Shannon Parks-Beck
-
Vincent, Mr. Walrus, and me
I wrote my first song when I was in 5th grade. Three chords pressed into painful fingers on a cheap 3/4 size guitar. D – Em – G. I suppose that is when I knew I would be a writer and musician, though I wouldn’t have had the confidence to name it. I had the…
-
It’s dusty
In more organized faith circles, Lent is a big deal. It is the 40 days leading to Easter. People “give up” food, unhealthy practices, selfish pursuits and explore disciplines we sometimes avoid. It is a bit of a reality check. The ritual of a clergy person putting ashes on one’s forehead with the words, “from…
-
Living the questions
I have been re-listening to Tracy Chapman’s self-titled album since the 2024 Grammys. I, and many of my peers, remember when this album was released. The songs Fast Car and Revolution played on repeat on the tape deck in my Chevrolet Citation. The entire album is a testimony to black experience in the U.S. And…
-
Karen
I used to bring you wildflowers from the canyon black-eyed susan’s, grass widows, and buttercups which barely survived the trip up the long dirt road to you You would gather them and place them in a Kerr jar for everyone to admire – until every petal had shriveled and fallen laying…
-
Kentucky Sunday
a wild bouquet of 3-year-oldsfling themselves into water jetsand sit downgiggling before they dissolve into the arms of the crowd oh the racket!of the little oneswho are deliriouslyhappybeing doused by buckets of water almost as gleefulas their dadwho has a couple of themover his shouldersopping wetand squealing It is into this incalescentKentucky Sunday,the kind that could stifleconversation with…
-
Isn’t it a wonder?
I think I am at my best when I live this way: open-hearted and receptive to the beauty and mystery of life. The weight of the world’s chaos and my worries about my future can stunt my experience of the good parts of life. It takes intention to live counter to the entropy of the…
-
Unadorned
~Tell me something that matters to you~ about your dog, and how he is particularly talented at balancing a sandwich on his head and your baby who sleeps with her bum in the air and how you almost didn’t live to meet her or about the piano delivered to your house last night that somehow…
-
Abundance
In a spirit of claiming what already exists and moving into what can be, the word I am holding out this year is abundance. In conversation with my therapist, it felt obvious when it popped up. Nothing magical. But when he said the word abundance, I said, “yes! that resonates! I think that’s my word!”…
-
possible
(April 2014) morning birds thunder warm covers i open my window and for a moment the healing of the world is possible
poems, prayers, and ponderings 