Before we begin
Look at her,At the child cradled across her arm,Replete in milky sleep, perfectly composed;At how her fingers fuss over his perfumed skin,The cool heal of her palm.In her magnificat of assentShe is kissed by mystery.Already she has begun to mitigateAll that is obstinate, indifferent, cruel.Shy vesper lightsWhisper in her eyes.In the stableOxen shift the cud in their slow jaws,And in the mothy darkA spider watches from its lofty web,A Herod.On the hillsides, frost.A ewe is bleating in a troubled dream,A shepherd coughs.The angels are shuffling their feathered silences,brimming with a recklessness of song.— Grant Fraser
Second Thoughts in the Stable
In the stable, there are animalswho know what it's like to deliver.There is no option but to sharefeed and shelter with them.There is no going back –my waters have broken.Some people love the scent of farms,dry hay, excrement, sweat from labour.I could throw up.Better out here than in the inn.I feel unstable, with all conventions crossed:Joseph is here. Who would have thought that?I am too young, too small,too unprepared to be a mother.I wonder if it really was an angel.What were You thinking?What was I thinking?What kind of crazy thing is birth?I am attended by livestockindifferent to my labour.Like a child, I want a distracting toyor Elizabeth to say the one encouraging thing:All within me leaps.There is no surely going back.All within me leaps.I bleat long, and longto see my innocencein my first baby's glance.— Marlene MarburgConfinement
A tiny dota cluster of atomsGodCreator of all lifelockedinto a cellbarredfrom lightblindedto former gloryGodCreator of Lightimprisonedby darktreadingwatersuspendedin a sacGodCreator of the mighty deeptrappedin limbocrampedin so small a capsulehands tiedGodCreator of all Spacecompressedin a cocoonheart racingbracing himselffor re-entryGodCreator of all birthsis bornto set us free.— Janette Fernando
Grant Fraser is a lawyer, poet and filmmaker. His collection of poetry Some Conclusion in the Heart was published by Black Willow Press
Marlene Marburg is a member of the Spirituality Team at Campion Ignatian Spirituality Centre in Kew, Victoria. She is currently engaged in doctoral research into Poetry and the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius.
Janette Fernando is a casual relief teacher, poet and editor. Her collection Two Edged was short-listed for the Australian Christian Book of the Year Awards in 2005. Since 2007 she has been Managing Editor of Poetica Christi Press and last year co-edited Reflecting on Melbourne, a coffee-table book of poetry, artwork and photography about Melbourne.