrote a poem for Elsie's departure and her return, which worked out to be eleven poems (not counting the alternate versions I posted on September 3). Elsie only wrote poems for the time she was in Oruro, Bolivia - nine poems, to make a true "Novena."
None of Elsie's poems are overtly religious. Only two of mine are. Thus, “Novena” may be misleading; hope it hasn't proven to be a stumbling block for too many.