Tag: Poetry
-
fear is (not) a liar
Fear is (not) a liarBy Lindsay L. O’ConnorI used to try to divorce myself from inconvenient feelingsthat seemed to:- stand in the way of my goals- threaten my connection with people I loved or depended on- make me uncomfortable.Those poor dears!They cowered in the dark, shoved down, covered up,sealed tight by shame, guilt, and anxiety.Do…
-
feast: a promise full, filled.
feast: a promise full, filledby Lindsay L. O’ConnorYou put this hunger in my belly,then promised me a feast.Sometimes the hunger gnawsas though it might consume meand I wonder if I will ever be satisfied.Then, I have these moments when time slows downand suddenly I see the banquet table set before me.I hear You say,“Take. Eat.…
-
rooted
RootedLife is change and all change is loss.Even gain is loss of the empty spacethat the new thing now occupies.The emptiness may have been unpleasant, but it was also familiar,and for many of us, familiarity breeds securitydue to a sense of predictabilityand control.Loss—and therefore, change—breaks us wide openas we’re confronted with the realitythat we are…
-
noted.
Noted The sounds of the chickens next door remind me of a morning I woke up in Africa. There are chickens all over the world, of course, but the gentle clucks of the ones in Ilmamen, Kenya all those years ago are the ones I listened and paid attention to, soaking in every sensory detail…
-
free play
Free PlayWhat would you do if you weren’t afraid? Those dear protectorsonly want to keep us safebut sometimes, they hem us in, behind and before, so our little world shrinkssmaller and smallerand we can’t see a way out anymore. Many times, what they want most in the world is to be heard, seen, acknowledged, validated.…
-
spill
If you took off the lidthat was sealed so tightly,I wonder what would spill out?Would the contents burst forthlike a geyser shooting up,or would something tightly coiledfinally have the room to spring,air filling the long-compressed spacesso that at last it could take upall the space it was designed to occupy?Or would it be a slow…
-
lament
3 shootingsin 6 days,and these are just the ones that have made the news.May God have mercy on our souls-God knows, there’s no mercy to be had from the gun owners.#PaytonWashington#KaylinGillis#RalphYarl
-
parenting is:
Parenting is carrying on with a beautiful daysplashing about in the creekafter a morning of child temper tantrumsand impatient imperfect grown ups simultaneously wondering when this season will endknowing this season will endhoping and grievingthat this season will end.~Lindsay L. O’Connor
-
before you go
before you go Stay with yourselfStay with this momentStay with this holy unfoldingStay with this goodness.When your wise body tells you “This is good,”Stay. When your chest is wide open,expanding the width of the whole world,so entwined with creationthat the very breeze feels likethe breath expanding your lungs—Stay.Linger on this holy ground. When you glimpse…
-
wind chimes
Wind ChimesThere’s a place where the sidewalkleading up to our houseslopes in a gentle curvedown to the street.On not-too-hot sunny days,I am drawn to sit here and feel the breeze lift the ends of my hairas I get lost in the soundof the wind chimeshanging over the porch.They betray a physical manifestationof the wind—that mysterious…
Lindsay L. O'Connor 