Welcome to Poetry Party #72!
I select an image (*photo above by Quaker minister Brent Bill) 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 from Thomas Merton and followed up with our Photo Party on the theme of “The Call to Our True Selves.” (You are most welcome to still participate). We continue this theme in our Poetry Party this month.
Thomas Merton’s words invite us to consider the sainthood of creation, living into the fullness of their purpose and call. We can refuse this call for ourselves, and often do, but we can also choose to respond to the witness of nature to deepen into who we are. Write a poem which explores this journey.
You can post your poem either in the comment section below*or you can join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group (with almost 900 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 Brent Bill
24 Responses
tall, slender, grandeur,
reaching skyward to limitless heights
contrasts with palms so low to the ground
being sheared of fans to stimulate growth
like those we carry on palm sunday
journeying to trueness with Christ
the desert rejoices in green oasis
against stark sandy dunes around
i am naked of summer’s green mountain dress
searching the sands of time
to unreachable spaces of the heart
God whispers memories on wind songs
and heaven’s heights bend down
shimmering a message with falling leaves
brightly colored from my twin’s street
like the folds of a flag topped with La Habra
heights and depths of agony and ecstasy
numinous passing rippling streams of grief
let me gaze into infinite skies of blue
horizons of sunrise and sunset
following the mystery of waves on endless shore
photo parties of trees in the abbey circle
comfort in the journey to the point Beyond
the star of night twinkling a know not change
from cocoon to butterfly self
and the flutter of eternity in Light
Autumn Leaves
Leaves
Brilliant, Beauty
Glowing, Falling, Dying
Autumn’s call to reflect
Foliage
11/15/13
All from a seed, the tree.
In her simplicity she
Stands.
Her roots going deeper. Deeper.
Budding, leafing, blooming.
Yielding in season.
Beginning again.
All from a seed, the tree.
In her majesty she
Stands.
Her branches reaching higher. Higher.
Waving breeze, sheltering shade.
All from a seed, the aging tree.
In her wisdom she
Bends.
Her gnarled bark
Faithful to her creation.
All from a seed, the tree
Welcomes my wondering.
Invites me
To be where I am,
Grow in grace,
Be faithful to my creation.
All from a seed, the tree.
All from a seed, me.
As darkness melts into light
trees root deeply into earth and
soar to shimmery whispers
against the welcoming sky.
I am offering my poem on my blog at
http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2013/11/the-call-to-our-true-selves-poetry.html
Rare November blue,
a porcelain bowl with tracery of trees,
fragile as a soul.
This day will break,
shatter, the wind will sweep the shards.
The trees will keep
like bones.
Like we who are willing.
exquisite Janice
Trees reach upwards,
holding out hopeful leaves,
releasing all insecurities.
Theirs is the essence of trust,
being rooted in one place
they know they have all they need,
they do not even need to know that.
How alive is a tree?
Is turning, arching wood alive?
Is a tree asking questions?
There are answers
in those branches,
holding out their hands.
My poem: Life of a Tree.
http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2013/11/life-of-tree-poem.html
Thank you for the prompt!
This was written yesterday (hope that is OK). I had walked 2.5 miles to photograph a yoga class for my friend, the owner, for her website. Of course it was another 2.5 miles back home and while I walked through the neighborhoods, shuffling through leaves on the sidewalk like a child would, I re-focused, allowing the walk to deepen my inner spirit while I meditated on the five senses during my walk. These are the words I penned (yes — penned and then keyed). The photo was also gifted to me along the walk. I call this …
The Five Sense Walk
Zigzagging through streets
Embracing all that surrounds
On an autumn day.
Legs step in rhythm
The warm wind brushing my cheek
Hair tickling my eyes.
Breathing crispy air
Inhalation of oak leaves
And sweetness of pine.
Sounds all around me
Rustling of leaves at my feet
Floating and whirling.
Envisioning all
Charming homes align the streets
Branches reach above.
The walk climaxing
An appetite builds inside
A short distance more.
Tea kettle whistling
Delighting my senses with
Lemon ginger tea.
Know
One word given to me
“know”
know how the root touches water
know how the leaf dances in the wind
know how the canopy entwines the sky
know the feel of smooth bark
white as bleached bone
worn smooth by wind and water
know root and water
wind and leaf
crown and sky
know and be
Pamela Olson, 11/18/2013
Earth pierces sky
Penetrated by beauty
Defined by upright strength
Waving in the breeze
Saluting the Universe
Bark, branches & shimmering leaves
In Prayer
Mary Ann Sinclair
Poetry Party #72