In particular at this turning point, poetry month reminds me that there is so much beauty waiting to bust open my heart and that I want to be a part of creative community.  Yet, I have some tendencies to be…shall we say…imperfect.  And by imperfect I mean controlling, mean-spirited, preoccupied, aloof and holding a tendency towards being “right” rather than being “good.”

In some of the circles I move in, it is nearly cliche to say, but I am aligned with the sentiment expressed by Anaïs Nin:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”

Which means, here I am near the end of this month and forty days (closer to 78 days total, says the control freak) and contemplating interesting and imperfect futures.  Let me know what you are thinking and what you need to live into your next blooming…what do words mean to you?  I’d love to read your poem on the subject!
Writing Prompt:  Words mean…

something blooms

and we strive to capture the moment in time

but we know (from experience) that memories fade

and our images and imaginings will be inadequate

to the task of transforming our lives.

we forget the power and the poignancy

til a waft of the rose cross the mind when we cross the street

holding hands with possibility.  Again.

Writing Prompt:  I remember….(now just put pen to paper and write!)

Growing things and honey and lavender…

Creativity in words, music and images…

Clean hotel rooms with great room service (to be clear, that is not where I am, thank you “urban area- airport -place not to be named” – I don’t need to return here….(how thankful I am for THAT clarity)

A great poached egg.

Students open to the spirit, mystery and hope of their great callings…

Writing Prompt:  I am thankful for…

A Recipe for Poetry Month

Empty the spirit of all expectations especially for rhyme

Credit the moon and stars for their elegant pas de deux dancing in the sky and the extensive loving green eyed gazes upon the spinning earth

Count blessings and add a touch of laughter because

This is going to take a long time, cost a lot of tears and result in heartbreak.

Fold the days into hours and appreciate this moment in time and space.

Accept the challenge and the change.  There is always more.

Writing Prompt:  Recipe poem!  Make something delicious!

I hold back an awful not because I fear the critics.  It’s an interesting midlife confession and something I’d like to change, but sometimes FRAGILE seems written on the top of every page…and the well-honed protective, gentle, tame and precious still-life is written and yawns.

A bowl of glass fruit tempts the muse with

Vulnerable thin skin exposed to flashing lights

Over ripe beauty, poses perfectly and

The choice is to shatter the joy or BE the joy.

Writing Prompt:  Write a risky poem today…one with raw images, robust language, raunchy themes…

I am craving beautiful things.  Ripe pears, sunsets, smiles.  I am craving the simple, exquisite, structures of reggae and a balanced sweet sour limeade in a sparkling glass.  I am craving an elegant corner kick in the beautiful game, a book of photos, and the quiet tune of a river smoothing rocks and souls. I am craving a fresh clean pillowcase to comfort my weary dreams.  I am craving beauty and there is so much right here, now.

Poems can be beautiful, just because they are.  And there are odes to beautiful things, too.

Writing Prompt:  Share some beauty on a page of paper…then give away the paper… and the words….

you have to let go

What’s holding you back?  Weighing you down?  What would it be like to let go, just for today?

Writing Prompt:  Write a poem about letting go….let go of thinking it needs to be any particular style or form, just write about letting go…

I’m not ready to give up my computer time, YET.  However, I am eager to try to build more structure into my days to help me cut down on the distracted living.  So rather than watching cute cat videos (at least for today!) I’m going to up the ante of poetry prompts for myself.   At poets.org there are more details and samples but here’s the quick snippet of the simple yet complex Villanelle,  one of the lingering memories from my French poetry classes in the last century. 

The highly structured villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem’s two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.

Writing Prompt:  Villanelle time…

Giving thanks for photography as spiritual practice

and celebrations with community

Giving thanks for clarity when the world is blurry with

so many sorrows and insolated hearts

Giving thanks for fierce resistance, resilience and the

ever persistent possibilities that bright horizons await

Giving thanks and Giving thanks

Writing Prompt:  I give thanks for…free verse edition!

 a series of disasters.

Minds filled with chaos and sorrow.

 So much fear burning into communities and I think of all the children….Now, the tasks of healing all the souls, all the spirits harmed.

One by One:  creating, planting, bouncing back.

May a stronger love prevail

for all time.

Writing Prompt:  Play with the shape of words to give a new perspective to an old problem…

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