A poem and a question

This month is National Poetry Writing Month. A generous soul has been posting daily writing prompts to encourage people to write a poem-a-day for the entire month of April, a practice I’m finding to be inspiring.

I usually balk at multi-day challenges like this because they feel like a lot of pressure. But this time, two ingredients have helped me stay the course (for the first 5 days, anyway).

These two ingredients are 1) creative community, and 2) permission to be imperfect. I belong to a small Facebook community where we share our imperfectly-drafted poems and reflect back resonant read-back lines* to each other in the comments.

Having my writing tended to in this way generates fuel to keep going. As a writer, knowing my words have touched someone – even in a small way – makes my day!

So today I would like to step into a larger public container and share a product of one of my imperfect poetic drafts with you. The prompt was to write a poem that takes its inspiration from the idea of heirloom seeds, and there's a question for you at the end!

Heirloom
Original, from source.
genetically un-modified,
a carrier of lineage.
this is a word that describes itself:
an heir to something woven with care;
a product of nature,
non-commercial,
passed down through generations.
I listen to this seed.
I hear the energy inside,
pulsing, vibrating, humming
with a desire to find earthy expression
to translate what is pure and eternal
into something tangible.
It plants a question inside of me,
What does the heirloom version of your life
look like?

As I read these words, I realize they speak to one of my core values as a writer and facilitator of authentic voice and healing:

Creativity is an essential life force.

And I fully believe in the human capacity to experience abundant, creative flow. Go outside and feel it! The natural world is rich with creative, poetic fuel.

And so, today I invite you to ask yourself this question, too.
What does the heirloom version of your life look like?

I'd love to read your response in the comments below. I also welcome you to share with me in a private message. Your words matter!

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*Read-back lines are tool from Women Writing for (a) Change: A Guide for Creative Transformation, written by one of my mentors, Mary Pierce Brosmer.

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