Riding the Rainbow
Last summer, I shared two posts on resilience and reverence. The first, “Three Steps to Resilience” was a how-to narrative. Then, I re-wrote that piece as a poem in “Reverence for Me.” Over the last few years, I have used this technique as a challenge to improve my writing; prose to poem, or poem to prose. Unlike analytical narrative, which does not encourage interpretation, poetry demands it. This is poetry’s power: interpretation prompts engagement that creates a relationship between the writer and reader. It encourages discourse as opposed to the terminus of persuasion that is the aim of analytical narrative. Recently, I learned that this approach is not new, none other than Benjamin Franklin also used this process to improve his own writing. Following in his footsteps—even unwittingly—seems a good practice. It makes my mind do flips and cartwheels that, while challenging, always reveals new perspectives and insights while helping avoid the onset of intellectual sclerosis that seems to afflict many of my aging peers.
Today, I offer a poem that attempts to capture the life-process I outlined in “The Identity Trap: Suffering or Transcendence,” (August 2, 2022) that illustrates the four phases of life: preparation, achievement, actualization, and transcendence. Two stanzas are meant to reflect each phase, in order, for a total of eight, punctuated by a final line of deliverance. Toggling between the essay and the poem allows two forms of interrogation on these most important questions of identity and the meaning of a good life. The essay is 2,096 words while the poem is 110 words; in essence, the same message. I hope one or the other, or both, resonate with you.
The Arc of Life
Your life is yours
The lovely and gnarly
White space beckons
Inviting a masterpiece
Welcomed with joy
Stumbling, climbing
From abstract to real
Striving to shine
The pain of wounds
Bathed by pure light
Cleansing then healing
Scars become honor
Cheers and sneers
Certainty and chaos
Ardor conquers all
Vicissitudes vanish
Beliefs and knowledge
Give way to wisdom
Beatitudes cascading
A gift from the Mount
Ignoring fools
Left to goad others
Desires dwindle as
Calm becomes armor
The loud fall quiet
Disturbances wane
Silence blossoms
So the soul can speak
A whisper of goodbye
Gracefully now
From glory to peace
A sweet liberation
Tendered to eternity
Fear is NOT Us
The America I grew up in was strong, confident, and open-minded. Every new generation expected their lives would be better than the ones their parents had. It was what we set out to accomplish every day. Yes, we were far from perfect and committed our own range of transgressions, but at our core we believed in our country and ourselves. We were unafraid.
America today is afraid of the world, its neighbors, and each other. Fear […]
The Sanctity of Dignity
The amniotic sac that protects a fetus in its most vulnerable state of being is very similar to dignity. Once we are born, dignity’s job is to provide a protective barrier that surrounds our character where the good stuff—our virtues and values—reside. Dignity is the guardian of the soul; it keeps us whole and uncompromised. It reminds us as often as necessary that we are worthy while communicating a sense of resilience to those who […]
Squandering America’s Greatest Asset: Legitimacy
Power is a complicated subject. Even if we ignore the many types of power based in some form of energy (electric, fossil, solar, wind, nuclear, etc.), that leaves the state of, forms of, nature of, and consequences of, power in other realms of society to a scope of discussion that can occupy many hours of debate (which scholars often do). These discussions can produce many delightful hours of intellectual masturbation. Regardless of which locus of […]
From GO! to F l o w
We have entered a period in the American experiment that might best be characterized as the era of whiplash. We are being yanked to and fro by our president in a manner that is disorienting and disturbing all while we are being asked to ignore norms and laws including many provisions of our Constitution. This is not creative destruction, which is a healthy organic response to changing realities. This is not reform that revitalizes our […]
You & Yours
Now is the time for writers and artists and musicians and chefs and teachers and ministers and philosophers to step out from the shadows and shine their light to illuminate the good and true. We need the subtle but durable power of aestheticism and depth of virtue to guide us as our nation is being overrun by ego-centric hucksters held captive by the grip of greed. Those who understand that neither beauty nor tranquility arise […]
Is Ochlocracy Next?
First, an apology. I failed to offer new year’s greetings in my first post of the year, “Flourishing Together.” Between the events in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and on the heels of the assassination of a CEO in midtown Manhattan, it seemed a gruesome and sad time incompatible with annual revelry even as most Americans—including in New Orleans and Las Vegas—partied on.
So, a belated Happy New Years! Sort of? Hopefully!?
Whether 2025 proves to […]