Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows translated one of my favorite books of poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke, called Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God.
In the zine shown in the video above, I use a quote from my favorite poem in that book, called Go to the Limits of Your Longing. I have it taped to the wall above my computer and read it often:
“God speaks to each of us as (s)he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.”
Such a gorgeous translation. Maybe better than the original German! Or so I imagine from reading other translations of this poem.
You need to be a really good poet to translate poetry.
I did, however, make one tiny change that I also put in the quote above. Rilke was from a much different era and always called God “he.” But in my zine, I took the liberty of adding a (s) in front of his ‘he” to say “(s)he” because my feelings on that issue are strong. And zines are all about strong feelings. ;)
If you are not familiar with the wonderful Joanna Macy, she is a renowned mystic, spiritual teacher, and environmental activist as well as a talented poet and translator.
Macy turned 96 in May and recently entered hospice care, so it’s likely she will not be with us on the physical plane much longer. But what a blessing to have had her here on Earth for so long, and what an inspiring example of how to live a life of art, beauty, and service to Gaia.
A Quarterly Offering
My other impetus for making this zine is that every quarter I send my founding subscribers a small art zine, and this pink one is my 2025 second quarter offering.
If you’d like to have one too, you can upgrade your subscription (or just read about your options) here.
So far, I’ve made three zines for my founding subscribers, and each one is quite different from the others. I never know what I’m gonna make until the spirit moves me.
You can watch this video about the first zine I created last year, which was a pretty elaborate handmade “Z” book about the electoral college and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. I printed every cover by hand, researched and wrote all the text, and sewed in the signatures on both sides.
For the first quarter of 2025, I printed a zine from one of my short-form sketchbooks where I make seven or eight spontaneous but related drawings on separate sheets of paper and then glue them together into a book. In the photo above, that’s the one in the back on the right hand side. Each drawing was started from dripped ink.
For this quarter, I created this little pink one from a loose watercolor painting that I did on heavy 9” x 12” mixed-media paper.
I’m sharing these details because, if you’re not a founding subscriber, you might have wondered what the zines that founding subscribers get actually look like. Or maybe you had no idea that I even send little physical artworks out in the mail four times a year, or that you could be on the list of folks who receive them.
Or perhaps you’re just wondering what a “founding subscriber” is?
Basically, there are three subscription options available on Substack—free, paid, and “founding.” The paid and founding subscriptions are both annual, but a founding subscription is usually more because it’s an expression of extra support. All Substack writers handle that founding subscription differently, but here at The Pink Teacup, I mail my founding subscribers a small art zine each quarter as a thank you.
It’s been an expansive experience for me to do this because I love creating physical objects; I feel like I’m making presents; and I enjoy all the creative unfolding that happens when I make these zines.
For instance, on this latest zine, after I finished folding, gluing, and trimming all the books, I gave them the once over and decided I needed to “gild” all the page edges with gold paint because 1) I’m a sucker for small touches, 2) I love old books that have that feature, and 3) let’s face it, gold and pink look great together.
Once that was finished, I felt it needed a closure, so I cut strips of vellum to create a band, which in turn needed its own little something, so I created and printed little Pink Teacup labels, which I soon realized needed their own gold edges.
The addition of the vellum band and label made me happy because I have a background in gift design and “resolving” the presentation in this way made the little book feel complete. My baby was officially all grown up and I could send her out into the world.
July
Even though we’re now in the third quarter of the year, if you decide to upgrade in the month of July, I’ll send you this pink one asap. And if you wait to sign up or upgrade in August or later, that’s cool too; you’ll just get the next zine rather than this one, which should go out at the end of September.
And if you never upgrade, that’s okay too!
Because while it means the world to me when readers upgrade to being either a paid or founding subscriber, please know that whatever you decide, it’s all good. I’ll share what I make for the founders from time to time and invite you to join in, but I love all my subscribers—free, paid, or founding—because you’re all my peeps! And I’m genuinely grateful you’re here.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the little video above. If you want to hear Joanna Macy reading the poem in its short entirety, click here.
P.S. If you’re a regular paying subscriber and are curious about upgrading to the founding level, Substack will actually pro-rate your subscription and adjust the pric accordingly.
P.P.S. If you’re a founding subscriber and haven’t received your zine yet, I mailed it out on Monday July 7. The post office seems to be moving slower and slower. I think the right wing plan is to make the post office seem so inefficient, they can say, ”See how poorly run it is? This is because it’s run by the government. We need to privatize…”
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