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Invitation to Poetry: Love Letters to the World

Welcome to the Abbey’s Poetry Party #55!

I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. Scroll down and add it in the comments section below. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one), Facebook, or Twitter, 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 Sunday, February 19th, I will draw a name at random from the participants and the winner will receive a free registration spot in my upcoming online art retreat for the season of Lent – Soul of a Pilgrim (February 22-April 7, 2012).

Image

This week we celebrate Valentine’s Day.  Instead of writing love letters and poems to our lovers and beloved ones, I am inviting you this week to write a poem that is a love letter to something from daily life, something absolutely ordinary, but when viewed in the right moment it becomes luminous.  It could be a seagull hovering over the water, steam rising from a cup of morning coffee, the beginning shoots of spring, even the dirty laundry left from someone we care about deeply, whatever it is that is calling your attention this week in the most ordinary and extraordinary way.

Click on the “leave a comment” feature and scroll down to the bottom to share your poem with this community.

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71 Responses

  1. Sing

    Embrace
    Caress
    Hold
    Touch the cross
    The cords of the strongholds unravel by power
    The strings of my heart tied to the horns of the alter
    Whoop it up with parade to a place of protection

  2. MY WORLD

    I am nourished, sustained and called to growth,
    By the things in life that surround me.
    I live a life of abundance and companionship
    With my Center and all He has created.

    It has been said, “no man’s an island” and my life
    Proves that true. For as I look at the world around me,
    He supports me from all sides and sustains me
    With all His creation in place.

    Every morning I awaken, to yet another of His miracles,
    Whether the sun is shining or obscured by clouds,
    They reflect His great power and unconditional love.
    Another chance for me to experience Him in all his glory.

    And all those things around me, which to others are insignificant,
    Also have their special purpose, supporting, enhancing or defining
    My existence! Even the dish cloth I use, is designed to lessen my load.
    The bee I find inside my flower bed, enriches my life too.

    Every plant, insect , animal and human being I encounter has it’s
    Purpose in my life. Living with them in harmony, I pattern my life
    Without strife. In peaceful connectedness with His creation,
    My life becomes so full, for I too have a purpose, to give back to Him
    What He has given me.

    So if I seem abundantly gifted; its because I spend my gifts,
    To make this world more perfect, to match the gift giver’s plan.
    The more I use my gifts, the more my cup is filled,
    Until it is overflowing, into the soil He tilled,
    Enriching the world I embrace.

  3. Over Scotland

    High flying, window glass reveals tattered floor-
    Pristine heaven greets eyes open to curving planet yonder
    Stretching, reaching, sky-borne, we soar.
    Place of kings bringing wonder to hearts that wonder.

    Stipple green, ground richly steeped in lush, purple hue-
    Woven pattern of road-cut scenes moves closer,
    Sky meets peripheral sky, horizon’s hazy blue.
    Shadows run as daylight comes.

    Well-fermented scenes from ancient dreams-
    Walls of stone, hearts of flesh, eyes of steel,
    Pageantry in motion, all is as it seems.
    Like God in man, surreal kisses real.

  4. Ahhh
    Candles lit
    Hot tea
    A quiet morning
    My entire being
    Longing
    to sink
    into this time of
    silence and solitude
    Eyes closed

    Suddenly
    A bark from the other room
    Intrudes
    Interrupts
    my agenda
    Needful dependence
    of another
    now takes
    center stage

    Jarred and
    slightly frustrated
    I rise to
    attend
    to this one
    whom I love
    so dearly
    yet apparently
    did not get the memo
    that this was MY time

    Standing outside
    The words of my lectio
    return to me
    singing ever so
    quietly
    and
    tenderly
    “Love is patient.”
    “Love is kind.”

    In a moment
    all is transformed
    with a simple question
    whispered
    ever so softly
    from within
    “Interruption?
    Or
    invitation?”

    Tension melts
    I smile as my
    eyes hug this
    delightful companion
    Unnoticed gifts
    burst on the scene
    Warming sunshine
    A tiny purple bud peaking forth
    A blackberry blossom
    enticing me
    to lose myself in its
    intoxicating fragrance

    Invitation.
    Is this not an
    Invitation to love?
    What if I embraced
    all interruptions
    as invitations?

    My thoughts turn to
    You
    Our “barks”
    Our needful
    dependent
    cries for help
    are not interruptions
    to You
    are they?
    But rather
    invitations of love
    Invitations for beloveds
    to share
    a kiss
    an embrace
    a dance

    Interruption?
    Or
    invitation?
    May my life
    be open
    to these
    disguised romances
    that await
    I sought my Beloved
    and found him
    in a most
    unexpected
    place

  5. [Love Song to Light]
    A wise man, noted
    that love not blind, sees
    more and chooses on seeing
    to turn; and so I see
    and cannot judge
    the bright loud colors
    you wear, splashing them
    light paint in my eyes
    over the coffin of my own sorrow;
    or the way you laugh, and dance
    and tease around the graffiti
    and the huddled lump
    that might be a person sleeping
    among the drifted trash
    or steal in, shaking me
    from the cobwebbed comfort
    of my bed to all the needs
    you will not cease to open your hands
    and show me, and show me
    until I do something.

  6. Incredible sights at the ocean .. my ocean. Today I fly home and thankfully I could say Goodbye, See Ya Later .. to my Mary. He was sitting quietly in a chair, tears streaming down his wonderful face .. remembering .. 62 years partners with his Mary, and now she is gone. Hugging my cousin at that moment meant so much. You are our Angel now Mary, I will always love you and embrace you when you are with me, which will always be.

  7. An Ode to Home & my Angel Mary ..

    I have watched your sunrises golden in the distance
    lavendar and pink streaks across the horizon,
    I have watched your sunsets .. and in the wee hours of the morning
    your moon set,
    The full moon shining through my window sending moonbeams
    dancing across the water .. slowly sinking into the ocean.

  8. Love’s whisper rests on my tongue
    it tastes of pear and shimmer
    It lingers, wet and moist
    waiting for my heart’s rise
    in rapid pulse to beat for you

    Love knows me well
    When the whisper bellowed
    and all my moist fruit
    was an offering to Venus
    naked and vulnerable

    The race of my heart
    wide open in my giving
    The luster of us a magic
    pulled from life’s cauldron
    of bubble and brew

    There is never a time
    When Love is not welcome
    When moist and whisper
    is food enough for days on end
    And I am Love and its vessel

    I am a whisper waiting
    I am the succulent fruit
    I taste of shimmer and pear
    I am the magic in the brew
    I am Love and its vessel
    My heart is open for you

  9. There is a moment
    when you’ve finally come to bed
    and pulled the covers up around your ears
    and mashed the pillows under your tired head

    There is a moment
    when you’ve snuggled in
    when you slide your feet over
    to find my feet
    and stretch your hand back
    to touch my back

    There is a moment
    right before we both fall asleep
    that we touch
    check in
    you’re here
    I love you
    sweet dreams.