Hope-etry - My Poem
So for my last “Hope-etry” sharing before the next
Hope Portal podcast, I thought I would give a go at putting together something of a poem. I was really touched by what I saw and experienced in the first two hours of my day today and started to note things as I walked with Scout in the last hour or so of those two hours. So here ’tis. Images that connect with some of the things I wrote follow.120 Minutes of Hope Hope is... the quiet breathing of my spouse next to me the tail thuddles from Scout when she first sees me this morning the sound of the AC unit in my son’s room reminding me that all our kids are home my body that awakens with an urge to move and to run the coffee I prepare but never drink - a daily gift to my wife the Slowdown podcast that daily opens me to the worldview of others the Psalm shared a few days ago still echoing in my spirit - Psalm 31:8 - you have set my feet in a broad place... the morning light emerging from the darkness of night remembering times like the shadowed trees when I felt I couldn’t see a way forward the sewer rat of hope that kept going even in those hardest of times the mystery of how clouds and dust and distance dance together to paint a daily masterpiece the single bright light of Venus shining among the pink clouds the Dickinson hope thing with feathers full and colorful the ducklings swimming close to mom but also slowly venturing further on their own noticing new sounds - the chattering of three raccoons climbing a nearby tree the everytime sounds that I hear at the lake - insects, birds, even fish the same tree and same sun moment from yesterday and today that look remarkably similar yet so different the EMTs racing with sirens at full to help the person(s) in need receiving a text from my wife with the phrase “goth corgis” the “unseen” all around that Scout smells and hears but I never fully will the science and imagination and creativity that created a camera that I carry and built the jet that flew overhead the photo from two years ago remembering a friend whose death I continue to grieve the Great Parks employee I saw picking up litter left behind the community of people here walking the same paths happy to see one another each day trying my hand at poetry - is this even a poem? not caring whether this is a poem or not... just sharing hope...
Here’s an encouragement for you today. Take some period of time - 10 minutes, 60 minutes, 2 hours - and do something similar. In that period of time, write down whatever stirs hope, or wonder, or awe, or happiness, or ______ for you. Be intentional in that time - look for that thing. See what emerges. I’d love to hear what you experience.
Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed
PS - Scout was the first to notice the raccoons...aka “goth corgis”
Beautiful everything 🙏
Thank you for reminding me hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul - at times when I struggle beneath the shadowed trees unsure of the future.