Biography
Nathan Jowers is a 3rd year M.Div. student at Yale Divinity School interested in systematic theology, poetry, and board games. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife Tori and her many house plants. They have spent their time in New Haven learning to bird.
Paper Abstract
Hilda Morley's under-circulated body of poetry is known for its honesty and commitment to life in the face of great loss. This paper/presentation will discuss concepts of time in Hilda Morley's What are Winds and What are Waters—her volume of poetry on the loss of her husband—to help us navigate the sense of loss that comes from the extinction of species we are trying to save. For those whose commitment to ecological health is borne from a love of specific creatures (e.g. birders), getting news that some of their most beloved species have gone extinct or been irrevocably driven from their local ecology can vitiate all desire for a continued commitment to an ecological community. To be honest about the depth of loss already incurred—the disappearance of the creatures that tied us to our communities—can quickly become the enemy of hoping for change. How do we continue acting when what we hoped to save is already gone? Working with Morley's poetry, this paper will suggest concepts of intensive time (rather than extensive, linear time) as key to that combination of honesty and resilience. Intensive time allows us to begin work anew, and be haunted by loss, all at once. As a theologian by training, I will utilize theological discussions of time (especially Augustine's Confessions and On Music), as well as Kenneth Olwig's landscape geographical investigation of sacred space & sacred time, to help exegete Morely's poems—specifically to draw out the connections between time and commitment in her work.