Specs

When we choose to create, whole universes rise to meet our inclination, which can, on occasion, be intimidating. What we know about process, creation, may not lend itself at the moment to production. Time may swirl its vaporous fogs around us. We may need to filter the nectar from the dew.

A useful tool for creative sessions we find in music. Often, we have many favorites and find it fortuitous to add artists to our listening consistently. There are numerous choices in ways to find and enjoy music these days. Every taste meets ample representation.

An exercise one might do, is to take a song well enjoyed, enter it, imbibe its mood, let the lyrics move the spirit; then write, paint, create something original from what one finds in the experience. Music is heart and soul; it is a gift always filling lives.

Equally, photos can be a catalyst for inspiration. Looking through photos offers a bevy of ideas. Personal and family photos, magazines, Instagram, and other online services should serve well enough. Create as whim and wish may direct.

Random words found in various places can be material to seed many works. Dictionaries, quotations, thesauri, signs will work, or pick some out of the air.

There is never a dearth of creativity; it infuses every portion of reality and imagination. The trick is to harness it and make with it some beauty to honor who we are in the world. At times like these, love is sorely needed and can be delivered expertly through our creations.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Happens

I thought I knew the music
I believed my soul caught fire
I knew love was meant forever
I sought to chase my many dreams,
But when suddenly you kissed me
I realized I was dreadfully mistaken
You were the love in my life missing,
So I became who you wanted
To reach the heaven of everything.

Still, trying, I could not capture
The deep, whole, central heart of you
Though you held me in your hand,
Nothing, not one thing, made you mine;
All I gave you set to the flame
My life burned for your attention,
But every treasure you failed to mention
There were swarms of others who
Caught your fancy, charmed your eyes,
I finally, late, realized I was wasting
My time trying to convince you to see
I was, and had, the love you needed,
I let you go – walked out – set you free;
Sometime later, you reached for me,
But all forsaken, I had taken hope
In hand and found another wanting me.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Excellent Zeal

The movement of stars
In the firmament of the sky,
Reminds me of how
Your eyes shine with radiance
When you express your passion.
What you are living,
What you love, every treasure,
That moves you to speak;
These things that inspire your heart
Stand with you against the dark.
Everyone has times
They shuffle away from where
Their miracles lie,
But I have seen you become
More than who you were before.
You have the lights turned
High on the goals you must seek,
There is no stopping
Until you find yourself complete
Your soul carries you everywhere.
Bathe in the fountain
Under the moon shining bright,
Know you provided
Encouragement needed to
Help others discover delight.
All who go this way
Live one with the beloved –
Those chosen and set
Apart, who exist in emotions
Deep, wild, free, called to create.
The movement of stars
In the firmament of the sky,
Reminds me of how
Your eyes shine with radiance
When you express your passion.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

So T’is

We, a masterpiece,
Painted love upon the present
Never are erased,
Caresses full of ardor
Colored words our wild passion.


I believed in you
Long enough to breathe your life
Into what was mine,
Now we are never alone
Bound each to one another.


Fixed pieces within
A frame carefully cited
Who we are and may
Become on some future day;
Art skillfully executed.


The purse lies empty,
No one dares to refill it,
Because they want no
Part of its obligation;
Owning possibilities.


I cannot ever
Know because it is yours to
Take, to carry on,
But I love you – despite grief,
Which will not have you, the thief.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

If you wish, your prompt is to create things that demonstrate how you have reality in hand but are somehow outside it. Dare to be the freedom that expresses what is yours and yet beyond yourself. Life is a crucible, be the alchemy.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Where Will We

Be tomorrow when
We leave this present behind?
Is there much future
Left for us to find, explore?
We may not know anymore.
Creativity
Beckons with many prizes,
But will we survive
The breaking down of culture,
The wrestling for position?
Ah, superstition
Reckons itself mighty in
The material
Sphere, naming one this, one that,
Begging as it puts on hats.
We need must make peace
With what we experience
Now, somehow, someway,
Or it becomes our portion
Of unquiet yesterday,
Bleeding all over
Present, future being, leaves
Us constant struggle
With only hope to battle
For who we ready become.
We founded ourselves
Among the bold, the rebels,
Those who employ love
To conquer the multiverse
And so, we must continue.
Life swears us nothing
But serves us what we gather
In its give and take
Our dreams, plans, only matter –
If we choose to make them so.
Tomorrow awaits
With a bright, fresh countenance –
Likewise, we may go
Into the fair abundance
Free of angst, full of good cheer.
It is ours to choose
In our freedom, who we are,
Who we will become;
In doing, we can create
A refuge of lovely peace.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan