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Apr 1, 2023

"Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark journey with us. Oh, be swift to love, make haste to be kind." --Henri Frederic Amiel

Say Wow: A Conversation with Poet Chelan Harkin

At the age of 21, on a pilgrimage to Israel, Chelan Harkin found herself sitting alone in the same cell that some 140 years earlier had confined the founder of the Baha'i faith. The quietude was suddenly broken by a voice she took to be the Persian prophet's spirit saying, "Let us dance." This unexpected invitation cracked her heart wide open and spontaneously led her to fill the resonant chamber with joyful song. A decade later, those three words would become the title of her second collection of mystical poetry. Often compared to Rumi's poetry, her offerings invite readers to embrace the fullness of their being, by "inviting the fumbling, suffering parts of our nature and our divinity to meet for tea in the heart, to have a great laugh, and share a big hug." To kick-off National Poetry month in the United States, here is an in-depth interview with Chelan Harkin.