<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">You are cordially invited to join us for a virtual poetry reading featuring Raphael Block</div><div class="">Saturday, September 9 from 10:00 to 10:30 AM</div><div class="">There is no need to pre-register; you can just click this link: <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83342355802?pwd=SmphbE1rR093UUI4T1RXc2N6ZmlmZz09" class="">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83342355802?pwd=SmphbE1rR093UUI4T1RXc2N6ZmlmZz09</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class="">Raphael Block’s latest poetry book, <i class="">The Dreams We Share, </i>has just been published. He is the author of four other poetry collections, <i class="">Songs from a Small Universe</i>, <i class="">Spangling Darkness</i>, <i class="">Strings of Shining Silence</i>, and <i class="">At This Table</i>. Raphael produces the monthly Earth-Love Newsletter which can be viewed at <a href="http://raphaelblock.com/" class=""><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(12, 97, 166);" class="">raphaelblock.com</span></a> along with a National Geographic selected 5-minute documentary. Much of his work describes his relationship with the Earth and her minute wonders.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">“Return again, return again . . .”</div><div style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 36px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">Title</i><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""> </span><i class="">from a song of the Jewish New Year embodying Tshuvah, or returning to oneself</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">My soul is a field</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">that life tills and tends.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Perhaps rocks need to be broken,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">or dips and holes need to be filled.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Perhaps sand, or seaweed, or humus added</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">before it can yield something </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">lovely like a potato, maize, or a sunflower.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And, like a field, my soul longs to be sung to</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">while I water, compost, cover-crop, and putter.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">For what am I born for if not to praise?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">And the Earth will praise us, too,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">even as she takes our bodies </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">back into her arms. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We are so intimate, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">why act as strangers?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Like an open hand, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">our secrets are all known.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">During how much of each day can I drop</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">my false faces to be naked before you?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I count on you to raise me up </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">when, like a child learning to walk,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I fall again and again and again.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 15px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Now, I sing to you,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">Be alive in me—</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class="">a little more, a little more.</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><i class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- </i><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">Raphael Block</span></div><div class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman";" class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="D60C6501-33B3-40C0-A872-5C3A0A0E26D7" src="cid:A64D9D04-4491-4A6C-B818-EE47BFE48F78" class=""></div></div></body></html>