Nov PAD Challenge Day 6: "Looking for..."

the meadow just outside our property in early autumn

Our prompt for today's Nov PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge (Day 6) is to write a poem with "Looking for..." as the title. So with the summer weather we've had this past week (like downtown San Diego with a high of 100--a rarity), I find myself looking for fall, hoping it comes soon as the summer heat drains me, sapping strength and robbing thought. But I push onward, trying to write.

Looking for Autumn: A Poem of Southern California
the heat gasps, shimmering
faint mirages across pitted asphalt.
the mercury pulses upward,
measuring July rather than November.
yearning for cosy fires, cups of
comforting tea, velour throws,
we instead consume lemonade,
beads of sweaty condensation
forming against slick glass.
tonight we "fall back," adding
an hour to our sleep, beckoning
dank darkness, acclerating
day-dawning. the leaves swirl
from yellowed locust branches
despite afternoon swelter as
I await autumn's slow arrival.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett

Pushing myself to write,

Nov PAD Challenge Day 5: Metamorphosis Poem

photo from front porch by Susanne Barrett

Today's Nov Pad Challenge (Day 5) is to write a poem of metamorphosis, a poem of change. I've written a couple of poems that I didn't like much, and I'm not completely sure this poem is one of metamorphosis, but it's the best I can do.

On My Porch Steps at Sunset
With shoulders bowed,
I, seated on porch steps whitened
by footfalls of eighty years' living,
peer through veiled gloaming.
The dissipating light submerges
behind midnight mountains,
burning the locust trees in sharp silhouette.

Leathered wings slap against hefting heat
as the hunting bat crosses my vision, startling me;
inhaling chilled fear, I shift uneasy.
The last glimmer of this day slips
silently behind mountains inked,
hugging the town close
as darkness encloaks us.

Struggling to find words to heft images,

Friday Quick Takes Vol. 5

-1-

As you know, I've been participating in the November PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge hosted by Poetic Asides on the Writer's Digest website. This morning I took the time to read through many of the poems posted yesterday. Immediately I shrunk, becoming in my eyes incredibly small and insignificant. It takes bravery and faith to post work to a distinguished group of poets. I feel like a scruffy alley cat in the company of Literary Lions. Why, oh why am I even bothering to write and post poems to this erudite group?

So I can learn. So I can improve. I remember my advice to so many students over the years, advice gleaned from Anne Lamott in her lovely and wise writing book Bird by Bird: You have to write crap before you write good stuff. So if I want to write well, to write really good poetry, I'm going to have to thicken my delicate skin and put my best out there, reminding myself that every poem represents an opportunity to see clearer, delve deeper, express better, word wiser.

Will you help to remind me, too?

-2-

I am in serious countdown mode here. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 will be released in two weeks. We are sooo excited! Elizabeth has tickets to the midnight showings with some girls from her dorm; they've already reserved a Zip Car (a small set of "green" cars that students may rent by the hour to go places since freshman aren't allowed to have cars unless they're commuting). I have plans to take the boys (and Keith, if he can manage his schedule) to an early matinee on Friday morning while most students are in school. We did this for the last release and the theater was half-empty. The commercials on TV are so exciting, too. Plus, this scene was released yesterday on Facebook: The Seven Potters.

-3-

In addition to waiting for the release of Deathly Hallows Part 1, Elizabeth and I are eagerly awaiting the DVD release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in a month...December 4, to be precise. We always buy our Twilight DVDs at Target as they have a special three-disc edition with lots of great extras. We'll each need our own copy (as we had to do with New Moon) since she'll keep hers in her dorm room (along with half of my DVD collection). Eclipse is my favorite book of the series, and thus far it's my favorite film, too. Filming for Breaking Dawn started this month in Brazil and will return to film in Louisiana (where they started rehearsing in October) later this month (Elizabeth keeps me apprised of such news) and will be released in two parts in November 2011 and November 2012.

-4-

My MLA Research Class at Brave Writer is getting into the nitty-gritty now. The class lasts six weeks; after today we'll have only two weeks remaining. Today is the due date for the students' outlines, and next week they'll be writing their rough drafts which will be due next Friday, with their final drafts due the next Friday on November 19. They will then e-mail the final drafts to me, and I will grade and return them via e-mail within a week or so of the last day of class...which means over our Thanksgiving Break. They may be returned a little later, actually, this time since...

-5-

My sister and her family will be coming down from Montana for Thanksgiving Week. Usually my parents fly up there, but they thought it would be more fun (and less expensive) to have them travel to Southern California. So my sister (the youngest of the three of us; I'm the oldest), her husband, and their two kidlets will be here from the Sunday before to the Sunday after Thanksgiving. They'll stay with my parents at their house at the beach. Keith has been remodeling their mountain cabin in case we decide to celebrate the holiday there, but my parents are thinking that it will be far easier to have everyone at the beach. I prefer the cabin myself, but I understand the logistical nightmare of hauling an entire Thanksgiving dinner plus everything needed for six people to stay in a 600-square-foot cabin for several days 60 miles. Either at the beach or in the mountains, Thanksgiving will be a fun family day. We also have plans to use our Sea World passes to take all the cousins to the marine park sometime during Thanksgiving Week.

-6-

I have joined a wonderful group of women writers this week. I spotted the group badge on someone's blog and checked it out; I think I really like it. She Writes is a secular group of writers which is fine by me as I belong to quite a few Christian groups as well, including A High Calling with amazing poets like L.L. Barkat and writers like Marcus Goodyear, plus a group of women bloggers at Gather in Spirit. And of course I do post along with the communities at A Holy Experience, Conversion Diary, and Elizabeth Esther. So, it's all good.

-7-

I am so excited about a development at our EV Free Church, Lake Murray Community Church. Our associate pastor has asked for volunteers to form what the Anglicans call "a lay readers group." Basically, someone volunteers to read Scripture each Sunday after practicing together in a group so that the verses are read well and clearly, with appropriate expression. Keith and I are both going to attend the first meeting this Sunday after the second service. Keith has a lovely, resonant voice, and I just love to read Scripture aloud (which is why I hang out with the Anglicans so much!). Last week when I told him about the reading group, Father Acker (rector of Alpine Anglican where I attend on Friday mornings) joked that Lake Murray is becoming more Anglican all the time...what with weekly Communion, our celebration of Advent, etc. I hope he's right. As the evangelicals become more liturgical and as the liturgists become more evangelical (as Alpine Anglican is doing), I pray that many, many good things will happen.

Wishing you all a blessed weekend,

PAD Poetry Challenge Day 4

Image Attribution

For Day 4 of the November PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge hosted on Poetic Asides, Robert Lee Brewer's blog on The Writer's Digest, we were asked to write a containment poem. Mine took a quirky turn or two...

Miming Pain
I am one of those
blatant mimes inside
a box of my own making,
hands splayed against walls
visible only to me.
An entrapped reality
silences my vociferous
cries for help. At least
I am able to annoy
the supercilious.
They brush me away,
slapping instinctively
at a blood-engorged mosquito.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett

Pushing through the pain to unmask capital "T" Truth,

Combining Forces: WWHW and PAD

This day I ponder Ann Voskamp's Walk with Him Wednesday theme of Scripture memory and Robert Lee Brewer's November PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge on writing a location poem and see where the two could converge. I decide to go forth with both in one work and refuse to be tentative. I push forward. Almost as if I'm being brave. Hard work, that. Not my natural bent. But then, neither is posting rough drafts of my work in public.

this morning's Word
from the eastern window
swallowed by late roses,
morning light shifts solemn
across my shoulderblades.
seeking balance, pen poises on pages
staining faintly the pure
blue-lined white with darkness,
the Word refuting each black-tipped shadow.

this Truth sears memory--scarring,
branding its words and phrases into
my head so swashbuckled by heart.
moments of significant pause insist
quite intrusively, almost rudely, that
knowledge must not masquerade as understanding.
May this Word speared to the page
overrun me with His slightest tip.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett

Wishing you all the peace of Word Understood and made yours,

PAD Poetry Challenge Day 2 & Carry on Tuesday

As part of the November PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge, I am posting a new poem--this one from the Carry on Tuesday Prompt #77 for this week:

The opening line from Daphne Du Maurier's novel Rebecca: "Last night I dreamt I...."

Last Night
Last night I dreamt I flew,
arms unguardedly outstretched--
a superwoman, a wonderwoman...
and able...finally able.

Awake I am tethered
to this cane,
its four rubber-tipped prongs
balancing my edges.
The burnished metallic curve
weighted in my swollen fingers
recalls her wise eyes,
the fierce spirit
glimmering through her frail chrysalis,
riddled with bombastic marrow.
Untethered now,
she flutters true.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett

Poetically yours,

Hip Homeschool Hop!

Welcome, all visitors from the Hip Homeschooling Hop! Please make yourself comfortable.

This year marks our thirteenth year of homeschooling; our eldest is a freshman living in the dorms at Point Loma Nazarene University, and our three boys are in grades 5, 8, and 10. We live in the mountains east of San Diego, California and home school through Heritage Christian School.

You may read more about our home schooling adventures in the pages above, one of which is entitled Home Schooling.

So pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of tea, and stay a while.

Please introduce yourself in the Comments, and I'll come visit you back!

Happy Home Schooling,

PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge: Day 1

Since there's NO WAY I have time for NaNoWriMo this month, I have instead joined the November PAD Poetry Chapbook Challenge hosted by Robert Lee Brewer at Poetic Asides on Writer's Digest.

Today's Poetry Challenge is a poem about change: closing a door, turning a page. Here's my attempt....

I Leave
After last kiss, final hug,
I leave her at the door--
her essentials settled,
pocked bulletin boards empurpled,
Pattinson emblazoned against fresh paint,
laptop prepared for frequent Skyping.
I leave her in this place, my place,
to syllabi, term papers, finals.
I reach forward, touch her cheek
pinked with anticipation,
and I ache empty.
I leave her behind,
driving away with a too-casual wave.

Copyright 2010 by Susanne Barrett

So we'll see how this challenge goes. Some of the poems will be crap, but I pray that some poems will approach something really authentic and plain old good.

Poetically yours,

Giving Thanks for All His Saints



Fra Angelico

After celebrating All Hallows Eve last night with costumes, a fire in the woodburning stove, candy gleaned via Trick or Treating, and hot spiced cider, today's celebration of All Saints Day seems quietly meditative...as it should be.

This Day we thank God for All His Saints...those who point the way to Christ. These pilgrims have trod the path hard before us, mapping our way so that others don't get waylaid, are not diverted. We read about and see their lives, learn from their struggles, their essential humanity working its way always toward Christ. Saints are not perfect but are people of the deep places: of deep prayer, of deep wisdom, of deep understanding of God's Kingdom Come.

The Collect for All Saints from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle for All Saints is read in the seventh chapter of the Revelation of Saint John the Divine, verses 2-4 and 9-17, from The English Standard Version:

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The Gospel for All Saints is written in the fifth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, beginning in the first verse (English Standard Version):

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And so we give thanks today with fellow saints who live for Christ in a Community of Gratitude, all of us on the Journey to One Thousand Gifts at A Holy Experience:

Lord God, the Father of all Your Saints--those living on earth and those living in heaven--with grateful hearts this day, we thank You for the Saints who shine Your Light into dark, dreary, hard, sin-filled places, living in Your Joy, Your Peace, Your Beauty--the Grace-filled Saints whom I see and know and love and learn from:

381. ...my husband, a saint of saints who selflessly serves and graciously lives with me, a man of the deep places

382. ...my mother, a woman of prayer and joy

383. ...Judith, an always fruit-bearing spiritual mother and dear friend who speaks Spirit and joy through poetry, living fully-invested in Him

384. ...Kathryn, a spiritual older sister who shares my soul and lives a difficult life with stunning beauty and grace

385. ...Diana, a dear friend and elder sister who carries joy and laughter into the hard places

386. ...Sarah, whom I have never met personally but who understands deep places and writes of them with Grace and Truth

387. ...Noko, my sister in so many ways, who infuses joy despite distance and time and hardness in life

388. ...Carmen, my sister who teaches without teaching, who lives deep and beautiful while life is hard as stone and grief burns her soul

389. ...Vera, my sister across the states who taught me to pray, taught me His Word, and infuses joy and Spirit where'er she roams

390. ...Johanna, my sister who lives and loves and prays deep and joyful, speaking Spirit and Truth in the hard places

Thanking Him for All His Saints, this Day and always,

Hallowe'en 2010

Hallowe'en is always somewhat of an afterthought in our house. Elizabeth plans ahead, but the boys often don't decide what they want to be until a day or two ahead...and that's usually at Elizabeth's prodding. On Friday afternoon when we stopped by the Halloween store on the way home from PLNU, she called T and B at home to see if they wanted anything. If she hadn't done so, I doubt they would have decided on anything at all.

So Elizabeth went as Hermione from Harry Potter, especially with Deathly Hallows Part 1 coming out later this month. With help from Keith and Elizabeth, Timothy went as a Nazgul (ring wraith) from Lord of the Rings. Jonathan changed his mind at the last minute, going as a knight rather than as a soldier. And Benjamin was a Ninja, complete with knives and nunchuks.

We usually take Elizabeth back to college after church on Sundays, but we brought her back up the mountain yesterday so that she could take the boys trick-or-treating. Halloween is a fun thing in our small town as everyone flocks to the one little subdivision with street lights. There's a Gospel Barn hosted by the community church and lots of people having parties and bonfires in the front yards so that the parents can hang out a bit and chat while the kids continue on their rounds. It's not uncommon for high school kids to come around, helping the younger ones or assisting at the Gospel Barn. It's just good, small-town neighborhood fun. I drove Elizabeth back to campus, dropping her off by 10:45 so she could get a smidge more studying done before bed.

For more photos from our Halloween, see my photo blog: Susanne 365 and Beyond.

Spookily yours,