Playing Catch Up

Beth Weaver-Kreider

Nov 24

I'm trying to catch up on some of the poems I missed during the frantic days of last week.

One prompt was to write an Even poem. I began with the word, just followed the sounds without trying to force a meaning, until about halfway through, when I began to realize what the poem was about:

Farewell to the Faerie Child
Even now as I leave
through the window
I know you believe
that I grow as I go
into something stranger
maybe more dangerous
or greater than the safe
little waif of your imagining
dashing through wind-riven
shallows and groves
facing the dangers
of hailstorms and snow
to dance in the storm
and prance in the gale
and be ever the puck
of your next faerie tale.

One prompt was to write an Animal Poem. I turned myself into a bloodhound, still trying to figure out the starting juice for a poem.

On the Trail
There never was a perfect answer
to how to begin, how to set down the line
and follow it, like a hound on a scent trail
nose to the ground, after a sound, a sense,
an indefinable inside nudge.

This one is sort of a toss-off, but a fun word-game, and probably a learning experience, too. The prompt was to write a "customized" poem, so I took a Shakespearean sonnet, kept the first and last word of each line (with a couple tweaks), and customized each line to suit my purpose. I would definitely like to try this again, with a little more time and effort.

Customizing Shakespeare's Sonnet 78
So, this is one way to invoke the Muse
And seek new pathways for my verse.
As technique I use or hope to use
And long to see the writer's block disperse.
This method just might help my lines to sing
And teach my words to launch and fly,
Have given rhythm to my poet's wing
And taught the lion of my phrasing majesty.
Yet down the plodding line I fast compile,
Whose tortured syntax does not work for me:
In search of my own voice and style,
And I am just a Shakespeare wannabe;
But to work this way will certainly advance
My style from basic ignorance.

Gratitude List:
1. Sheep on the opposite ridge of the hollow
2. Rich and deep conversations about the inner world
3. Having my say
4. A day that feels sort of like a retreat
5. Thanksgiving leftovers supper (I'm going to try that thing where you add a couple eggs and some broth to your stuffing, and press it in a waffle maker.)
May we walk in Beauty!

"You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them.
That is how prayer works." —Pope Francis

"Allow dark times to season you." —Hafiz

"I don't have to respond whenever provoked.
No one does.
Steward your energy well.
We have justice work to do.
And strategy to outline.
And self-care to prioritize.
And love to live.
It's okay to let provocateurs leave empty-handed."
—Bernice King

"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor—such is my idea of happiness.'' —Leo Tolstoy

"I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness. It's right in front of me, if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude." —Brené Brown

"Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!" —Mary Oliver

"I don't have to figure it all out. I don't have to be perfect for every moment. I just need to be Present. I just need to show up." —Beth Weaver-Kreider (My past self is preaching to my present self.)

"The ego forgets that it's supposed to be the little traveler with its bindle bag over its shoulder, following behind [not ahead] the radiant Soul who walks as more wise, more tender, more loving, more peaceful trailblazer throughout our lives.
.
Ego aspires sometimes to wear the garments of the Soul, which are way too big, making the ego trip over the miles of radiant robes it tries to wrap itself in, instead of following the light those robes give off. And tending to the Soul's needs, the Soul's directions.
Yet with Soul in the lead, and ego following the lead of the Soul, then we can fulfill the vision of the Holy People…" —Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

"Driven by the forces of love, the fragments of the world are seeking one another." —Teilhard de Chardin

"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line." ―Oscar Levant

"Scriptures, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based." —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), [The Devil's Dictionary, 1906]

"There are real world implications to 'just having opinions' and those implications almost always involve doing deep harm to marginalized communities." —Kaitlin Shetler