~Winston Churchill
Welcome to the Poetry Friday round-up!
It's been quite a week, hasn't it? I certainly can't pretend it hasn't. We've seen highs and lows of people's behavior. Rich people who try to keep ventilators for themselves on one hand, and on the other, medical personnel who are working 12-hour (or more) days without the proper equipment. "Pro-life" politicians who are stone-hearted about saving lives vs. grocery store staff who come to serve an unpleasant public at risk to themselves. I hope we are able to show our gratitude to the people who are doing their best for us.
We can't accept bad behavior, but we do need to accept our current stay-at-home, social distancing circumstances. I've been thinking about acceptance because it came up when I did another exercise in The Crafty Poet. This exercise was to take a poem someone else wrote and write its opposite. I took a poem about hope and had to decide what its opposite would be. My first impulse was "despair," but I didn't want to write about that. When I thought about it, "acceptance" came to mind. Hope and acceptance are two sides of a useful coin.
ACCEPTANCE
by Tabatha Yeatts
it crackles like a fireplace
inviting slumber in its hum,
it is the lightning-struck tree
reborn as home to all who come.
it bursts from pine cones
like a fist releasing its hold,
it treasures early daffodils
tho they may end as frozen gold.
it is strands of light
seeping through a drizzly haze,
it is the sturdy bench
in the heart of the winding maze.
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Welcoming your poetry, readership, resources, comfort, and concerns. Add your link here!
Sign-ups are coming!
logo by Elena
It's the same as usual (you can do 1-5 swaps) so if you already know what you want to do, you can email me (tabatha@tabathayeatts(dot)com).
P.S. I'm still gathering Things I Wish You Knew poems and Michelle is still collecting game poems at Today's Little Ditty. Both end March 31st!
41 comments:
Thank you Tabitha for hosting this week and sharing your poem Acceptance. I really liked it and thought it would be an excellent poem to share with people (not just now but in many seasons of life). Nice work!
Wow. You just never cease to amaze me with your poetic talents. I LOVE the idea of writing a poem's opposite. Never have I heard of that or thought to do that. Now, I can't wait to give that a try. Your rhymes are spot on...but it's the description of that fire calling slumber, pine cone release, struck tree a new home. This is a really lovely poem. I feel better for having read it. Thank you. And, you betcha! I want IN on the summer poetry swap. It's a highlight of summer for me.
What a beautiful poem, Tabatha! So deeply felt and thought provoking. It's certainly been a tough week. Aside from the fear and uncertainty about the virus itself, especially troubling and distressing, as you mentioned, is the bad behavior of some. Thanks so much for hosting this week. Take care.
Hi Tabatha. I love the image of the lightening-struck tree reborn as home to all who come. That tree can still be a tree. Stay well!
Tabatha ~ What stunning similes and metaphors--you really have the mind/heart/craft for these. Your pine cone/fist bursting, the bench in the heart of the maze...I am swooning.
In 12 Step groups, we say "And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation--some fact of my life--unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment."
You nailed that feeling when I am finally, finally able to accept something, including, say, the sluggishness I feel today. :-)
Thank you for hosting!
xox, April
Hi Tabatha, thanks for this image filled poem with so many deep layers. Its beauty seems to have grown from a very special spot. I'd like to look for
"the sturdy bench
in the heart of the winding maze."
and hope we find some, "strands of light …seeping through"
Thanks also for the link to "The Crafty Poet" and for hosting.
What a crazy, scary world. Wishing you and your family all to be safe and well, xo.
Interesting idea to write from the opposite of hope. My favorite line in this one is
it is the lightning-struck tree
reborn as home to all who come.
When we really look at a fallen tree, it is a symbol of acceptance.
Thank you for hosting - I'm trying to put a little more poetry in my life...actually, I think I just NEED a little more in my life right now.
Stay safe. Stay healthy.
I've been working on 'acceptance' all week, as my two kids are being homeschooled now courtesy of 'remote leaning' (which means I get no work done at all!)...my wife is a NP at the local hospital and could bring home the virus at any point, since no one has proper protective equipment...and my folks are in a nursing home watching their IRA dry up like a sponge in August. So thank you for this poem, and thanks for hosting!
It's a lovely way to show the value of acceptance, Tabatha. So many are suffering and for the rest of us, the least we can do is stay put, help online where we can, support those who cannot stay home, like Matt's wife above. Thanks for hosting and bringing goodness to this Friday ending of a hard week.
I think you of that sturdy bench, T— for your family, and for the poetry community. Just sayin'. Thank you for that beautiful and thought-provoking poem (and for hosting the roundup, of course).
Tabatha, that is gorgeous! I especially love the bursting from pine cones like a fist releasing its hold. Such a feeling of a release and a sigh of relief! Thanks for hosting!
Thank you for hosting! Your poem Acceptance is really lovely. Thank you for sharing.
A stunning poem, Tabatha. It is the seamless transition from one unexpected treasure to the next that just makes it sing. Treasure. I'm in for the Poetry Swap. (Love the logo!) This one's the poem swap. No gift, right? (Just checking, so I do it right.) I think I'll do three swaps - presumably 1/3/5. AND... I'd hoped to have a poem for your collection. Goodness. This year is a scramble! Will have to go away and think... xx
It is a stunning poem, I especially like the explosion of the pinecone. thanks for sharing, thanks for hosting, thanks for being there on a tough week. We will get through this... we will.
Tabatha, there is so much poetry goodness in this post. Thanks for hosting PF this week. An opposite poem is new to me and you surely shared a beauty of a poem. My PF offering is for the Ditty Challenge that will be shared at Beyond LitieracyLiiink in a few hours if the Schedule tab works. Thank you for offering the Summer Poetry Swap. I will take my usual 3 swaps.
Tabatha, thank you for hosting. Your poem about acceptance is most pertinent. Acceptance at this time is critical for the greater good. Like you, I have been considering alternative terms. So, for now I'm not in social isolation. Rather I am in social solitude. it sounds and feels better.
"...it is strands of light
seeping through a drizzly haze,"
are favorite lines from your "Acceptance" poem (maybe because my OLW is light. May we all be looking for those strands of light as we seek acceptance of our current situation. An article I recently read from the Harvard Business Review, "That Discomfot You're Feeling is Grief," speaks of adding an additional step to the grieving process, making meaning. We used to look at acceptance as the final step, but we've learned that the stages are not linear. We may bounce in and out of the various stages as we navigate our way.
Thank you for hosting, Tabatha! Goodness your poem spoke to me today:
"it treasures early daffodils
tho they may end as frozen gold." - this is happening everywhere here in Switzerland. A cold front descended here about a week ago and it is making things that much harder. Thank you for helping me understand the power of acceptance and inspiring me to embrace it. :)
Thanks for hosting and leading with wisdom from the great Mr. Churchill. An odd snow event the other day did indeed freeze many early daffodils and other such spring goodies, but it warmed up quickly so all is well. I love pondering the "it" of your poem. So much to think about. Be well, friend.
I felt my heart clutch when I thought of the opposite of hope (despair)...and then release with a sigh at your brilliant choice of acceptance. Yes. That "solid bench." Not always comfortable, but sturdy and sustaining. I'm going to sit on that bench and plan some #distancelearning lessons. My heart goes out to all the parents who are our de facto study hall monitors now, to all the health care workers (and families thereof), to all those working in grocery stores and other necessary businesses.
Thanks for hosting us. We need Poetry (Friday and otherwise) now more than ever.
Such beautiful words, Tabitha! And thank you for hosting. My poem this week is about hope, so it was wonderful to read yours about acceptance. Your images of the fallen branch and the daffodils are perfect.
Tabatha, your poem is lovely and I'm intrigued with the idea of choosing the opposite of a poem and writing about it. I am so glad your lens was acceptance rather than the initial impulse of despair. There's a lesson in that alone. The imagery in your poem is stunning from start to finish. Thanks so much for hosting this week.
I am so glad you chose acceptance instead of despair. I love the images you use to show acceptance--that sturdy bench in the center of the maze just hits home for me right now. May we all find the balance between hope and acceptance in these every changing circumstances.
Wow, Tabatha, every image in this poem is a powerhouse! Beautiful! And you've got me thinking about the relationship between acceptance and hope... for me, it's often acceptance that creates/brings hope... until I accept, I am stuck in hopelessness/despair. Thank you for your wise words, and tell Elena she rocked the badge! xo
p.s. in Dictionary For a Better World, the first word is Acceptance. :)
The imagery in your poem is well-done. I love pine cone releasing its hold, but my favorite has to be the bench, the sturdy, stable that acceptance is. Thanks for hosting.
Oh, that sturdy, reliable bench. Thank you for this, Tabatha. It's lovely. Stay well, friend...
I'm grateful for your poem and for your willingness to host today. They say it's the little things, but truly, all of these things are HUGE.
Thank you for hosting and thank you for choosing acceptance instead of despair. I loved everything on your list, but a sturdy bench really hit home for me.
Tabatha, thank you for hosting today, and for bringing us all together. And thank you for this beautiful reflection on both acceptance and hope. I take hope from your acceptance, especially the "strands of light/seeping through a drizzly haze." :)
Love, hope, and acceptance — and then more hope — to you, my friend!
Your poem is so beautiful, Tabatha. And thank you for hosting today.
Thanks for hosting us. I didn't think of acceptance as anything so active before, but it truly is both release and comfort. May we all rest on that bench...
Thank you, Tabatha, for always being a "sturdy bench" here on Poetry Friday. I am grateful to you and always know I can count on healing and wise words at your place. This poem is beautiful, and I have the book on my list. So funny, too, that I met Amorak Huey connected through Irene Latham, he who recommended this book! How I love our small small world. xxxx
Thank you for hosting Tabatha. I love the bold acceptance in your poem. I'm back after a long hiatus and grateful for this Poetry Friday community.
I love your poem, and this line in your post: Hope and acceptance are two sides of a useful coin. Thanks for hosting today, Tabatha!
I like how contemplative both you and your poem are today. Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday. Acceptance is such an important word. I was thinking about it in a poem I started about Friendship earlier this week. I think I'll have to return to it now - you've inspired me to do so! Thanks.
Thank you for hosting today, Tabatha. Thank you, too, for not writing a poem about despair! "Acceptance" is exactly what I needed to read today. I especially love your final stanza and the reminder of "strands of light/seeping through a drizzly haze." Exactly right. I think I have The Crafty Poet somewhere. I'll have to go find it. Stay well!
Thank you for sharing your lovely poem. Acceptance is very powerful and just the right thing for this time. I love the image of the tree struck by lightning and also the daffodils that are beautiful now but who knows what will happen to them tomorrow.
Thanks for hosting, too.
Dear Wonderful Tabatha!
Dear Wonderful Tabatha!
I can't imagine a better way to address this week, this time, this crisis.
And you made my month with your game challenge over at Today's Little Ditty.
I have friends in our local poetry community who are writing pieces off the news but I'm finding at my blog & social media posts I am needing Light. The game provided this for me.
I do love your language here & can see the surprise bench, asking us to take a breather.
So many thanks & hopes for happiness in your Family's weekend.
Thank you for hosting this week and for sharing this thought provoking poem. I am beginning to see the beauty in accepting the circumstances we're in for now. I'm creating more and getting to spend quite a bit more time with my family.
Tabatha -- that second stanza is so powerful. The pine cone fist, the delicate daffodil. Beautiful poem.
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