Ordinary Words, Extra Ordinary Grace

Over the last four weeks, I was immersed in a Poetry Studio called Ordinary Words, Extra Ordinary Grace: Writing from the Heart.  It is a gathering of poets desiring a safe and respectful place to write, listen, present, reflect, and support each other as we share our poems.  It was an affirming process to share my poems and know that they are read without critique and judgment.  It honoured each person’s creativity, allowing words to be expressed freely. 

Because it is Lent, the prompts for the poems were in line with the season. So we traveled through deserts and wilderness,  embraced liminal spaces crossed rivers, and ascended and descended mountains while conversing with nature. To write a poem within 12 minutes without editing, not censuring, or filtering my thoughts or choice of words was what I liked least. It was stressful because I’m a recovering perfectionist with an impulse to make corrections!

One of my colleagues in CenterQuest, Mark Beazley shared with me an exercise on writing Haiku prayers that he used for retreats.  I was so inspired and fell in love with it.  I used to think Haiku poems were strange and difficult to understand. I wonder if my contemplative practices and lifestyle have cultivated a seeing beyond the words of the Haiku.  Richard Rohr in Everything Belongs writes, “Everything becomes enchanting with true sight”. Perhaps I’m seeing Haikus with true sight.            

Here are a few of my favourite poems written over the past four weeks.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I loved creating them.

In the Wilderness (Prompt from the Poetry Studio)

The Wilderness

The locusts are long gone

the landscape is bare

there’s nothing in sight

only dry parched land

I stared at the prompt,

nothing,

absolutely nothing comes to me

except for this dead silence

and a noisy ache  in me

I hear the sounds all around me

Eleanor Rigby playing on the radio,

the ceiling fan whooshing

the clickity-clack of the keyboard as I type this.

I want to run away,

I want to hide,

from this silence and ache inside.

The land is flat, there’s nowhere to stay out of sight.

Is this the wilderness I’ve walked into again?

This is not my first

certainly not my last I know.

This is a place I fear, yet trust

I’ve been embraced and held in this land.

What have you in store for me this time, O Spirit?

to see the brightness of the celestial bodies in the pitch-black skies?

to know Your Majesty through the wind and the rain in this barren land?

to lean on You in this silence and ache?

to rest in the scorching sun, the pouring rain?

to be filled even in hunger and thirst?

It’s difficult right now

I need your grace

to trust the journey, 

to see the possibilities,

in this wilderness

you’ve invited me to be,

 to taste and see,

 to be still,

 to be embraced and held once again

 so I can be free.

Haiku #1 and #2 are expressions of our in-scape, just like the landscape is shaped and formed by heat and pressure, erosion,  each journey and formation is unique and unrepeatable.

#1: Tears

Tears from heaven fall

   river flows down the mountain

The land is unique

#2: Storms

Patterns and textures

 marks of storms and upheavals

Unrepeatable

#3 is inspired by God’s promise to Abram in Genesis

#3: See Beyond

Cloudless clear blue sky

Twinkling stars and moonlight shine

See with eyes beyond

This Tanka speaks of the devastation of Mother Earth

#4: Perfect Love

I am Majestic

 you are welcome to my house

 what is mine is yours.

you grabbed all my finery

Naked, but still Majestic!