Mindful Poetry Gathering - February 2022

This month for Mindful Poetry Moments we gathered to listen and contemplate the poem "What to Expect" by Katie Manning. Rana Dotson, A Mindful Moment Trustee, opened with a meditation. Emily Little, Poet and mother, led the reading and response. (You can watch the full recording here and read the full transcript here.)

Community Response Poems

What to expect when you are becoming
by Jennifer Nuesi

There are gracious ways
that time shows us
how growth can sustain our endeavors

When something is irregular with the scene
growth smoothes the scales back
to paint a clear view of the abandonment

Where tattered skins reside
of the has-beens and done did
of an age where ignorance was king

We have stretched our dimensions
into valleys and vowels of electric connects
changing the landscape of the day
to mold mountains from our mines

Now hold the terrains of being
terrestrial mother
as you emerge from the visceral cocoon
as the pinkness of lessons brings you to becoming

What to expect when you are writing a novel.
by Stacy Sims

Expect long days staring out the window. Expect baths. Expect thinking that you will write better after a bath. Expect to read inspiring literature in said bath. Expect to listen to true crime podcasts instead. Expect to write a genius chapter. Expect to write seven terrible ones. Expect to lose track of your character’s names and ages. Expect to find out that historical fiction takes three times longer to write. Expect to imagine book clubs: Oprah’s, Reece’s and your wine-drinking friends. Expect to enlarge the font and add spacing to see you’ve written “more” pages than you thought. Expect to dream about it. Expect to stare out the window. Expect to take long walks. Expect to hate the blank page. Expect to feel it is the only thing that keeps you tethered to your idea of yourself.

What to expect when moving in with your partner
by Rowe Schnure

Expect belly laughs, late nights and arguments about the landscaping. Expect back pimples, farts and sharing a single bathroom. Expect afternoon sex, pregnancy scares and forehead kisses. Expect errands as dates, creating chore charts and then abandoning them. Expect neighborhood walks, porch hands and late night bonfires. Expect communication kerfuffles, redrawing boundaries and deep honesty. Expect differences in decorating and drawing straws for whose turn it is to take out the trash. Expect board games, card games and video games. Expect sick days, kidney stones and hangovers. Expect to learn so many new things together. Expect to experience the unexpected.


Untitled
by Wade Hopkins

Upon meeting your heroes
Be prepared
For there is no such person as a hero.
There is only you.

And when you meet your hero you might expect something magnificent.
Blazing eyes, careless certainty, someone wrapped in legacy yet every moment an act of creation.

And in reflection will you stand naked in your own fallen humanity?
Still alone.

How could your own perfection survive meeting your heroes?
That's easy. There's no such thing as heros.