Welcome to our 36th Poetry Party!
I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add them in the comments section and a link to your blog (if you have one). Make sure to check the comments for new poems added and I encourage you to leave encouraging comments for each other either here or at the poet’s own blog.
ADDED NOTE: Mister Linky is acting kind of funny and not loading properly and slowing down the loading of my blog, so for now we’re doing this the old-fashioned way and posting the poems and links in the comments section. Thanks!
Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog if you have one and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post)
On Friday, June 5th, I will draw a name at random from those who participate and send the winner a signed copy of my book Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness.
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The Poetry Party Theme: Light & Shadow
This week’s theme is in honor of my dear friend lucy with whom I co-facilitate a monthly supervision group using the expressive arts. For our session last week she invited the participants to go on a little photographic journey exploring shadow and light.
I decided to take some of the time to engage in the exercise myself. It was a brilliant day and so shadows abounded. It was fascinating to follow each invitation to the next, noticing where my attention was being drawn. I took a lot of photos of shadows of various things (and I’ll post some of those later in the week) but the image to the right remains my favorite. My own shadow image holding my camera and a beautiful tree. I continue to sit with what I notice about these two shadows in relationship to each other and the illuminated space between us. Summer shadows have a darker intensity and can reveal the shape of things.
In the brilliant light of days growing longer, what do we encounter in the shadows that may have been hidden to us before? What do you discover in the interplay between shadow and light? You can write your poem directly in response to the image, or allow it to be a jumping off point for your own musings on the theme.
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© Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts:
Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts
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35 Responses
In each of us are
light and shadow
hope and fear
joy and pain
We live as paradox
holding in tension
conflicting truths
and opposing emotions
What glue holds us
keeps us from flying apart
gives us strength in weakness
and humility with our pride?
What makes us whole
instead of two halves
brings us into the light
paints us with joyous color?
bonded
i have seen you
playing
building castles
in the sand then
gleefully knocking
them down.
i have seen you
laughing
screaming at
the sudden freeze
of ice-cream toppling
from its perch.
i have seen you
crying
sobbing when
a beloved has
been hurt
senselessly.
i can never escape
the light that
radiates from
you slicing
through my
darkness.
i cannot run
fast enough to
be separated from
the brilliance that
reflects off of
your joy.
you are always there.
Brief Encounter
Seeing her
cut me to the core like a razor
to the wrist a one-second
glance through lenses
surrounded by black
head to toe. And
the elevator door closed.
She disappeared.
My heart stopped,
seized by questions.
What brought you here?
to this mall, this capital
of capitalism?
What do you think
of our half-clad women?
Of our wars? And
how will you eat?
But there will
be no conversation,
no connection. Ever.
I drove home weeping,
my new, “crabapple”
spring suit lying on
the back seat
from Macy’s.
Martha Louise Harkness
June 2, 2009
Mr. Linky seems to be causing trouble all over the internet. Mr Linky is on the blinky.
Me, too
Once
I wrote a poem
and then closed it up
in a black bound notebook
where it kept its silence
for months or years.
When the page fell open again
the words rose up
dancing before my eyes
and I wondered about
the mysterious creature
who had written them.
Who is she?
Have I even begun
to know her?
She is the cool summer morning
and the quiet autumn twilight
that I wait longingly for
but whose presence
I will never command.
And now I sit here
in the still of the morning
my sharpened yellow pencil
beside the empty page
tuning my ears
to the sound of her voice
so much wiser
and more beautiful
than my own.
Grandmother’s admonishment:
“No need to turn on the light, dear —
Dusk is the most blessed part of the day.”
~ kigen
Like many American males, if I had it to do all over again I’d give my soul to rock & roll.
Shadow & Light
Shadow and light, babe
there’s a change in the weather
Ain’t nothin’ on earth
gonna keep us together
Keep watchin’ the sky
Don’t think of tomorrow
That look in your eye
tells me of your sorrow
I can’t think of one thing
that really has to be done
I can’t think of one race
that really has to be won
Don’t know this country
what’s that language they’re speakin’
It’s getting dark now
it’s the night come a-creepin’
Quick, gimme your hand
I’m taking a fast ride
I see a light shining down
And there’s no place I can hide
The things that I’m leavin’
it’s only you I’ll miss
Come on and lean closer
gimme one last kiss
I can’t think of one thing
that really had to be done
I can’t think of one race
that really had to be won.
Light fell
through the trees,
catching me
watching your shadow.
This moment
grasped by Eternity’s reach,
a precious gift
to share with friends.
Monkheart, I love your words right from the title — “The Shadow Knows” evokes all kinds of wonder in me. What does the shadow know that I have yet to discover? And so I enter your poem with eagerness and the journey does not disappoint, you invite me in to sit with them without fear or judgment. Thank you Roy!
The Shadow Knows
Sit under the forbidden tree,
And never mind the tempter.
Gently close your eyes,
And step into the world of shadows.
Sit with them in peace,
And listen with your heart.
They will talk about being ignored,
about being pushed aside,
about being forgotten.
They will say,
‘We bring you mercy and lovingkindness
From the Good Shepherd.
This is why we follow you around.’
Sit and listen with your heart.
They have much to say to you
about your fear of shadows.
Because you have much to learn
about love.