Naming Rites - Gary Boelhower

Gary Boelhower's poetry has been published in anthologies: Amethyst and Agate: Poems of Lake Superior, Holy Cow! Press (2015), The Heart of All That Is, Holy Cow! Press (2013), The Cancer Poetry Project 2, Tasora Books (2013) Beloved on the Earth: 150 Poems of Grief and Gratitude, Holy Cow! Press (2009), Trail Guide to the Northland Experience in Prints and Poetry, Calyx Press Duluth (2008), and County lines: 87 Minnesota Counties 130 Minnesota Poets, Loonfeather Press (2008) and in journals and magazines: America, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra Magazine, The Freshwater Review, Lake Superior Magazine, New Millenium Writings, Out of Words, Prove, Shavings, and Willow Review. His 2011 collection of poems, Marrow, Muscle, Flight (Wildwood River Press) won the Midwest Book Award. He was awarded the Foley Prize in poetry from America magazine in 2012 and a career development grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council in 2010.

His recent nonfiction books include Choose Wisely: Practical Insights from Spiritual Traditions, Paulist Press (2013) and Mountain 10: Climbing the Labyrinth Within, (co-authored with Joe Miguez and Tricia Pearce) Mountain Ten Resources (2013). Boelhower teaches at The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. in ethics, spirituality, and leadership. He has held leadership positions in higher education, including chair of humanities, dean of life-long learning, dean of graduate studies and vice president for academic affairs. He has created non-profit community organizations for feeding the hungry and for adult literacy. He has consulted with and provided training for a broad range of organizations on dialogue, authentic leadership, values and vision, the respectful workplace, and wise decision-making.

Table of Contents

I.

Beginning to Know My Name

Hide and Seek

Word

Preparing the Soil

Grandma's Names

I Didn't Know

Second Grade Lessons

In Grandpa's Back Yard

Mother's Story

Apple Pilgrimage

Last Suppers

Last Time

Garden Promises

Winter Night

Blueberry Picking

Flight

Call Me By That Name

II.

What They Didn't Say

The Difference

Stolen

Scar Tissue

Glances Off

Dark Well

A Way of Running

Who Never Pressed Charges

III.

Where Is the Soul

At Mevlevi Monastery

Like a Mystic

Like a Poet

Morning Glory

Sophia

Music Enters

Ancient Grains

On the Path

Winged

Dance at Dawn

IV.

The Grass

Two Blue Herons

Song of the Salmon

Jays

Creation

The Sixth Day

Language Acquisition

In the Silence

Jacob's Ladder

Human Robotics Project

Greenest Grass

Chopping Birch

Directions

First Question

First Song

Homeland Poetry

V.

What Are You Seeking

Witness

Winnowing

Red Line

Meeting of the Higher Powers

Inimba

In Circles

Immigrants

Holy Night

Grasshopper

Enhanced Interrogation

Colombia Displaced

Banquet

After Sandy Hook

Give Yourself

Notes

About the Author