1.01.2013

When Our Storm Comes






This poem sits over my desk; I see it everyday. But I don't always read it. Today, New Year's Day, I read it anew, with fresh eyes--and promise myself to  pay attention, to pay heed, to witness, to be present, and to allow whatever is meant to happen to happen this year. May my storm unleash that which is creative, spiritual, and surprising. I'm ready.





Lilacs In September
by Katha Pollitt

Shocked to the root
like the lilac bush
in the vacant lot
by the hurricane--

whose back branch split
by wind or rain
has broken out
unseasonably

into these scant ash-
colored blossoms
lifted high
as if to say

to passersby
What will unleash
itself in you
when your storm comes?

6 comments:

  1. This is inspiring and just the image I needed today. Thank you! I'm taking this to my studio...

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  2. When your storm comes, you will find the courage to bloom afresh.
    We wish you the best of our 12 Days of Writing.
    http://thepenandinkblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-twelve-days-of-writing.html

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  3. Beautiful. Inspiring. Healing. Many thanks for sharing this and for helping usher in what feels like a very good year to be...

    Enjoy your storm!

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  4. Anonymous1/11/2013

    Emma,
    I love that poem. My favorite is "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth. On my desk at work, I have a little plaque that my parents put by my bedside when I was little. It is that crazy shade of green from the 70s. It has a drawing of a frog and some tulips. It says, "Don't hurry. Don't worry. Don't forget to smell the flowers." It is so simple, but I read it every day and try to live by it.

    Poems touch our lives so intensely.

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