Welcome to Poetry Party #74!
I suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. Scroll down and add it in the comments section below or join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group and post there.
Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the invitation on your blog (if you have one), Facebook, or Twitter, and encourage others to come join the party!
We began this month with a Community Lectio Divina practice on the ancient desert practice of asking for a word, and followed up with our Photo Party on the theme of “Give Me a Word” inspired by our invitation to let a word for 2014 choose you (here – you can still share it, although prize winners have been announced). We continue this theme in our Poetry Party this month.
Write a poem inspired by your word, something you could use as a prayer or blessing throughout the year, or just a simple reminder of how your word is inviting you to be in the year to come. In our free 12-day mini-retreat one of the suggestions was to write an acrostic poem from your word, where you write your word vertically on the page and each letter becomes the first letter for that particular line of the poem. See what form your poem wants to take!
You can post your poem either in the comment section below*or you can join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group (with more than 1000 members!) and post there.
*Note: If this is your first time posting, or includes a link, your comment will need to be moderated before it appears. This is to prevent spam and should be approved within 24 hours.
45 Responses
*restore*
at first, i resisted you
(and at the same time felt immensely loved)
because you seemed all-gift
like i didn’t have to DO anything.
and this is true, but also
not true
because it is a turning,
an asking.
eyes to see
ears to hear
what the spirit is restoring
to the self i have lost.
but here is today’s surprise
i thought you would be gentle to me
kind and easy
it sounds so pretty and lavish
to be restored.
but so far, this year has been
a series of the bravest of steps
and i am beginning
to see…
when powerlessness is what i have known
when hope and strength
are what the locusts have eaten
to be restored looks a whole lot like last year’s
*brave*
“restore my voice”
means i must speak
“restore my tenacity”
means when resistance ploughs through, it doesn’t win.
“restore my true self”
means i have to look. at. my. self.
allow myself to be seen
vulnerable.
but can you imagine what this work of art
will look like after a year of
opening to the loving hand
of the restorer?
“here i am… restore me?,” i whisper into the dark.
C – coming forth from the Advent journey
O- open to the paths of this new year
U- undeterred by mystery, questions and chaos
R – ready and willing to embrace whatever comes
A- asking for a heart shaped by humility and inner truth
G – God-driven, God-loved, God- worshipping
E- eternally grateful each and every day
COURAGE is the word that found me, the word holding me in this icy New England winter
HCS 1/20/14
This word that chose me….
gratitude….
comes back with the stealth of a cat
seeking a warm lap.
In the middle of the mundane chores of
a winter morning,
gray, and dull, and cold,
as I wipe away dirt and grime,
this word that chose me….
gratitude…..
touches me on the shoulder.
And in that moment
I see that it is all good,
the dirt, the grime,
the winter morning, gray and cold,
simply because
in this moment
this
is all that matters.
Reverence
R-reflect God’s graciousness
E-eagerly respond
V-volunteer with a smile
E-expand horizons
R-react with kindness
E-expect goodness
N-negotiate progress
C-contemplate peace
E-experience hope
F Free to be myself?
R Really?
E Even if I am not who others want me to be?
E Even if I say what others don’t want to hear?
D Dear God, free me from my self-imposed shackles
O of oppression from speaking my truth, living fully, authentically.
M Mold me into my true self, created in your image.
NET 1/13/14
Hear
cold snap
ice throb
wind whistle
silence
crunch of tread on unbroken snow
scrape of shovel against stone
plop and slither of snow slipping off the branch
silence
slow drip from icicle
creak and groan of breaking ice
scurried scratch of foot and beak searching
silence
Pamela Olson, 1/12/2014
word: butterfly golden light, golden drum
B- eautiful Light beckons
U- shering in 2014’s dance
T- hankfulness, wonder & mystery
T- oughtful pondering of 50 years
E- xplorations into realms of inner space
R- ituals of monastic living
F- ollowing the Risen One
L- ove unfathomable swirls and twirls
Y- ears of adventurous learning
G- lory’s peek-a-boo glimpses
O- pening windows of ethereal beauty
L- ayers of omniscience
D- rawing heart and mind
E- cstatic notes of the golden song
N- aming seasons of Rose & Lotus Bliss
L- aughing Buddha and Sunbeam Dance
I- gniting flames of conflagration
G-od/Goddess whirlwind frenzy
T- hat leads into a new age
G- olden drum beats throughout the cosmos
O- you who have ears – hear
L- earn the language of Stillness
D- ance at the Stillpoint of the turning world
E- xtend your arms to the heavens
N- uminous waves of golden Light beat
D- rumming Love’s timeless glory
R- thymns resounding
U- tter sublime phoenix ash golden lit
M-erging in the Great Beyond of Awakened twin’s swan song
true
residing
unto
self
this moment
~ trust ~
with deep gratitude
This is rhyme-y, which I don’t usually care for, but that’s how it came out. Took the suggestion of an acrostic, my phrase is “springs forth.”
Simply, slowly quietly
Pure, clean and fresh
Rising to the surface
I find His peaceful rest.
Never-ending fountain
Growing stronger with each day
Springing forth His promise
For a future long delayed
Oh see the new thing
Respond with joy and celebration
Time in its fullness
Harbinger of restoration
Finish
what you start
where you are
with the past
Finish
self-pity
regret
holding grudges
Finish
clearing clutter
tedious tasks
mending brokenness
See
the new thing?
the possibilities?
the joy?
Happy new year!