Follow Creativity

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On the unknown road
Toward futures we traverse
There is only love,
Prayer, faith, creativity,
To lend us needed balance.
Those who we love most,
Prayers we to Heaven post,
Faith we are not lost,
Things we can create to
Help us through those times
It seems we are losing the edge
Of our mental acuity and are
Striving hard to be ourselves
In a world loosed from its moorings;
These we must follow, revere,
For else dismay convinces us
Everything leads to nowhere.
There are times betwixt times
We find ourselves adrift, drowning,
But God knows our battles,
And He is our sword and shield,
He is a fortress to win our wars,
He blest us with ability, ingenuity,
Skill, talent, knowledge, and does
Not leave us unprepared,
He stands with us and coaxes
Us with His gift of creativity
To find our confidence and strength
To move beyond our trouble
And live love out loud,
That we may conquer perplexity.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

I went up to get the mail. The silence, the emptiness, it is over two weeks since I went up there, many changes since then.

This is an answer to the prompt “Follow______________” on Poetic Aside for today’s PAD Challenge. The world is changing. I wonder how ready we are.

After Quarantine

The world is made new
Different than any have
Previously seen,
A quieter, less crowded place
For we have sheltered in homes.
Those who solitary
Embrace, enjoy, are at peace,
But most are denied
The routine, familiar pace
That verified lives defined
By haste, and social interaction.
This contraction is revoking
Much we all depended upon,
We had no inkling commerce,
Education, government, health care
Could be like the empty shelves
Where toilet tissue used to be,
But now, we know the economy
Can fail because contagion invades.
The mystery
Will we return to business as
Usual if or when the deaths end?
Could we be fortified to live
More independently, freely,
Functioning successfully on our own?
We have been catapulted into
A space-time continuum
We did not expect or choose to share,
We are commissioned with the duty
To bring care, kindness, and love,
To this New World unfolding
Unfathomably before us
Moment by moment.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

 

Creativity Now

If you are fortunate enough to have some extra time in your schedule now, I want to encourage you to spend a portion of your day engaged in a type of creativity:

You might want to write your observations of this time in a journal or create poetry and stories that are entirely unrelated. If you have ever had the ambition to write a book, perhaps this is your ideal time.

Photographers might enthuse themselves with taking photos of a scene over some interval of days, and look at the changes, or use them in layers combined for an HDR effect.

Artists might find ordinary items in the household and anthropomorphize those objects, even working them into a cartoon or short animated movie.

For those who have culinary desires, now might be the perfect time to delve into grandma’s recipes or that book you never opened and do some food magic.

Those musicians who need some practice could try something they have never gotten around to, or write some new songs that would surely receive a warm welcome the first time they are performed.

Computer programmers and other computer geeks, this is your time to code your own project until your heart is content.

Readers, this is the time to explore everything you choose. Go everywhere, everywhen, everyhow, you wish all within the covers of books or the pages of eBooks.

Of course, any of the above could engage children or pets as subjects in work, also involving children so they better understand what can be done creatively is a valuable learning activity.

I am confident if you look at this time from the perspective of opportunity that you will find inspiration and things to explore creatively. Time is only wasted when we fail to recognize its value. These are a few ideas, I am sure you have more if you allow.

Take care, be well, God Bless You!

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

 

Hope Despite Plague

Busy, stay busy,
Converse with loves far away,
Read something, then more,
Celebrate this fragile life,
Do things to make the dogs happy.
Sing like you know how
No one is listening, just music be,
Do not cry that your job is gone
Hopefully only temporarily,
Recall so many better times.
Remember God is in Control
His love is eternal, never fades,
No tragedy can prevent Him
From being Lord of Lords and
King of Kings, these wrongs we suffer
This casting us into night, Christ
Knows and He will in time
Set it all right, He is our Hope
Our Defender and I will turn
To Jesus and I shall stand
For no virus, calamity, power of man
Can ever remove my soul
From the Master’s hand.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Today’s prompt on Poetic Asides is “Hope.” I am a bit preoccupied with circumstances at the moment, but I have Hope.

 

Alien Versus Humanity

The world slips further
Away from firm foundation
With each day imposed
Separation of us from
The who, what, how, where, we are.
Nothing is as was
Before the invader took
Lives from all of us
In action so vast, fast, cruel,
Unexpected and powerful
We are defenseless.
Our strategies to combat
The conqueror languish
In defeat because no remedy
Prepared vanquishes this unknown.
We are set apart
Distanced, often on our own;
Encouraged alone
Social creatures that we are
We have a failure to thrive.
To go on living
We set ourselves without touch
Not coming near, beside,
But in isolation, we suffer harm
Needing the love of one another.
We are not forever ruined
No alien, whether creature
Or deadly virus has ever
Withstood the corporate
Function of human beings
Acting in concerted
Determination of Love.
It is not over, God,
In His wisdom will in time
His many blessings align
With our monumental need,
And we people will break free.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Another bit of late-night musing. Bleak, but no, overall victorious. Hold on to all you hold in your heart, love will overcome.