A book report used to be a challenge to complete back in the day. I think we must have had some rules or formats to follow because I remember completing them, but I absolutely cannot recall anything about the process. I also cannot recall liking doing them. So, now I get to do a book report with absolute freedom. Here goes!
How is it possible that poetry is such a passion these days? I do love the quote by Richard Rohr in his book, Falling Upward. (I highly recommend the read if you are in the second half of life or are at least open to what it might be like.) Here’s the quote:
“Life has stimulated us enough, and now we have to process it and integrate it, however unconsciously. Silence and poetry start being our more natural voice and our more beautiful ear at this stage. Much of life starts becoming highly symbolic and ‘connecting’, and little things become significant metaphors for everything else.”
Incidentally, Richard Rohr’s book isn’t a book of poetry. It is a book I have spent over a year with and still pick it up and learn something new each time. I have started simply opening it at random and am astounded at how apropos to my stage of life this sweet book is no matter the page I turn to! I am inspired!
Perhaps this book has brought about the greatest reckoning I have encountered in my 70 years. I find myself recommending it pretty often. This year I have been happy to give myself permission to search for meaning and purpose and blend it with peace and quiet inspiration. Holy, Moly this has truly been a wonderful read! But more than that, I credit finding this book for jumpstarting the Spiritual Integration I have been searching out for a very long time.
One of my Colorado grands wrote a literal slew of Acrostic Poems one year not so long ago. We now have some of them in a book. The title of this book is “Sojourn – A Journey through the Seasons”. I mention it here to illustrate the amazing photography that a dear friend offered in collaboration as the book evolved.
The last line of a poem said Grandkid wrote titled “Raised” is: “Like a backwards drop of rain”. It was my inspiration to try to get this shot when paddling on a little lake in Southeast Ohio.
Then, just the other day, this photo prompted me to write a poem.
Like a Backwards Drop of Rain
What if this drop kept rising into the ether?
A truly fascinating thing to ponder today, so tell me,
Why is it so difficult to sit with and trust the process?
Can I truly write it down and feel the freedom of leaving it laying around for a while?
Perhaps I can let it sit, along with all the feelings that accompany it.
What is it like to pick it up sometime later and write some more?
Letting my heart and soul wander without knowing what I am searching for…
Now that is a challenge inside the sweet, quiet solitude of this second half of life.
How might I learn to trust when I know I have found what I searched for?
And Goodness Gracious, will I write it down?
Will I hold the reckoning that comes from this experience of reading and writing tightly inside?
Or might I share it?
May you become inspired to write about lovely ideas and the questions they raise. May you photograph lovely things – and most importantly, may a reckoning that lasts come of it.
I would be honored to have you share with me if you are so led.
Good Morning Mum 