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
My belated word is “unfettered”. It has appeared to me four times this week. A message. Christine, I’m too late for this week’s assignment but a poem is brewing in my head.
jean Crane
Finding Open doors
With an Unhindered heart
Transparent before you
Absolved.
Sure-footed
Rid of the clutter, traps, distractions
and Hurdling over remaining barriers.
Pardoned,
Lucid and luminous,
Clear.
My word is impregnate.
In opening to love
My womb sings her fiat
Pervade my being with joy in
Relation
Each moment pregnant with
Grace abundant to be awake
Now
Ambling
Together towards Love’s
Eternal flame
Unforced blossoming, all in due time. I can feel the gentle yet powerful life force within.
B – become who you are meant to be
R – rest in your becomingness
A – accept the process
V – value the journey
E – encourage fellow pilgrims
Reverence
Reverence reveals
Endless
Viriditas-
Energizing
Renewing and
Enlivening;
Never ceasing in
Creating and
Expressing God’s own reverence.
Many reverence for all creation
infuse my being
sharpen my attention
and expand my heart.
I am grateful for this word, reverence, and for the reminder of the word viriditas. More than a decade ago, our sacred dance company ‘lived’ with Hildegard for a year as we created a series of pieces on her life and writings.
“BE”
to have reality; exist
to take place; happen
to occupy a place; lie
to come or go – stay or continue
Believe, I do, that You dwell in my very
Essence, I become Your presence
Believe, I do, that You desire to
Eliminate sadness and sorrow and I
Believe, I do, that You fill me with
Everlasting love and ask me to rest
Believe, I do, You desire to hold me and
Enclose me in Your heart
Believe, I do, my breath is Yours and
Everywhere I go, You are, I am
Believe, I do, our oneness is for
Eternity and I am grateful
I’ll say ‘Amen!’ to that; lovely expression of BE-ing.
Thanks Carolyn ..
I’ll add another amen!
I too love and appreciate the sentiments in this poem. Thank you.
Salmon.
When i woke at 3am
RestlessSadandScared,
i wanted to be
slippery.
Hey,
Does it feel like pushing, flapping, wriggling?
Do you try?
Is there
a muscular flex of determination
in traveling your way?
Does it feel
at all
wet?
Watch me now–
tiny-brained, mighty in instinct,
measuring resistance,
feeling flow.
Great questions! They have me wondering….
You’re writing a song with this as lyrics, right? If not, you should. It feels quite lively to me.
What a wonderful collection of poetry! I love the idea of an acrostic poem, so here is mine…
Effort Less
ever-reaching, striving, grasping, trying to
fix and control and direct and
find what was never lost to begin with…
opening finally to a relentless truth, a
re-remembering, an invitation
to be still, to know…there is right here
let it go, let it be, let it come with
ease, nothing more or less than what is, in this
silence I listen, in this
stillness I rest
I found myself taking a deep breath at the words “opening finally.”
These poems are all amazing! Thank you to everyone who has participated so far. I have been cherishing each one. . .