{"id":1745,"date":"2015-08-04T08:35:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T13:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/?p=1745"},"modified":"2016-12-02T14:49:54","modified_gmt":"2016-12-02T19:49:54","slug":"alumniae-tuesday-karl-plank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/2015\/08\/alumniae-tuesday-karl-plank\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni\/ae Tuesday – Karl Plank, MDiv’77, MA \u201980, PhD\u201983"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our monthly\u00a0Alumni\/ae Tuesday Guest Post series on the VDS Voices blog highlights posts written by VDS and GDR alumni\/ae. Hear firsthand about their important work in the community, collaborations with other alumni\/ae and faculty, and much more.<\/em><\/p>\n

Be sure to also check out the Divinity School Instagram feed every Tuesday for our\u00a0Alumni\/ae Instagram Takeover Day. Each week, we will showcase a different alumnus\/a as they document their day in photos. Follow @VUDivinity on Instagram today!<\/em><\/p>\n

If would like to contribute a post to the\u00a0Alumni\/ae Tuesday Guest Post series, or participate in our\u00a0Alumni\/ae Instagram Takeover Day, please\u00a0email\u00a0Addie Sullivan (addie.sullivan@vanderbilt.edu) \u00a0in the Vanderbilt Divinity School Alumni\/ae office.<\/em><\/p>\n

CAVE AIR<\/p>\n

For me the ideal venue of worship is a cave\u2014<\/em>Ed Farley (1929-2014)<\/p>\n

in memoriam<\/em><\/p>\n

somewhere a cave
\nawaits
\n<\/span>ingress<\/span><\/p>\n

and introit|
\n<\/span>at the edge
\n<\/span>of sanctuary<\/span><\/p>\n

a chant sotto voce
\n<\/em>not disturbing
\n<\/span>the fluted flowstone<\/span><\/p>\n

the blind salamander
\nor the moist air
\n<\/span>we breathe<\/span><\/p>\n

in the dark
\n<\/span>where You are<\/span><\/p>\n

canons permit
\ncandles
\n<\/span>on the ledge<\/span><\/p>\n

but better a taper
\n<\/span>in hand
\n<\/span>as faces emerge<\/span><\/p>\n

from cowls of shadow
\nand walls
\n<\/span>quiver quietly<\/span><\/p>\n

inhale
\nexhale<\/span><\/p>\n

but let words
\n<\/span>be spare
\n<\/span>hard-hewn<\/span><\/p>\n

as the rock
\n<\/span>and born
\n<\/span>of its silence<\/span><\/p>\n

whisper
\n<\/span>here i am
\n<\/em>(as at your mother\u2019s <\/span><\/p>\n

deathbed)
\n<\/span>sigh <\/span>yes
\n<\/em>(as at your daughter\u2019s<\/span><\/p>\n

crib)
\nand little else<\/span><\/p>\n

yours is to listen
\nfor the pulse
\n<\/span>of the wolf spider<\/span><\/p>\n

in its courtship
\ndance
\n<\/span>the drop of water<\/span><\/p>\n

to a distant pool
\n<\/span>and the high-pitch
\n<\/span>of wind<\/span><\/p>\n

in cleft
\nand crevice
\n<\/span>from an opening<\/span><\/p>\n

beyond
\n(where You are<\/span><\/p>\n

also)<\/p>\n

Karl Plank<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Karl Plank<\/a> (MDiv’77, MA’80, PhD\u201983)\u00a0is the J.W. Cannon Professor of Religion at Davidson College in North Carolina. His recent poetry has appeared in publications such as <\/span>Beloit Poetry Journal<\/em>, <\/span>New Madrid, Spiritus, The Cresset,<\/em> and <\/span>Poetry Daily<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our monthly\u00a0Alumni\/ae Tuesday Guest Post series on the VDS Voices blog highlights posts written by VDS and GDR alumni\/ae. Hear firsthand about their important work in the community, collaborations with other alumni\/ae and faculty, and much more. Be sure to also check out the Divinity School Instagram feed every Tuesday for our\u00a0Alumni\/ae Instagram Takeover Day….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1576,"featured_media":1749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[508],"tags":[509,986,646,645,31],"class_list":["post-1745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumniae-tuesday","tag-alumniae","tag-alumniae-tuesday","tag-ed-farley","tag-karl-plank","tag-vanderbilt-divinity-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1576"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1745"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2623,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions\/2623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltdivinity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}