Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Forgetting Hildegarde, Dreaming of a Breviary Project

As I've been puttering this morning, I thought, I should write a poem with the title "Hildegarde of Bingen Forgets Her Feast Day."  The poem could go in several possible directions:  she forgets because she is busy, she forgets because it no longer matters, she forgets because she has dementia.

I didn't quite forget her feast day, but I did remember later than I'd like.  The poem could have any saint for that matter, except that I don't usually forget the feast days of other important female saints:  Brigid and Julian and Lucia.  Of course, this short list makes me think that I probably forget many a feast day.

I also found myself thinking that I'd like to create a breviary (perhaps the wrong word, but I like it) of a collection of feast days that are meaningful to me and other sorts of remembrances.  I'd like it to include prayer and visual art.  Poems would be a wonderful addition.  I'd like it to be organized by calendar day, so I could open it in the morning, and the date would be on the top of the page.

I probably have more of a head start on this project than I know--I've written 16 years of blog posts.  By now, having to search the blog is cumbersome.  A separate book with a spine that I could consult each day would be beautiful.  I think others would like it too.  And if it already exists, that's OK.  The world seems to be open to multiple versions of devotional books.

If I want the book to contain my art, that's where I'm short.  And reproducing art would/could be much more expensive, which might be important to realize from the publishing side.

I don't have time to think about this possibility too much this term.  But I did want to capture it for later.  I had the idea just 10 minutes ago when rinsing out my oatmeal bowl, and it's really tugging at me.

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