In Marina’s Garden (Oxford)

In Marina’s Garden (Oxford)

Joe Martyn Ricke

Your namesake, as I’m sure you know,
is good Will Shakespeare’s shining star,
a kind of saint who rescues precious strays
(especially Georgian girls who have wrecked
their bikes outside your door),
picks them up, comforts them,
then nurtures them for life.

Hospitality, I always tell my students,
when reading of Odysseus and his shocks,
has lost its meanings, shriveled like old leaves,
a topic now for “family magazines.”

But in the greater, older, grander sense—
It is the most humane of human ties.

Rest, hope, and healing, brandy, and hot tea—
link us, form us, make us what we must become,
if grace will have its gracious way in us.

This world – so full of garish, noisy places;
but yours, this garden, a sacramental spot,
a plot where wisdom still grows something sweet
from ancient roots, tended with such care.

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Joe Martyn Ricke
Poet & Singer/Songwriter

Joe has been published in numerous journals, including Presence, Sehnsucht, The Other Journal, Relief Journal, Assisi, Cresset, Ruminate, Christian History, An Unexpected Journal, Wisconsin Review, and the anthology New Crops from Old Fields: Eight Medievalist Poets.  He is the organizer and director of Inkling Folk Fellowship, an online literary community. His most recent album, Little Clarissa and Other Stories is available on Spotify.

 Photography by Pedro Ramos