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Hello Friends,
I'm sharing this post for Spiritual Journey Thursday and Poetry Friday.
Thank you to Karen Eastland for the SJT prompt, 'Words to fall back on.' And, Tanita Davis at 'Fiction Instead of Lies' for hosting this week's poetry round-up.
Additionally, on the first Friday of the month, my critique group, Inklings, shares a challenge set by a member of our group. This month's poem challenge is from Margaret who asked us to:
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| https://grateful.org/resource/crossing/?mc_cid=1b81b5b8ef&mc_eid=360b5653b7 |
My response...words to fall back on
Life Work
Trust the process and trust again.
Trust is learning, even if only a little.
Trust the process, even if it hurts.
I can be an athlete training, stretching more
each day. I can be a bull, obstinate and angry
seeing red. I can tear at the cape, ready
to gore the wind that fills it.
But either way, I move. I move to understand,
I move to see, seeking truth, a truth that proves I am. I am a process too.
Linda Mitchell
March 1, 2023
To see more Spiritual Journey posts, visit this month's host, Karen, at Karen's got a Blog.
For other Inkling takes on exploring anaphora:
Margaret
Catherine
Heidi
Molly
Mary Lee
The word on the padlet this week is idea...as in...I have no idea who created that print I took a photo of in the Jepsom Center at the Savannah Art Museum several years ago.
https://padlet.com/mitchellhubeimom/word-bwfgg0bqmjhf62fd/wish/2497777390
Ooooh. What a thought provoking poem, Linda - moving me towards a better understanding of how powerful anaphora can be. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of anaphora! So there's today's new thing. And beautifully demonstrated in your poem. I especially love your lines; 'I can tear at the cape ready to gore the wind that fills it.' Wow. So much there. Keep stretching and learning.
ReplyDeleteYou have made the repetition in your poem weave together a surprise to the surprise at the end "I am. I am a process too." When I ponder my OLW purpose, I need to remember this other word: process. Thanks for this gift today.
ReplyDeleteLinda, this is wonderful and the bull image in the middle of the poem is especially powerful. brava! xo
ReplyDeleteYour poem dovetails nicely with the reminders in Tanita's Host Post today! I need to have that first line tattooed on the back of my hand where I can see it every day.
ReplyDeleteThat bull metaphor is SO insistent and raw--gore the wind! We all need words to fall back on, and what a nice connection to the SJT thread. I really like your revisions to the idea Skinny--a great one for kids!
ReplyDeleteLinda: I appreciate your almost God post. Your honesty shines through, and to be honest, I can be shy of writing about faith also. Thank you for your kind words on my blog, and many blessings as you test your process and consider your steps.
ReplyDeleteTo me there is so much hope in the trust that I feel reading your poem, Linda. The bull metaphor is so powerful.
ReplyDeleteLinda, "trust", one of the hardest words in our language. Yet, when we trust ourselves as well as others what a world of opportunities awaits us. When we trust that God has our backs, nothing is impossible.
ReplyDelete"Trust the process" is both a calming and frustrating reminder for me that I've been down this road before. I love the imagery of the bull, goring the wind, for all the good that will do. Sometimes it just feels better to gore... Something. And yet, you are called to move on... Thanks for the reflection.
ReplyDelete"a truth that proves I am" -- like the forthright message in your poem, Linda, very inspiring! Trusting the process isn't always easy because of the unknown; appreciate the reminder that it can be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThe repetition works well as you look at trust and move and then seeking truth, with the circling back to "I am a process too." I like that it's titled "Life Work."
ReplyDeleteLinda, this life work is everything. You have captured it with the repetition, as the challenge suggested. I love the description of the bull "ready / to gore the wind that fills it." Wow! And I love the forgiveness you give yourself in this work, "I am a process too"
ReplyDeleteLinda, from the powerful opening line all the way to the end, your poem speaks with a clarity. The repetition is skillfully employed across the lines. Process is so important and you give it credence here.
ReplyDeleteA powerful poem, Linda, and a wonderful reminder to not only trust the process, but to trust ourselves because we are a process, too. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I need that reminder about process again and again, but I do. Like others commented, the way you shifted the repetition from "trust" to "truth" was powerful!
ReplyDeleteLike the others, I am thinking about what it means to gore the wind. Powerful, Linda. I really like the end too -- usually people talk about being on a journey or in process, but you say "I am a process" (not "in process") and that feels important. xo
ReplyDeleteI love the opening lines. "Trust the process and trust again" reminds me of how we will be knocked over but can get up and try again, always. The knockdown doesn't mean the process didn't work, rather, it's part of the process. How beautifully you captured that here!
ReplyDeleteThis line: "stretching more each day" is what calls to me -- and I LOVE the title! :-) Anastasia
ReplyDeleteSo powerful. "gore the wind that fills it." Wow! I'm revising a poem this weekend with anaphora and trying to get it submittable. Not there yet, but I love this technique.
ReplyDeleteYay for "Process" and "Trust the process," powerful poem Linda, and important, wise words for anyone and everyone! I emphasize process while teaching art, and put it way ahead of end results–and unfortunately or fortunately process is often painful and that's often when growth is going on, thanks!
ReplyDeleteEvery line of this poem is true for me, Linda. It's not easy, but I will try to remember that "I am a process too." Thank you for this gift of a poem.
ReplyDeleteYes - a life's work becomes trusting the process. I landed on trust as a word I fall back on, too. I hear an echo in Bob's post, too - let go of fear. Trust the process - and we release ourselves to a new freedom.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I am sorry to arrive here so late. It's interesting to read the different takes on words to follow back on. You are right that it is a life process.I like your last line of your poem because it is reflective and shares your desire to evolve. I see that your padlet is evolving also.
ReplyDelete"I am a process too" -- so much wisdom in that line.
ReplyDeleteYes to your words about process! <3
ReplyDelete