I Won’t Stop Trying…

barnstormingblog

Sometimes I think all the best poems
have been written already,
and no one has time to read them,
so why try to write more?

At other times though,
I remember how one flower
in a meadow already full of flowers
somehow adds to the general fireworks effect

as you get to the top of a hill
in Colorado, say, in high summer
and just look down at all that brimming color.
I also try to convince myself

that the smallest note of the smallest
instrument in the band,
the triangle for instance,
is important to the conductor

who stands there, pointing his finger
in the direction of the percussions,
demanding that one silvery ping.
And I decide not to stop trying,

at least not for a while, though in truth
I’d rather just sit here reading
how someone else has been acquainted
with the night already, and perfectly.
~Linda Pastan “Rereading Frost” from Queen of a Rainy Country. 

I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. 
I have been one acquainted with the night.
~Robert Frost “Acquainted with the Night”

I want to write with quiet hands. I
want to write while crossing the fields that are
fresh with daisies and everlasting and the
ordinary grass. I want to make poems while thinking of
the bread of heaven and the
cup of astonishment; let them be

songs in which nothing is neglected,
not a hope, not a promise. I want to make poems
that look into the earth and the heavens
and see the unseeable. I want them to honor
both the heart of faith, and the light of the world;
the gladness that says, without any words, everything.
~Mary Oliver “Everything” from New and Selected Poems: Volume Two

Some of you ask why I post poems by other authors when I could be writing more original work myself.

My answer, like poet Linda Pastan above is:

Sometimes I think all the best poems
have been written already,
and no one has time to read them,
so why try to write more?

Yet, like Linda, I’ve decided not to stop trying. Since I’ve committed myself to being here every day to share something that may help me and someone else breathe in the fragrance of words and the world – I try to be the necessary and eloquent silver ping when the Conductor points at me at precisely the right moment in time.

More often, I’m the “clang” creating a ruckus ringing the farm triangle bringing in everyone from all over the barnyard for lunch.

Even when my words feel broken, or I say again what another has already said yet I feel it bears emphasis — I do try to write with quiet hands, in reverence and awe for what unseeable, unspeakable gifts God has granted us all.

I try to celebrate by illuminating words and pictures with a unique “ping” all of my own.

AI image created for this post
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7 thoughts on “I Won’t Stop Trying…”

  3. I didn’t know you wrote.

    Due to a disability, I rarely click on links. . . often don’t even recognize them for what they are. Tonight I clicked and low and behold I found you here with words, as well as pictures. Yes, the words written by others are indeed poignant and fuel heart, mind, soul…..it is your words I’d like to read. For as powerful as earlier writers were and are…..here, I see for myself what’s inspired you to write what you do, for you share those pictures. The blend together is a very powerful thing.

    The masters, were masters of their day and time. They were both fresh and new at the time of their writing, and have continued to be powerful through the years. But that doesn’t mean there is not room for you. You and your writings are as vital as theirs. Each slightly different turn of a phrase, can reach someone other writers could not. Your writing and pictures are uniquely yours. And after following your photos for many, many, many years, I know you see what others often do not. Or you recognize a unique yet all important new angle or perspective. So I believe your writing is also like that.

    So please, do not allow your fingers to become silent, nor your eyes to become blinded. The touch of The Master’s hand/eye move through you and onto this page, that He might reach others through you.

    Thank you for sharing. Thank you for bringing beauty into my day, my world. And as I stand inside your pictures, looking at the sky and trees….I pray there and here….inviting His presence to transform what blew up my life four years ago. And to help provide a place to call home, that’s income based. That I will not try to build anew the incredible life He helped me build over 20 year span of time….creating for myself something I’ve never had. But that I will strive to create anew, a place where He can use me, a place where entering the front door is Holy ground. Lord grant, I pray, my forever home. You know the deadline approaches.

    And Thank you, Emily, for listening to His tug on your heart and for continuing to take photographs and writing as well…..for He uses you to bring healing to myself and others who follow you.

    May Blessings continue to flow….Thank you

    Liked by 1 person

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