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| Santorini -photo by Yuri Lev |
Greetings to all who land here as we ring out the old year and ring in the new. The Seven+One Poetry Sisters aka Poetry Pals have invited us to feature bells today. In the spirit of collabellation, here's my blitz:
if a clod be washed away by the sea
coral bells
coral reef
reef or island
reef or atoll
toll the bells
toll the road
road to ruin
road to nowhere
nowhere else
nowhere man
man no island
woman be
be the bell
be the ring
ring me up
ring a rosie
rosy glasses
rosy future
futures stocks
future shock
shocking data
shocking news
Alexander Graham Bell
calling on the Batphone
phone me up
phone it in
in a minute
just a second
second thoughts
second chances
chance encounter
chance of rain
rain of ashes
rain of fire
fire alarm
fire fall
all fall down
all wrung out
out of luck
just in time
time's a-wastin'
time’s a ship
a sinking ship
a sinking feeling
a feel for it
it takes a toll
atoll an island
rings it tolls
for
thee
draft ©HM 2021
Many will notice that I'm leaning heavily on John Donne here, his famous you-can-call-it-a-sonnet-but-really-I-wrote-it-just-the-way-I-wanted "No man is an island." Like John, I had a hard time following the rules of the blitz this time and finally I've just had to give in and ring this bell my own way. Thanks to the sisters, among them Tanita Davis, for the opening the challenge.
In other news, Tanita was my Winter Poem Swap partner, and in the spirit of pacing myself and making that holiday feeling last as long as possible, I'll be posting all about the lovely gifts she sent next time, when also the Inklings will be posting our first challenge of *gulp* 2022. I'm glad to leave 2021 behind, yes, but also not expecting too much better of 2022.
Apparently that's a way to go, according to this deeply radical and honest blessing that passed to me on Facebook, by Nadia Bolz-Weber:
A blessing for the new year:
As you enter this new year, as you pack away the Christmas decorations and get out your stretchy pants
as you face the onslaught of false promises offered you through new disciplines and elimination diets
as you grasp for control of yourself and your life and this chaotic world
May you remember that there is no resolution that, if kept, will make you more worthy of love.
There is no resolution that, if kept, will make life less uncertain and allow you to control a pandemic and your children and the way other people act.
So this year,
May you just skip the part where you resolve to be better do better and look better this time.
May you give yourself the gift of really, really low expectations.
May you expect so little of yourself that you can be super proud of the smallest of accomplishments.
May you expect so little of the people in your life that you actually notice and cherish every small lovely thing about them.
May you expect so little of the supply chain and the service industry that you notice more of what you do get and less of what you don't and then just tip really well anyhow.
May you expect to get so little out of 2022 that you can celebrate every single thing it offers you, however small.
Because you deserve joy and not disappointment
So, I wish you a Happy as possible New Year.
As do I, and especially to our host today, Carol at Carol's Corner, who is gamely rounding us up with the antidote, which is always poetry, to the sudden fiery devastation of very nearby territory in Boulder, CO. May you all feel just a little bit safer by being here.
Alexander Graham Bell and ringing up the Bat Phone....lol. That was a fun blitz especially because it was your way. And, thank you for sharing the blessing. No resolution if kept will make you more worthy of love. Wow.
ReplyDeleteYay for blitzing your very own way! And yes to acceptance and love of where we are right now instead of so much striving. Happy 2022, Heidi! xo
ReplyDeleteI love your blitz, Heidi--and as I got to Alexander Graham Bell, I thought, wait...is this how a blitz poem goes? NO, and I love that you did it anyway. I love structure--and I love when people break it with enthusiasm :>) And I absolutely ADORE this blessing your shared. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat Laura said. Rules, ha! Yeah, you need them...until you don't. This poem rollicks along, and we just hang on for the ride, enjoying it all the way.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love "collabellation" too.
Your blitz is spot on, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI'm wholly unfamiliar with the blitz, but now I have to try this, too. And whew that Nadia Bolz-Weber, thank you for sharing that call to get real and go forth roaring into celebrating the new year.
ReplyDeleteHeidi-
ReplyDeleteThank you for these two treasures. I love your poem, what an amazing play on words! I have done several of those type of poems and they are hard to write and take a LOOONG time.
I also love, love, love Nadia's "Blessing for the New Year." Can't wait to share this with my friends tomorrow morning.
And sadly, the first thing I thought of yesterday when I heard about the fires in Colorado was climate change. We have had more than 200 days without precipitation in the Denver Metro area... So, so, so sad.
Heidi, a blitz poem is so hard to write (in my estimation). You did a great job-love the play on words. I like that you slipped in a character I know. Thanks for Nadia Bolz-Weber's poem. We all deserve love and joy. Have a great 2022.
ReplyDeleteThank you for always ringing you bell your own way and inspiring me as you do! Your blitz is brilliant! Nadia Bolz-Weber's blessing is exactly what I needed to read this morning before heading to work in what feels like completely unchartered territory. Enjoy your snow day!
ReplyDeleteHeidi, I love the stream of conscience feel of your poem, how the ideas flow. Very clever. And the prayer is stunning. I have thought about the attention to the supply chain should be what we DO have in spite of all the hardship, etc.
ReplyDeleteBlitz indeed! You OWNED it!
ReplyDeleteI love the "atoll" in there, and lagoons inside atolls too. Terrific poem Heidi, and I like it when you bend the form. Thanks for the Blessings poem too, letting go of expectations… hard to do, but well worth trying–Cheers!
ReplyDelete