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Message from our Minister - July 2023
Listening as I was walking the other day I was introduced to the form of a pantoum. This is a Malaysian form, and it takes eight lines of poetry, and each line's repeated, so, therefore, it turns an eight-line poem into a 16-line poem. In its classic form line one is also the final line.
As the lines appear a second time in the poem they are put alongside another line, not their original partner, to see if we see they appear in a different light.
The poem I was listening was written by Kay Ulanday Barrett: "Pantoum for recital when my mom said, don't let them see you cry" and it brought to me a very vivid image of an experience in my adolescence. I felt brave enough to try a poem in this style to see what would happens so here it is:-
Front row
Arms aloft, head bowed to the earth eternity envelops
Standing breathing heavily feeling every pulse
Muddied mark overshadowed by toothless tyrannical taunts
Nothing between but a whistle and thin white arms
Feverish fingers find ripped shirts and matted hair
Lifted pendulum like feet feel free senses stirred
Shoulder seat secures a powerhouse grounding us as one
We bow together and engage backs bared to the sky
Standing breathing heavily feeling every pulse
Feverish fingers find ripped shirts and matted hair
Lifted pendulum like feet feel free senses stirred
Muddied mark overshadowed by toothless tyrannical taunts
Nothing between but a whistle and thin white arms
We bow together and engage backs bared to the sky
Shoulder seat secures a powerhouse grounding us as one
Head bowed to the earth eternity envelops feeling every pulse.
I was really surprised when writing this how it spoke to me of more recent events, especially how I often feel when chairing a meeting. The exercise has left me with something to ponder.
I remember a college tutor of mine saying to me, when I said I was not creative and certainly no artist, that art is not for others but for you and in that lies it's beauty and wonder.
So I offer you this poem for what it is worth as an encouragement to see if you too, in moments when the heat of summer is too great or perhaps the inspiration of the Spirit comes upon you to write a poem, sit with it and see how it ministers to you in this time and place.
Peter
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If you need to speak to a Minister during this time, please contact
Revd
Peter Catford.
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