Mark in conversation with Marianna Caccaitore

The Journey of Awakening: Conversation with Mark Nepo

Read the full transcript here.

A poem from the interview:

Winter Confession

I’ve tried to follow every wind and

listen for its source. I’ve tried to follow

every light, and with my face in the sun,

all the things we carry that are afraid of

the light scurry to the back of my mind.

I’ve tried to find the truth and when I

have, I’ve found it’s everywhere, and that

I step over it in my pain or want for some-

thing I can’t have. Thankfully there have

been ordinary blessings. When I followed

your presence into what would be our love.

When I took a left in the path that led to

the sea and stayed there for days, putting

down all the names I’d been given. How

months later, while dropping a book of

poems by George Seferis, a wet clump

of grass stained his instruction to speak

plainly. And the small light that brought

me back while I was in surgery. It was a

crack of dawn promising so much, if I

could just get up and walk beyond death’s

slim tree. And here I am, all these years

later, mouth open, still in awe. Yesterday,

in the pines, my dog put her nose in the

snow. What a teacher. I slipped to one

knee and did the same.