Browse Category by Poetry
all i ever wrote, Art as Devotion, Faith, Healing, Poetry

John 6:35

JOHN 6:35
by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher

When you see that your hunger cannot be quenched
apart from Me,
you will not seek after other water
after other food.

There is an open invitation
to come
to drink
to be nourished—
to feel the pleasure of being satisfied,
to find what you have been seeking.

Show Me another food or drink
that could fill your deepest hunger, forever;
show Me something else that can give you real life.
Show Me a body of grace,
given for you,
broken to show you love—
show Me blood that can mend your past.
All that you need, I have already provided.
Come to Me.

 

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35 NIV)

all i ever wrote, Art as Devotion, Poetry

Nameless

NAMELESS
by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher

The one who owes us no answer
The one who does not fear darkness
The one who holds the hours
The one who says when—
The one who knows before,
the one who is still there after.

The one who gives shape to silence who
makes a womb out of it
the one who daily pulls down a
curtain of night—
and with holy brush strokes
to canvas of sky
each morning creates
a new pattern of light.

all i ever wrote, Healing, Personal Growth, Poetry

The Ordinary Miracle

The Ordinary Miracle

by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher

***

There is
the belief that freed you—
Bright and shining,
this is the new sight
we sing of.
The veil fallen
now every cloud parted, and
there is only the empowered you left.
The you that is unshackled.
The you that has no intention
of turning back.

Poetry

Poetry is Not a Luxury

Flowers photo by Freestocks.org via stocksnap.io_

Poetry saves my life daily. Whether writing or reading it, I find that poems capture the experience of life in a way that our everyday sentences and conversations cannot.

When I’m going through challenging periods, poems soothe my spirit and give me strength. I’ll carry a book of poems in my bag to read throughout the day. The softness of the particular way poetry explores and articulates experience speaks to a deeper part of me.

This week, the book of poems in my bag was Mary Oliver’s Why I Wake Early, which is full of so much beauty. Her words in the poem “The Old Poets of China” about the world offering her its busyness not believing that she doesn’t want it, struck a chord with me. Oliver’s poems celebrate the beauty of the natural world—I read them and I am transported far from my crowded subway car to a place where I’m inside the poem with her, considering the patience and faith of the lily or staring up into the face of a bronze-shouldered owl. Poems are necessary.

In “Sister Outsider: essays and speeches” Audre Lorde says,

For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.

She says that through poetry, we “help give name to the nameless so it can be thought.” Poetry helps us to know and accept feelings hidden deep within, which then gives rise to inspired, informed action in our lives.

In this way poetry is a potent kind of “practical magic” that keeps us in touch with ourselves, hearing the movements of our spirit that we might not have uncovered otherwise. If we have the courage to let ourselves write the poems and then pay attention to what they tell us, that is.

Poetry is a vital part of my daily life now. I write poems, I carry other people’s poems. Sometimes I dream poems. Poems are also, as Audre Lorde said, directing me to “tangible action” as I listen to the messages in the ones I write.

I can accomplish almost anything with the right poem in my heart.

Below is a poem of my own that has been a talisman for me lately. I pray that you find—or have the courage to let yourself write—the poem you need, the poem that will surely guide you forward. xo

Life Cycle of Stars and Women

by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher

Don’t listen when they try to tell you
that your glory must look like sacrifice.
There was only one and you are not Him
You are here now to go beyond,
To be free,
To walk light
To explore belonging to yourself
first
To be foremost your own
And to know joy.

You will give what you are—
Give your children your
love your joy your heart your freedom your hope your being sure of inherent worth your divinity your spirit your light
your neverendingness,
your eternal heart.

You must keep going
you must die you must come to the end of yourself
you must locate your freedom and hold on
you must let yourself be remade.

You must know yourself as you were on the first day and still are:
innocent, free of what they have done, stripped of any regret,
new
and timeless,
starlight burning off the excess with every breath—
constantly healing, regenerative beauty,
formed by God for this time—
for right where you are,
nothing a mistake.

 

image: Freestocks.org/Stocksnap

Art as Devotion, Poetry, Psalms project, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality

The Psalms Project: How it All Began

The poetry series I call ” The Psalms Project” began by chance. I was looking to fill the time while waiting in a coffee shop one day, when I had the random idea to try and paraphrase a psalm using my own language. I opened the Bible app on my phone, took out a tiny notebook I keep in my bag, and started.

The idea had never occurred to me before, but once I started doing it I realized what a powerful method it is for fostering a deeper understanding of the sacred text and intimacy with God. There is the way the Psalms have been written (and translated many times over throughout time), but each time I do this exercise, I discover what the words mean to me personally. It’s also a super-fun exercise for those of us who love to play with words!

So the poems you see under the category “Psalms Project” are the result of my reflection on (and sometimes wrestling with) the personal meaning of psalms that have spoken to me at a particular point in time. I love this exercise and I have found so much joy and solace in being able to refer to these reimagined psalms as my own prayers to God.

Here is another one I wrote, a paraphrase of the oft-recited Corinthians passage about love – one of my favorites!

Love Can Be Trusted
[A Paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8]

by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher

Love is willing to wait,
love gives the best of itself.
It does not covet what others have,
It is not self-obsessed,
it is able to confess when it is wrong.
It does not take joy in things that separate it from God, but seeks and delights in full communion.
It is forever watching over,
forever believing in,
forever certain of coming good,
forever holding on.
Love can be trusted.

Have you ever tried to paraphrase the Psalms? I’d love to hear about your experience!

 

image credit: Aaron Burden/StockSnap