I hang suspended
. Stretching away from my design
. Wrapped tight within myself—my natural tendency
. Clear shimmering, promising help
. But void.
Until
. My neighbor slips down
. Bumping my tight skin, breaking the meniscus,
. Binding with me, pulling, stretching
And we dance to the ground.
Splash, jumping with the others
Filter through the dirt
Nourishing, becoming.
_________________________
This poem is in response to the Five Minute Friday prompt: Neighbor. The rules are: write for 5 minutes and no editing (although I can’t stop myself a little. I am an editor after all). And yes, I know it isn’t Friday anymore. I was up enjoying Lake Michigan and my family and purposefully left my laptop at home. But I did take pics. If you’d like to see some, head over to my Instagram account.
Like the little water droplet in the poem, I so often fight joining with other folks. But when I do allow myself, I find a whole new purpose.
So this fall I’m back to leading a neighborhood study and hanging with my writer’s group. But I’m also presenting at two writer’s conferences and volunteering downtown at a fabulous outreach that uses art to reach the homeless population. I’m nervous and excited as I dance into this new season. Hoping to be nourishment to my fellow neighbors.
How about you? What are you tackling this season?
I love this! I can picture that little water droplet holding itself away from all the action until something shifts and involvement is mandatory. Thanks for writing this. It made me smile.
God bless!
I’m glad you could picture it and it made you smile 🙂
Wow! The imagery is deep! Love the connections!
~Your FMF Neighbor
Thank you, Amy! Heading over to your site now. I’m SO-O behind at the moment I don’t even know where to start! 🙂
Janyre, I love this simple image! We don’t always recognize our purpose until we seek out connection with others. That’s the beauty of community-bringing out what we don’t see in ourselves. I am tackling more online writing and substitute teaching.
Go, Stephanie! Are you substituting a specific age or subject? I’ve always admired teachers. I love kids and love helping out in the classroom, but I can only handle a few hours before I start losing my mind 🙂 I sent up prayers for your writing and teaching. God bless your new adventures.
I really enjoyed your “5 Minute” piece and am blown away with your photography. You have a very artistic creative eye. Brings back memories of my own interest in photography. I still have an interest but just haven’t allowed myself to take the time to capture images I see and think, “Wow, I’d ought to capture that image” but don’t take the time to do so. Perhaps your work will inspire me to get my real camera out and start clicking again. Thank you.
I’m glad you liked the image. I actually took it with my iPhone. It’s amazing how good that lens really is.
Janyre, I love your poem, the analogies, and the photo too. Looking forward to meeting you at Breathe!
I am SO excited for Breathe this year. Can’t wait to meet you, too. So many of my online friends will be there, I don’t know quite what I’m going to do with myself I’m so excited!
Beautiful imagery.
What am I tackling this season? Writing, teaching guitar and ukulele, leading a small group, and working with a friend to start a nonprofit.
In all of these, there are opportunities for new and deeper relationships.
Ukulele?! I love it 🙂 It sounds like you’re moving and shaking in this season. What is the nonprofit you are working on?