January 22ndA Good Poem
I enjoy a good poem. Sometimes I don’t understand precisely what the writer is intending, but generally, I like to think I’ve been enriched after reading a poem. What is particularly meaningful for me about a poem is that, I assume most often for most people, it’s not exactly easy to write one. Whether it’s a struggle with the words or the dealing with the strong emotions or somehow getting the words to express the emotions correctly, I already, going in, view a poem with a great deal of awe. I love the poems about nature, about human experience, the ones I empathize with, the witty words, even the silly ones, perhaps especially the silly ones as they lighten my heart.
At our school, we have a couple of teachers who get their students to write “black out” poetry. So, you’d think that this process must be easy: you take a page out of a book, already filled with words (you don’t need to come up with your own), and just black out the bits that won’t be in the poem. But now you have more words than you need and you must decide which words are not needed—much like whittling a figurine out of a piece of wood. Where do you start? What is your goal? What do you want to express?
Obviously, there’s an analogy here, and I suspect most of you have already guessed it. It’s simple. How do we live our lives with intention? What is our goal? Who do we serve? How do choose which words and actions to prioritize? How do we keep our eyes on the North Star and ensure our feet are travelling the right path? How do we reorient when we get off track? And how do we extend grace to ourselves and others on this journey?
During our Advent season, many of us walked “Together on the Journey”, learning to trust God to provide for us, opening ourselves to the flowing power of the Spirit, rejoicing in the Good News, leaning on each other. Presently we are storytelling as we celebrate Anabaptism 500 in our churches and work towards renewal. I hope that my attempt at black-out poetry sparks some joy and hope as we move forward recognizing that little moments and decisions can carry great potential if we are open to God’s possibilities.
