Welcome to the Abbey’s 64th Poetry Party!
We are making a little departure this month from our usual format where I select an image for you to illuminate with your words.
This month the invitation is to write a poem inspired by your word for the year (and even though that drawing is over, you are still welcome to post your word there – and if you already shared a poem there, please share it again here to have them all gathered together).
I will suggest you make it an acrostic poem which is where each letter of your word forms the first letter of a line of your poem, but all poetic forms are most welcome here. Consider writing a blessing for the year ahead inspired by your word.
Scroll down and add it in the comments section below to share it with the Abbey community. 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!
On Friday, February 1st I will draw a name at random to win a space in the upcoming online Lenten retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen.
199 Responses
These are all amazing!
My word is “discover”
The road to discovery
Dwell sweetly in the time you have
Invest in the audacity you need
Select your standpoint with loving care, and stand there
Cherishing the seedlings of inspiration
Openingto the largeness, the largesse
Vanquishing the veils that shield you from
Expressing reverence for the simple raw newness before you,
Refreshing and revealing your very soul.
I also illustrated it in in colour here…http://flic.kr/p/dPPjhQ
Thanks for the inspiration, Christine.
http://flic.kr/p/dPPjhQ
‘Invest in the audacity you need’: priceless!! – I enjoyed gazing at your version in color as well; thanks!
This is lovely, Sherry. “Dwell sweetly” ~ I’m savoring these words tonight.
Poem based on part of my “Word(s)” for 2013
Beloved
Become … unfold … be
everything I call you to be — and
live fully all I invite you to experience this year;
open your heart.
Vanquished be your clinging to that which no longer nourishes,
emerge from your hiding — do not be afraid.
Depend solely on my deep, enduring love.
This speaks to me of the posturing of belovedness. Blessings, beloved.
My word for 2013 is MOVE
More and more,
Over and over,
Veritas
Emerges
Maybe late but
Oh I hope always
Viriditas
Evolves within and without.
May the Divine Assitance remain always with us
and with our absent friends.
Amen and amen…
Every one of these is an offering, indeed, a blessing for this new and unfolding year; I’m full as I begin to consider making my own poetry: thank you!
Free spirit soaring on the wind
Love for all and for all things
Opening to welcome all of life
Willing to be; to be free.
Soaring…opening…willing. Lovely.
Surrender
Shroud yourself in Silence, the
Ushering in of Mercy’s wings, the
Rising up of Earth, the
Reaching down of Heaven
Ever coming closer as hands stilled in prayer, and
Notice the nesting rose inside the Earth, inside the
Darkness, inside the heart where Destiny’s dream
Enters the body and flowing life unfurls the flowers of
Reverence, Silence, Wonder and Love.
Beautiful!
The nesting rose…beautiful imagery.
Restore
Reaching from out to in, future through past for this tactile day.
Evading the magnetic north of separation.
Still looking for merging faces.
Tacit in self-flagellation, preferring the flesh of music.
Origins reemerge and kiss what will be with lips of what was.
Resuscitate loves long lost with luster removed.
Eternity wins out over the bully of time.
“Evading the magnetic north of separation” ~ ahhh, this is such a pull. So many poignant images of restoration in your poem.
BE A VESSEL
Begin by being open
Every day, every moment,
Always available,
Visible and invisible,
Every event, every happening
Says, ‘Receive me –
See the blessing,
Embrace everything,
Live fully to the brim.’
“Every event, every happening says ‘receive me.” This sings of an open, receptive vessel!
I am a travel photographer so my word is pilgrimage. Inspired by Christine, my poem is a cross between a haiku and an acrostic poem where, in this case, the first letter of each successive word joins together to spell “pilgrimage”.
Proceed In Loving Guidance Rooted In Motion And Grace Eternal
What a lovely picture of pilgrimage this paints, Annie.
LISTEN – a reflection on this morning’s walk!
Light touches the skyline – it seems easier to listen in these quiet moments
I set out on the morning walk, eyes and ears attuned to messages.
Solitude offers space to listen before daily classroom buzz.
The pile of leaves beneath bare branched tree prompts
Echoes of childhood playfulness
No-one sees me mischievously shuffle, kick and scrunch
as I
LISTEN
for God’s laughter, melding with my own.
I smile at God’s laughter melding with yours, and I find myself wanting to go jump in a big pile of leaves!