Out of the Way

Nothing assures the imagination will show itself, but we are all creative and can manufacture situations to bring dreams to life.

One way is to face the page in actuality or on-screen and stay with it until words or art come. Another is to dive in; create as one goes, letting go of the obligation to be great in the roughness of the draft. One can clean up the mistakes and omissions later.

No one, nothing, is perfect this side of heaven. There are flaws in people and things – inanimate and living. Everyone has to deal with who they are, but change is doable. Work is not permanent, everything has a season. Sometimes the appropriate season fails to come, but this is no reason to give up.

If one only creates for the temporary pleasure of applause, little is apt to be accomplished. Seeing each moment as practice one moves close to concrete meaning. The creative act is where one experiments attempting to beget work that measures up to the triumphs of the past. Best practice is to keep the self as the competition rather than others.

If work is not displayed for public digestion it can marinate in the recesses of imagination being allowed to be edited in time for consumption by others. One must continue the work only an individual may do. Each person’s vision is important as an antidote to the fracturing of the world. Production is a valid truth, creation has meaning, dreams must be nourished. Life requires each perception of what is and is not precious. Keep going, never give up.

Heavenly Day

“Do you mean
These words that
You say?”
‘Heavenly Day’
“Well, yeah
In a way,
I mean it
Can or cannot
Be.”
“Then why?”
“Because God
Is near,
Always here,
Watching over
Wills and ways;
He pitches in
To help me
Carry on
When I fall
Off to the side,
He abides.”
“How do you
Know He cares?”
“The Bible
Says so,
And I have
Experienced
It happening so,
I believe,
It is the truth
In which I grow.”

We Create

When creating seems impossible, sometimes it is good to bide our time and do things that fill the well. Other times we have to jump in and make do with what comes. Pushing ourselves will not necessarily lessen our work’s quality, but it might get us back to flow.

We may not feel like cooking, but we will do it so we can eat. Our art will never appear without our exerting effort. Even if inspiration seems to desert us, we have agile minds, which can imagine even when the streams we commonly rely on have run dry.

We must do, or we fall into habits that include accepting creative blocks. There comes a moment we recognize a stop only exists as we allow it.

Breaking Through

The cold moves over
Me like a breath of wind brought
In with the opening
Of a door unexpected
And I chill a little thrill.

Night has in its fists
All the light it took away
At the sun’s setting
It seems to whisper Winter
Has no patience to further wait.

I laugh that ready
Chortle that calls another
Game to begin here
For this too is my season
Breathing it, I brace with health.

One essential point to keep foremost in mind is that we are not guaranteed time. What we want to do we must be busy about doing. Finding a reason is easy if we wish to leave some evidence of our lives on Earth. We are capable of much more than we often believe. Only we can do what we can do.

If you must, borrow
A smile from a friend, stranger,
Then bend creation.

Here’s hoping everyone finds themselves with the mindset to create. It is so vital; in fact, it can change reality.

Wave upon wave drives
Crashing to shore swallowing –
Ejecting, found more.

All material on this site unless otherwise noted is
© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Have Laundry?

Life is not laundry –
We cannot throw parts inside
A machine and wash
Away the blood, dirt, and ink
The strains are deep stains and keep.

We can play music
Try to soothe our tortured souls
But hurt, pain never
Leave without doubts uncontrolled –
Yesterday sings, ever bold.

Writing the story
We may find partial relief
But we may become
Such characters we did not
Foresee ourselves/differently.

Poetry is fine
If we have time to create
A fortunate line,
But it may wad us into
Waste sheets in stone bins, my friends.

Live time, forever,
Make it the very best show
Play it all for real
Let others surely know all
The love which our hearts hold inside.

Be, love, give, listen,
See everything positively
Life, love are enough
Go all in, never give up,
Let show, make evident, love.

Life is not laundry –
But our lives can be redeemed
By the Lord Jesus Christ
We can find grace and be cleaned
We can live by faith, be free.

Don’t

When it all goes wrong and you are tired of the fight. When the world seems dark like a moonless night. When you feel lost, far from the light. Hold on, do not give in or give up.

In those moments when you barely stand, when doubt and fear clasp your hands, have courage. You are not forgotten; remember, you are begotten of Love.

The things you struggle with are seen by the Savior by whom you are redeemed. Take all your trouble, place it with Jesus; His mercy and grace are sufficient for every need. Through Christ, you are made an overcomer, latch on to His promise with faith and prayer. Let the Lord relieve your cares.

When I write on my phone line breaks do not work. Therefore I give you a prose poem.