You feed fear
and your virus spreads.
Zero days
without cure
leave your future full of holes.
What you do with it
is question
your relationship,
defend need
to puzzle
how you get along with loss,
beginning again,
you, alone.
Uncertainties take
sides. You have
to push to
feel your own opposing strength,
trust yourself to live
in dark light,
hold the paradox
of being
to become.
Contradictions favor not
knowing all answers.
© 2011 Maureen E. Doallas
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I'm participating in the Domino Project's #Trust30 challenge, an online writing/reflection initiative for which a prompt is posted daily. All of the prompts to date are here. Contributors of prompts are listed here.
This poem* is inspired by today's 29th prompt from entrepreneur Sean Ogle, creator of Location 180:
Overcoming Uncertainty
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Write down a major life goal you have yet to achieve or even begin to take action on. For each goal, write down three uncertainties (read: fears) you have relating to each goal. Break it down further, and write down three reasons for each uncertainty. When you have three reasons for your fear, you'll be able to start processing the change because you know where the fear stems from. Now you'll be able to make smaller changes that push you towards your larger goal. So begins the process of "trusting yourself."
* * *
* This poem is written in Shadorma form. Each of the inter-related stanzas comprises six lines following a 3-5-3-3-7-5 syllabic pattern.
I've used all of the #Trust30 prompts as inspiration for new poems. My responses to prompts 16 - 28 are:
You'll find my poem for the 15th prompt, "Truth Be Told", and a list of poems for prompts 1 - 14 here.
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4 comments:
Beautiful. With echos of a favorite from Rilke: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves." Thank you.
I love the first stanza - a virus can take so many forms in body and soul...and fear feeds it.....bkmt
Maureen-- these seem like demanding challenges and even more demanding responses than much poetry. Clarity is at a premium and you write with such beautiful clarity, even of ambiguity. I love these lines:
"to puzzle
how you get along with loss,
beginning again,
you, alone."
The others in this series also push the boundaries of thought and require such carefully wrought imagery-- beautiful. xj
"dark light" ... I'm pondering that one
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