Excerpt from "Grateful Table"
by Brenda Knight
Poem excerpted from the section “April”
Grow Your Own
There are many ways of learning to love, not only
yourself, but those around you, as well. Another is to
plant and grow some food of your own. Most people
don’t realize it, but something very special happens
when we nurture and consume food that we have
grown for ourselves. Not only does the life force in it
transfer to us when we eat it, the love that we put into
caring for it has a magical way of returning to us from
Mother Earth herself. Indeed, she befriends all those
who care for the least of her creatures.
And it doesn’t matter whether it’s an acre of organic
gardens you’re growing or a single kumquat tree or
tomato plant you keep on the patio. It can even be a
batch of sprouts (for those who want the quickest results)
that live on your kitchen windowsill. Regardless of what
you plant, you will have shortened the gap between you
and your food supply by being just that much less reliant
on someone else to provide you with your food. It is a
subtle shift, but one that raises your Spirit the minute you
cover the little seeds over with soil and water them.
—Tony Burroughs
Excerpted from the section “May”
Never Forget
We’ve made life a battlefield when it should be a
playground. It’s all about beauty, wonder, mystery…but
we forget that, and almost purposefully. We must have
a more mindful attitude. Be mindful of your breath. Be
mindful of your body sensations. Be mindful of your
choices. These are good ways to actually know your
experiences, to remember to play and be alive.
—Deepak Chopra
Excerpted from the section “September”
And So I Climb
Because when death sits on your shoulder each day,
whispering, urging you to your end, there is no time
to lose, so much light to grasp for, strive for, struggle
to embrace. We are struggling with light. And yet we
are only human after all, so terribly flawed and foolish,
selfish and ridiculous. Sobriety can be so messy. At times,
I have seemed to myself the most awful of persons.
But even then I am ascending, even then I am going
up a ladder of light with eyes wide open and hands
outstretched, to clasp the next rung up. And I climb.
—Alan Kaufman
Brenda Knight is a publisher and editor who writes about women's history and issues affecting women's lives today. The author of Sheroes, The Poetry Oracle, Wild Women and Books, and the American Book Award-winning Women of the Beat Generation, Brenda also does volunteer work with women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Brenda believes everyone does have the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness and lives in one of the happiest places on earth, the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Grateful Table Blessings, Prayers, and Graces for the Daily Meal By Brenda Knight
Foreword by Nina Lesowitz
ISBN: 978-1-936740-56-7
Trade Paper, $15.95
5” x 7”, 232 pages
Publishing November 27, 2013
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