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Invitation to Poetry: Give Me a Word

Welcome to Poetry Party #74!

button-poetryI 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 invitation on your blog (if you have one), Facebook, or Twitter, and encourage others to come join the party!

We began this month with a  Community Lectio Divina practice on the ancient desert practice of asking for a word, and followed up with our Photo Party on the theme of “Give Me a Word” inspired by our invitation to let a word for 2014 choose you (here – you can still share it, although prize winners have been announced).   We continue this theme in our Poetry Party this month.

Write a poem inspired by your word, something you could use as a prayer or blessing throughout the year, or just a simple reminder of how your word is inviting you to be in the year to come. In our free 12-day mini-retreat one of the suggestions was to write an acrostic poem from your word, where you write your word vertically on the page and each letter becomes the first letter for that particular line of the poem. See what form your poem wants to take!

You can post your poem either in the comment section below*or you can join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group (with more than 1000 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.

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Michael Moore

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Wisdom Council member Michael Moore’s reflection on Sabbath and Silence. I am thankful to Christine and the Abbey community for this opportunity

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45 Responses

  1. My word is Auspicious

    The time is Auspicious
    Energy
    Con-spic -uous!
    Ambitious!
    The feeling delicious
    A Spirit infusion
    Dexstrous
    Expectant
    Pregnant with Joy!
    Drawn from the well
    Despair
    Through the Alchemy
    Of simple Humanity
    And into the Light
    Auspicious

  2. My word is ‘longing’.

    Longing, Working,
    Hoping, Yearning,
    Praying, Longing…

    To find the way,
    to make a path,
    toward healing.

    Healing for my body,
    Freedom from fatigue;
    The lifting of depression,
    I long to find relief.

    Healing for the hurting,
    Comfort for those who grieve;
    Peace for all in turmoil,
    Cures for all disease.

    Healing for this world of ours,
    For violence to cease;
    Equality for humankind,
    For justice, love, and peace.

    Longing, Working,
    Hoping, Yearning,
    Praying, Yearning,
    That all may know God’s peace.

  3. My word is “easy”.

    Easy

    Be easy,
    easy
    Let the made-up talking heads
    shrill out their lies,
    a fist full of rocks
    bouncing off your head.

    Easy,
    be easy
    in the neon of big screen violence.

    Let the dark creatures of skin searing death
    ooze through these waters
    carrying their load of unremitting agony.

    Easy,
    be easy
    in this land of military glory

    as the red lips slither over white teeth
    as the warheads rest in their beds.

    Be easy
    easy

  4. FOUND POEM

    ‘There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change.
    But it doesn’t change.’

    Believing, I unravel a length of my strand – just long enough
    to discover how RESILIENT settled upon my spirit.

    ‘While you hold it you can’t get lost.’

    Believing, I summon up the trail of words that must have been traveled:

    JOY
    MYSTERY
    SHED
    DELIGHT
    FEARLESS….
    I am not unsettled by the indecipherable pattern.

    ‘Nothing you do can stop life’s unfolding.’

    Believing, I write my haiku

    irrepressible
    buoyant flexibility
    ebullient me

    ‘You don’t ever let go of the thread.’

    ~ deep thanks to William Stafford, ‘The Way It Is’

  5. My word for this year is Focus:

    For
    Overcoming
    Chasing
    Useless
    Stressors

    For
    Obligations
    Choosen
    Unwisely
    Swiftly

    For
    Outreaches
    Cramping
    Under
    Service

    For
    Outside
    Circle’s
    Unabated
    Screams

    For
    Oculars
    Circumventing
    Using
    Spirit

    For
    Our
    Church’s
    Unheard
    Sirens

    For
    Out-thought
    Childlike
    Understanding,
    Simplicity

    FOCUS….