It takes not
one hundred forty
characters
or ten years.
Today is what you wake to.
What's to change? Breathe in!
© 2011 Maureen E. Doallas
_____________________________
For the past 30 days I've been participating in the Domino Project's #Trust30 challenge, an online writing/reflection initiative for which a prompt is posted daily. All 30 prompts are here.
Today's poem*, the 30th in 30 days, brings my participation in the project to a close. The poem is inspired by a prompt from creative entrepreneur and life coach Tia Singh:
10 Year Text
Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Imagine your future self; i.e., you, 10 years from now. If he or she were to send you a tweet or test message, 1) what would it say and 2) how would that transform your life or change something you're doing, thinking, believing or saying today?
* * *
* This poem is written in Shadorma form, which requires six lines following a 3-5-3-3-7-5 syllabic pattern.
Looking back at the prompts, I note their repetition, their concern to be always looking forward, imagining the future, or to address fears to start moving ahead. Only a few contributors took their Emerson quotes and ran with them. There have been days when I groaned on seeing yet another prompt address the same thought, idea, or concept; however, I remained committed to seeing my participation in the project through its 30 days. That I decided to respond to every prompt with a poem is what saved me; had I not determined to raise the challenge by requiring a poem of myself each day, I would have continued the project (after all, I committed digitally to doing so and believe in keeping my word) but I would not have found myself with anything nearly so rewarding. I blame it on my age (I'm nearing 59) when I say I want to take some of the prompts' contributors and urge them to look into today. It's possible to be so focused on what you've yet to achieve or what you need to do to achieve it that you don't realize you're on just another kind of ever-rolling hamster wheel.
I thank those participants who took the time to read some of my contributions, and especially those who left comments.
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I've used all the #Trust30 prompts as inspiration for new poems. My poems for prompts 16 - 29 are:
You'll find my poem, "Truth Be Told", inspired by the 15th prompt and a list of my poems for prompts 1 - 14 here.
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5 comments:
That was a great idea to write a poem for each post. I sometimes found the prompts redundant, but because I am committed to the overall outcome, I too have written one for each prompt. Congratulations on making it to the end! Miriam
Good on/for you for sticking with it.
I'm with you on the value of present-ness (just as or more valuable than looking ahead or back).
I have enjoyed these immensely and marveled at your ability to address these challenges each day. I, for one, will miss them.
I like this very much!
What an amazing body of work you have created Maureen.
thank you for continuing it and inspiring me to press on with my commitment too!
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