Poem me

smoky longings
unformed images
whisper outside
around loosening
what was
once bound tight
as spring peonies

Poem me open
soften lines
dark margins
hold empty
spaces waiting –
wanting You

unfold in me
let me unfold

© 2017 – Laurel Archer

Open – Graphite stick on paper, 21″ x 15″
Feature image, detail, Open
© 2017 – Karen Epp

This week, our word was ‘Open’.  Karen led, creating her piece which she sent on to Laurel.  Laurel wrote ‘Poem Me’ in response to Karen’s art.

Karen on her process:  The last few days everywhere I looked I saw images of, heard of situations or was stirred by something within me that spoke about our chosen word for the week, “Open.” The opening of a flower, an opening in the mountains with a waterfall cascading from it, an open heart surgery for a delightfully happy baby boy, and words on pages that asked me to be open. For me, being open isn’t always easy, sometimes it’s downright messy. Lately I’ve been leaning into those recesses within me that nurture relationship and there I’m discovering an openness that offers freedom. This week’s piece was an untitled work in progress and when I saw it on my computer I knew it was time to finish it and finally give it it’s title. How might Open be speaking to you? 

Laurel on her process:  When I opened the image I was startled at how an image could express so well my emotion this week. I have felt anything but open. In truth, I have felt constrained, yet trying to practice ‘Open’ – it was the best I could do. To me the figure in Karen’s drawing wrestles between that constraint and a desire to be free. The phrase ‘Poem me’ was sitting in my imagination because I was wondering what it would be like if I were a poem that God was writing. This ‘made up’ verb (poem, to poem) feels gentle to me, soft like the outer edges of Karen’s drawing and for me holds the bolder edges of the figure, inviting it to open up. I was drawn by Karen’s reference to the opening of a flower in her process notes, in contrast to the hard ‘nut’ of the bud that precedes its awakening.

The poem itself is free verse, but tries to convey the roundness and spaciousness of our theme word ‘Open’ with repetition of Long open vowels. The final couplet is an adapted quote taken from ‘The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood’ by Rebecca Wells.

Laurel and Karen