Wordled

I decided to Wordle my blog and see what it looks like and here it is:

Check out some of the other items in their gallery and make some of your own... it is really fun!

Poem #6--praise poem

Today's prompt is a bit easier for me:-) There have been some difficult circumstances swirling around me, but my desire to praise God has been growing exponentially as well. Following the theme of grace, and writing a short(ish) poem to get this up before I depart on my way to FL and a wonderful birthday weekend with TulipGirl and family, here it is:

Praise Him from whom all blessings flow
He who did not staunch wound in side and head
Whose hands and feet poured unmeasured grace
So full and free that wretches can drink their fill

Praise Him all creatures here below
Below but not put down, by Him declared
Only a little lower than angels
And created in His likeness--the image of God

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
With wings covering your eyes because His
Beauty is more dazzling than a Caribbean sunrise
Bowed, tossing at His feet songs and hymns

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Unimaginable Trinity, perfect community
Love overflowing and so super abundant
That it had to be shared

Poem #5-- setting a scene

Really, these prompts are stretching me totally... Maybe it is my fuzzy brain, or maybe it is just that I am out of practice, I am not sure. For today's poem, the prompt is to write a poem that sets a scene important to the theme of the chapbook. Problem is, I can't visualize any scene that doesn't sound cheesy or totally disconnected with my theme, which seems to be heading toward grace. We'll have to see how this one turns out. I will come back and post something later tonight... I need to let it stew for a little bit.

One of the difficulties for me in using these prompts is that Robert Lee Brewer's own poems seem so far disconnected from my theme that I don't know how to translate his inspiration. HELP!

Total Church Conference recordings

These past few months I have been involved in the Vision Team at my church. It was a small commitment as far as meetings go, but I felt privileged to be asked to help out. As a small urban church plant, Cityview leadership (mostly Pastor Peter) has been working to refine the vision of the church and clarify where we're going, how and why. The presbytery has been helping and the Vision Team was a result of their combined efforts.

I am posting the link to the Total Church Conference recordings because I think they would be valuable for me to listen to while I consider my role in an urban context and as part of an urban church. They are here so I can find them, but some of you may be interested in them as well.

Thanks to The Resurgence!

Poem #4--soapbox poem

My family will inform you that I am rapid and agile in my climbs onto the soapbox. But for some reason these poems just are not coming very rapidly or agilely to my mind... So, poem #4's prompt, to write a soap box poem, is causing me a little consternation. Here is my attempt:

Imperfections are beautiful
try to look past the lack of supermodel
proportions or MENSA-like
intellectual prowess
self-discipline of the ascetic
or even the NFL athlete

Throw out caution with the next
bag of kitchen trash
embrace the hedonism of unlimited
X-Box gaming and Wii tossing and
turning
there are no more new leaves to
finger or resolutions to make

Embrace a self-love that asks
not what you can do for anyone or
anything else, but only what you can
do for the perpetually straining ego
that gets bogged down in flaw-hunting
or ever growing self-improvement
strategies

But remember,
THAT
is not grace.

Poem #3-- Foreshadowing poem

I am feeling like I really should have thought more about this before I started to write:-) I have an idea for my chapbook, but using the prompts effectively seems to be beyond my reach. Maybe I just have a cottony head today... either way, the prompt for poem 3 is to write a fragment-like poem that foreshadows the poem on the 20th. Not exactly sure where this fragment will lead, but here it is:

the heavy oak slab
of a door blocked out
the sun and rain but let in
so many wisps of apprehension
lay unguarded to fragments
of decayed hope

Poem #2-- Declaration poem

I am totally NOT feeling this prompt for a declaration poem:-( I have been given leeway to do something else, but I am not sure what that would be. I may come back to this if inspiration strikes.

Poem #1-- A hook poem

The first poem is suppose to be a hook to pull you into the theme. I am writing late at night when I should be going to sleep because I feel like I need to do this, so here is my attempt:

Dishes are heaped ignominiously
the littered counter crunching
with toast crumbs
sticking with jellydrops
and I run the hot water
full blast
laughing as the soap suds
billow from the dishpan
chaos will be subdued
before my sponge
the clink of glasses and spoons
will sing in praise of common grace
and the joy of work

Poem-A-Day for November

Some of you may be aware that November is National Write a Novel in a Month month. I am not a novelist, at least not at present, so I appreciated it when Poetic Asides again issued a Poem-A-Day challenge. Some of you may remember my attempts to do 30 poems in April for national poetry month. I am again going to make my foray into poetry. I need the practice, and the goal of this challenge is a chapbook around a certain theme. I have been tossing around a few themes and some combination of these may finally come to fruition. Topics of choice: Just Life, Grace, Having Fun and Words. We'll see what comes of this:-)