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
Reliance
Roasting under the light of Ego’s reflected glory
Ecstatic utterances of the nonsensical Self dull the inner ear
Laying the foundation for a crippled wall graffiti’d with the words
I am
Annoyed at the graphed trend of life when overlaid by that of others
Now seeing the pet for what he really is,- the dragon “Self Fulfillment”
Comes to roar his demands for more and more until
Every nerve is consumed in the hellish flame of exhaustion and fear
Relationship with the One-in-three and the Three-in-one
Enjoyed for His sake and His pleasure
Laying beside a pleasant stream on cool mossy ground
I sit and wait for his voice to call, to direct, to provide
Allowing the I AM to put His sword to the breast of the dragon
Nuzzling into the warm mane of the great Aslan, releasing fear
Coming to the ever-feast of acceptance and rest
Expectations exceeded in His all consuming, intimate communion
Such a lavish reliance and intimacy flows back and forth between you and Aslan. Thank you for this dance with the Trinity.
Sanctuary Blessing
Stand at thresholds and know my peace, no matter the circumstance
Announce to your soul often that now is all there is and dwell in it
Need for nothing save the gift of this moment
Care gently for your soul and the souls of others through the gifts you have been given
Trust honestly and exorbitantly in my grace
Understand deeply that I am always with you, even when I seem absent
Anticipate wonder in simple things and events
Yearn for my company
(My word is Sanctuary)
Reposting my blessing as my “R” got deleted in the above post somehow. Here it is again …
Sanctuary Blessing
Stand at thresholds and know my peace, no matter the circumstance
Announce to your soul often that now is all there is and dwell in it
Need for nothing save the gift of this moment
Care gently for your soul and the souls of others through the gifts you have been given
Trust honestly and exorbitantly in my grace
Understand deeply that I am always with you, even when I seem absent
Anticipate wonder in simple things and events
Realize my potential in you
Yearn for my company
I am touched by the gentleness and tender care offered in your poem
Completion
My word is completion but I have had a hard time coming up with an acrostic, so a Haiku will do.
Completion is gold
It makes me feel terrific
A goal to behold
Such elation! :)
A Tenderness of Leaving
Tears come, not in great heaving sobs of emotion,
but in the quiet slip sliding overflow of gratitude down the cheek.
I look out over this community of faith
that lies so close to my heart
And seek each face to embrace as dear,
as part of who I am now become,
Of who we have become together.
I have been changed.
Some deep abiding unseen hole within my heart
has filled with grace.
And now that grace leaks down my face.
I stand here silenced,
in the awe of knowing you.
My word is “tenderness.”
The tenderness of your poem moved me to tears, Jeanne.
Resonant bells toll for a Holy pause
Essential energy spirals inward
Passion burns bright
Orion joins the silent symphony
Sapphire flame singes parched edges
Ebony ashes return to the earth
My word is REPOSE. The origin is pausare – to rest or pausa – to pause
My ears are alerted to the sound of these bells tonight.
My word is Blossom
Blooming through the winter gray
Lo, how a rose (might bloom)—squirrels outside think it’s spring, 60 degree January days
Oh, but a premature instinct, as is mine, to think I have spring fever so soon in this new year
Snow blankets everything today, like we were dipped in an icy white coating
So, we’re given the gift of more time to germinate, and ruminate, and I prepare my simple bloom.
On we travel through the days, and grow with the shadows; sprawling through the afternoon.
My blossoming is here. Whether winter or spring—I wax with new fullness with each passing day of this
new precious year. My glowing and flowering, a bright thread connected to the moon
I follow her sure metamorphosis as she glides through elapsed time, so I transfigure, too.
Unforced blossoming, all in due time. I can feel the gentle yet powerful life force within
My word is REACH
Recalibrating, relinquishing
Embracing this season of enough
Attentive and astonished
Called to this journey
Holy mystery
Such a yielded reaching…
This Year, Becoming
Becoming one who brings peace in the midst of anxiety
Becoming one who sings the truth in her heart
becoming one who sees God everywhere she looks
Becoming one who distills life into a poem
Becoming one
May you become one, Joanne.
INNOCENCE—IN NO SENSE
a state of living where everything is Unknown.
Imagining another way to Be, I claim innocence
Not naive or unworldly
Not childish but child like. Pure. Lacking suspicion and judgement.
Open to wonder. Being awe struck by Creation
Seeing the beauty of the natural world, I come home to my own creative Mystery
Embracing peace, joy, contentment. letting go of striving, planning, preparing
Naked, am I, unshielded, undefended
Showing the world my tenderness and trusting that my
Exuberance will be lovingly accepted.
I Imagine along with you this other way to Be.
My Word for 2013 is COURAGE
Courage calls me to a new way of being
Of being Alive
United with the flow of Creation deep within.
Response requires boldness and trust I barely know
Awed, vulnerable, energized in wondrous possibility, I hear the words
“Go deep,” and with heartfelt knowing I begin this uncharted journey
Eager, yearning to live courageously … right here, right now, today.
I bless your courage to go deep in this uncharted journey of being Alive.