The Growing Edge Newsletter—June, 2024

With Carrie Newcomer & Parker J. Palmer

Painting: "The Artist's Garden at Eragny" by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)

• Notes for Podcast Episode 56: “Toughness for a Gentle World”—Carrie & Parker explore May Sarton’s poem “An Observation”

• Community Question of the Month

• Parker’s Online Appearances

• Carrie’s Events & Appearances

• An UPDATED edition of Parker’s 2011 book Healing the Heart of Democracy is now available, with a Study Guide. Also available now, with a new Introduction: the 25th ANNIVERSARY edition of Parker’s classic Let Your Life Speak.

---

Notes from the Edge

A Note from Parker

Poetry never ceases to amaze me. In the hands of a good poet, a poem about gardening can open into an exploration of the most complex human relationships. As soon as I read the last line of May Sarton’s “An Observation”—we must “pay with some toughness for a tender world”—I knew that I was being challenged to reflect on who I am in the world beyond the garden, a world made hard by fear, hatred and the drive for power. (See the poem below…)

Today’s world too often reminds me of a cage fight. I yearn for a more tender world, but when I look at the unprincipled and remorseless thugs who bedevil us from the far right—e.g., misogynists, white supremacists, Christian nationalists, antisemites, insurrectionists—it’s not easy to imagine a nonviolent way ahead. But imagine we must, because violence against violence yields only more of the same.

For me, that imagining begins with the understanding that not everyone who supports far-right political causes and candidates is motivated by malice—more than a few are motivated by disillusionments and a sense of personal loss. That’s why I began my book Healing the Heart of Democracy by suggesting that “the politics of rage” might better be understood as “the politics of the brokenhearted.” I can renew my bond with my alienated fellow citizens only if I can find something about them that evokes the “vulnerable yet rigorous love” of which May Sarton speaks.

Sarton’s mother took off her gloves and risked her hands to treat the roots of plants with the tenderness they require. Can I risk my heart by taking off my armor when I go into the public arena and meeting those I disagree with in a spirit of shared vulnerability? This is the question I’m trying to live into as we move closer to the most consequential election of my lifetime. As this month’s conversation with Carrie will prove, I have no answers yet—as always, I’m a work in progress!—but I find it helpful to talk openly about all this with people I trust.

A Note from Carrie

I want to express my gratitude to Parker for suggesting May Sarton’s poem “An Observation” for this podcast. I was not familiar with this particularly powerful and timely poem and it has given me much to consider. In this poem the poet considers how we may need to be tough to bring in the kinder world, in the way that the hands of a life-long gardener may show some wear from loving and caring for tender plants, and because that kind of work requires getting her hands right down in the soil.

Love will ask us to brave the bumps and bruises that happens when we attend with great care to the things we love. A parent may need to set healthy boundaries that may not always be appreciated at the time. For the love of a good song, a guitar player will develop calluses on the tips of their fingers. Love will bring grounding, meaning, purpose and joy. But it will also ask us to experience the grief of loss and disappointment as well as the challenge of finding forgiveness, humility and how stay in relationship when disagreements happen. My friends, courage has nothing to do with being fearless….it has everything to do with loving someone or something so much, we will brave the scary parts for the sake of that love.

I hope you find this poem and conversation helpful as each one of us find our own necessary toughness to bring in the more tender world.

An Observation by May Sarton

True gardeners cannot bear a glove
Between the sure touch and the tender root,
Must let their hands grow knotted as they move
With a rough sensitivity about
Under the earth, between the rock and shoot,
Never to bruise or wound the hidden fruit.
And so I watched my mother’s hands grow scarred,
She who could heal the wounded plant or friend
With the same vulnerable yet rigorous love;
I minded once to see her beauty gnarled,
But now her truth is given me to live,
As I learn for myself we must be hard
To move among the tender with an open hand,
And to stay sensitive up to the end
Pay with some toughness for a gentle world.

---

The Growing Edge Podcast

You can listen here, or on Substack, I-Tunes, Spotify or where ever you get your podcasts!

The Growing Edge June Podcast: Episode 56: “Toughness for a Gentle World”—A Conversation about May Sarton’s Poem “An Observation”.

In this episode, Parker J. Palmer and Carrie Newcomer explore May Sarton’s poem, “An Observation.” Gardening is rich with metaphors for a well-lived life. Amend and prepare the soil. Plant the seeds, tend them, and weed out whatever impedes growth. Marvel at the process and share the harvest: we’re here to feed one another as well as ourselves. “An Observation” offers a less obvious metaphor: a life lived in the service of the common good needs to be both gentle and strong, tender and fierce.

We hope you’ll join us for this rich conversation!

Visit our website for the full archives of The Growing Edge Podcast. If you enjoy the podcast please remember to rate us on I-Tunes, Spotify to help us reach new listeners and grow the conversation!

Question of the Month

What did our conversation about “An Observation” bring up for you? What does it mean to lean into love that is gentle and strong, tender and fierce?

---

Parker’s Online Appearances

The Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame sponsors a podcast called “Virtues and Vocations.” I recently sat down with Suzanne Shanahan, the Center’s Executive Director, to explore our shared concerns. You can watch the video HERE.

Pendle Hill, the Quaker living-learning community near Philadelphia, where I spent eleven formative years of my life, has a podcast called “The Seed.” You can listen HERE to a recent session they titled “Embracing Paradox with Parker Palmer.”

A new book about my longtime work in the fields of spirituality and education has just been published. It’s available HERE.

---

Carrie’s Tour Schedule

Carrie will be doing only limited shows in the next months taking time for writing, reflection and creative living. :-) For more information about shows this summer and fall, and to reserve your tickets visit: www.carrienewcomer.com/tour

---