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Invitation to Poetry: Softening and Yielding

Claudia Gregoire

Welcome to Poetry Party #71!

button-poetryI select an image (*photo above by fellow monk in the world Claudia Gregoire) and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. Scroll down and add it in the comments section below or join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group and post there.

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!  (If you repost the photo, please make sure to include the credit link below it and link back to this post inviting others to join us).

We began this month with a Community Lectio Divina practice and followed up with our Photo Party on the theme of “Softening and Yielding.” (You are most welcome to still participate).  We continue this theme in our Poetry Party this month.

Here in the northern hemisphere it is autumn which calls us into the journey of surrender, release, and radical yielding of our own agendas, into the holy direction of letting our grasp soften and open and be spacious, welcoming in whatever comes.

You can post your poem either in the comment section below*or you can join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group (with over 700 members!) and post there.

*Note: If this is your first time posting, or includes a link, your comment will need to be moderated before it appears. This is to prevent spam and should be approved within 24 hours.

You can see the fall calendar of invitations here>>

*Photo by Claudia Gregoire

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41 Responses

  1. the shimmering came
    in Christine’s words
    in today’s liturgy
    Lord and lover of souls
    whose imperishable spirit
    inhabits all things
    in the leaves of autumn
    and thinness of veil
    visible dancing between world
    darkness and light
    swirling and twirling
    a Presence, a whisper
    a song of Divine Beauty
    He lives… they live
    in the Surround
    In the Embrace of Love eternal

  2. in response to “but doubts and loves Dig up the world…”, the following emerging~

    listen to your doubts
    and questions ~ where are you called?
    follow the loves now

    1. JoAnne, I feel as though God is speaking to me through you…..what a blessing this haiku!!!!!

  3. A title finally came to me….(thank you Christine)

    DANCING MONKS

    In the land
    of granite mountains
    prayer flags
    celebrate the wind
    brilliant
    through the trees
    they dance in sun
    and snow
    dance away their lives
    until
    gray and tattered
    they hang,
    their prayers
    released into the universe

  4. In the land
    of granite mountains
    prayer flags
    celebrate the wind
    brilliant
    through the trees
    they dance in sun
    and snow
    dance away their lives
    until
    gray and tattered
    they hang
    their prayers
    released into the universe

  5. I’m independent!
    Don’t tell me what to do!
    I’m strong and brave!

    I admit my age
    Tasks take longer; some I miss
    Movement is slower.

    Hard to accept help
    Independence is failing
    I yield to love.

    The arm is out reached.
    With thanksgiving I grasp
    And experience grace.

  6. living in this heart
    soft whisperings calling now
    say yes! trust this one

    “and a whisper will be heard…”
    yes ~ with deep gratitude ~ and continuing ~

  7. This yellow leaf,
    once was green with promise.
    It was connected, nourished, and alive.

    Hints of the fall were all around:
    Crisp evenings, rushing winds, and shorter days.
    But this yellow leaf fell in silence.

    There was no sound as she surrendered to the swirling water.
    Her story was not collected, heaped up or leaped into.

    She twirled, calmly, quietly and silently; so as not to cause a stir on the surface.

    But the space she left behind was deep, wide, and shouted of her absence.

    Yellow leaf had curly raven hair, ice blue eyes, fair skin and freckles –
    that showed themselves when you stood close.

    Silence should not claim your life.
    So today, I shared the story of your death and the dream of our goodbye
    that gave me hope to keep on living.

    Yellow leaf,
    no more will you float in silence.

    You should dance on the wind,
    swirl dramatically into your favorite wood,
    and be swept up over and over again:
    for leaping, laughter and your loud, love of life.

    By: Tara Lamont (Rain) Eastman – October 2013
    Dedicated to Heather Lynn Rain – Sister and first best friend.