Jennifer Ferraro

A poet, artist, and performer, Jennifer Ferraro teaches poetry and writing at universities and in workshop settings. Author of the book of poems Divine Nostalgia, she has toured widely with the Latif Bolat Ensemble, playing frame drum and reciting poetry with devotional dance. She is a student of the Sufi path in the lineage of Hazrat Inayat Khan. To learn more about Jennifer Ferraro, visit www.jenniferferraro.com.

Initiation, by Jennifer Ferraro

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The Promise

There is something I wanted

before I wanted this,

before I became a closed fist

and the earth was closed to me;

There is something I needed

before I needed this,

before I huddled inward

to shield the need from absence—

There is something I hoped for

that was promised,

there was a kindness and a tenderness—

there was a kiss

that I longed for

and imagined to exist

before this

exile.

There was something I wanted

before I wanted this—

there was a kiss.

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Nesimi (15th c.)

I myself took up the cloak of blame;
I smashed the bottle of honor and virtue on a stone.
What of it?

Sometimes I rise up and watch the universe from above.
Sometimes I go down to earth and lose myself in love.
What of it?

Sometimes I study life’s meaning in the holy books.
Sometimes I go to the tavern and get drunk.
What of it? Read more...