poetry – tiffany nicole fletcher

Contemplative Practice, Emotional Support, Facing Challenge, Grief, Healing, Mindfulness, Peace, Personal Growth, Resilience, Self-care, Spiritual Practice

Married to Amazement: The Gift of Curiosity

My friends tell me that I ask great questions. It’s no wonder that I became someone who asks questions as a healing practice.

The truth is I’m just endlessly curious. I love learning about people, about life, and especially about spiritual things. That’s probably why I read so much.

Recently, it occurred to me that I could intentionally use curiosity as an approach to problems and challenges.

So much of life is mystery, isn’t it? How do you face the mystery of life? The issues, questions, challenges? I don’t know about you, but the mysterious makes me curious, and curiosity is at least a much more interesting approach to the mystery of life than fear.

Curiosity used in this way might look like:

an openness of heart
an open-mindedness to the experience of life
a continuing acknowledgment of all that you don’t know; living from a place of humility
a willingness to be surprised by life
a willingness to be patient with yourself and with life’s complexity

Poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote,

June Jordan, National Poetry Month, Poetry

National Poetry Month: My Favorite Quotes on Poetry

In honor of National Poetry Month, I created this collection of some of my favorite quotes on the power and art of poetry, by great women poets. I hope it inspires you to write or read more poetry!

**“Poetry is the most intimate of all writing. I want to speak first from me to myself and then from me to you.” –Ellen Bass**

**“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” –Rita Dove**

“We can train ourselves to respect our feelings and to transpose them into a language so they can be shared. And where that language does not yet exist, it is our poetry which helps to fashion it.” –Audre Lorde

June Jordan, National Poetry Month, Poetry

National Poetry Month: How I Discovered the Magic of Poetry

“My Spirit/His Love” by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher. A peek into my sketchbook.

It’s National Poetry Month! Let’s celebrate poetry!

Poetry has been a part of my life since I was a little girl. One of my earliest memories related to poetry is of a large children’s book I had that was filled with African-American poetry and beautiful illustrations. (Oh my goodness, I found it! This is the book! *tears*)

My first poetry book! *Make a Joyful Sound: Poems for Children by African-American Poets*

all i ever wrote, Grief, Healing, Personal Growth, Poetry, Publication Announcement, Resilience

“The Process” featured in Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing

I am excited to share that my poem “The Process” is featured in the Fall 2021 issue of Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing.

This year Snapdragon Journal has been focusing on grief, including how it shapes us and how we move through it. The fall issue centers on bargaining, the third phase of the stages of grief as outlined by ‎Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.

all i ever wrote, Art as Devotion, Facing Challenge, Faith, Healing, Peace, Personal Growth, Poetry, Prayer, Psalms project, Resilience, Self-care, Spiritual Practice, Video

Video: Poetry as Prayer // Tools for Challenging Times

Hello friends! I was recently invited to share a reflection with the One Boat: International Chaplaincy for Covid Times community. My talk is called “Poetry as Prayer: Tools for Resilience in Challenging Times.” I discussed poetry as a form of prayer, as demonstrated by the Psalms, which provide a rich example of not only emotional and artistic expression, but profound and life-changing intimacy with God.

I share other examples of poetic expression as prayer (and as a way to cope with life’s challenges) and give some quick tips on how to venture into the practice.