I took last week off of blogging to be with family for Christmas, but Christmas hasn’t let go of me yet. This slower week I’ve enjoyed looking at the tree, crocheting on the sofa, and watching Christmas movies on Netflix. I think the slow down was good for me, but I worry that the routine of writing will leave and never come back. So, I am committing to this weekly prompt for me and for you.
Ann Sutton is one of those friends who feeds my spiritual life. She is a Methodist minister, watercolor artist, and has a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice. (We met in a community choir years ago.) Christmas worship looked different this year. In her wisdom, Ann didn’t forego the candle lighting on Christmas Eve. She reinvented it. With a variety of candles in buckets of sand, families lit their own candle as they entered her church.
What we carry
Margaret Simon, draft
is heavy; lighten it
with match to flame
then blow.
Write your own small poem in the comments. Read and encourage other writers by responding.
Happy New Year! May the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds on the love of Christ.
Reflections on the Teche 
I love, “match to flame.” What an image of movement–that spark.
I’ve taken time to be quiet this week. It’s nice. Work crashes in on Monday.
each light
in the darkness
brings joy
to every soul
I like your focus on each light connected to each soul.
Light brings joy. A beautiful thought.
I also love the thought of light bringing joy to every soul. This is such a peaceful poem.
Beautiful image of hope Linda, thanks !
Wishing you much light and joy in the coming year, Linda! What a lovely poem.
Linda, I love your image of light bringing joy to every soul. Love it’s positivity!
Linda – work really did crash in today (Monday) and I cling to the still, silent, holy hush that surely surrounded these lit candles in the dark. Your words bring joy to the soul tonight,
I like to think of poetry and light as being connected in the creative process. Thanks for sharing the photo, Margaret.
Light candles with intention –
whisper a wish,
a thought,
a prayer
“whisper a wish” I love the sound of this line! Your poem makes me want to light a candle and whisper today.
I love the personification character you’ve given to light Rose, and the suggestions, thanks!
In many faiths, candle lighting comes with intention. Your poem makes me wonder about that practice.
The phrase “with intention” is so key to your poem, Rose! I also love the alliteration in the second line.
Intention. yes.
Rose, when I grew up I remember only being taught to light a candle to pray for someone. I love how your poem also includes lighting a candle to /whisper a wish/ a thought. Love the alliteration of /w/ when I read your poem aloud, which made a whistling sound for me. It’s like your poem is a song.
Love the focus on “intention” here, Rose.
I have also enjoyed this slow time, taking to time to enjoy the little pleasures. Thank you for committing to this weekly prompt for “me.” I will try to come often to share words with you!
I love this picture prompt because it is filled with such hope for the coming year.
many lights cannot
extinguish hope in our hearts
only the darkness
Happy New Year!
Keeping hope alive with your words!
Love the optimism of your poem, Leigh Anne!
Beautiful!
Leigh Ann, I love how your poem reads like a positive prayer for all. Powerful!
These many candles and their light do speak of hope, and keep the darkness at bay.
You’ve conveyed much in few words Margaret. Beautiful image. Candles give such comfort, thanks for sharing the pic!
Candlelight calms us,
and helps us see light
when all seems gone…
We know that the experience of light comes from that of darkness, both literally in winter and figuratively in 2020.
The choice of a photo celebrating “light” was a perfect one, and I’m so enjoying all these poetic images of light leading us into the New Year. Lovely, Michelle!
Yes, those that hold and keep the light…vital.
It really is the most calming light.
Michelle, I love this! Your poem reads like a powerful prayer of hope and comfort. Thank you for reminding me how calming candlelight is and the strength of it.
Thanks Gail!
There truly is something calming about the candlelight, Michelle – and comforting.
I love that photo and your poetic response. Mine continued from yours…
flame extinguished
each tendrilled wisp
flows upward
in light’s afterglow
interweaving
into one
tendrilled…beautiful
Molly, a great idea continuing Margaret’s poem. Beautiful imagery! Love
in light’s afterglow
interweaving
into one. You have assonance with your three ins. You also have consonance with you /s/. Love how the sounds read!
Afterglow and interweaving here are deeply symbolic and meaningful here, Molly – makes me think of our souls. Just beautiful.
[…] « This Photo Wants to be a Poem […]
Light light light light light!
Now the darkness has to flee,
Brightness glows softly.
Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Love the 5 lights! Of course the darkness must flee!
Ruth, I love the urgency in
Light light light light light!
Beautiful imagery.
Ruth – the repetition of light here is so effective, as is the calming rhythm and rhyme. A soft but empowering image.
I love your poem, Margaret. That image of blowing the heaviness away. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Those candles are beautiful. Blow those troubles away! xo
Beautiful photo and poem, Margaret. I love everyone’s entries because they are so hopeful.
within darkness
a candle stands
with hope
strike a match
let the flame rise
with positive intentions
Carol, beautiful imagery! I love your connection and personification in the lines
stands
with hope to
rise
with positive intentions.
Positive intentions – yes – and the action of making those happen, striking the first match – beautiful, Carol.
Sunlight
(like snowfall and love)
transforms everything it touches
That transformation is what we seek.
Cynthia, I love how you included “snowfall and love” with “sunlight.” It resonates with me because when I hike or cross-country ski in the woods the sunlight touching nature, or snowflakes blanketing nature brings me love and joy! Thank you for reminding me!
I love Ann’s beautiful photo and your verse, Margaret, especially with the wordplay on lightening a burden. Haven’t managed to craft a poem yet but am inspired… a happy and blessed New Year to you.
[…] The following is an invented form of poetry called “Spirit’s Vessel” (see shadowpoetry.com). It’s three stanzas of six lines, each line containing six syllables. Rhyming is “a plus.” It’s also an acrostic designed to convey faith: VESSEL OF YOUR… with a final six-letter word chosen by the poet. My final word: SPIRIT. I have entitled this piece “Alight with Expectancy” for two reasons: the title is a nod to “Awe” (another acrostic). If you know about the One Little Word tradition, you know about choosing a guiding word for the new year. After the year that was 2020, I hadn’t planned on choosing a word for 2021…more on that later. Just know that “awe” chose me as soon as the calendar turned. Who doesn’t need awe? Reason #2 for the title : This photo. It sparked my desire to try the Spirit’s Vessel for the first time. Those candles, at a church Christmas Eve service, in the time of COVID… thank you to photographer Ann Sutton and to Margaret Simon for sharing it on “This Photo Wants to Be a Poem” at Reflections on the Teche. […]
-I’m back! I tried a whole new invented form of poetry for this photo, and I shared it on my blog for the first post of the new year.
Here’s the opening stanza:
Votives cast haloed light
Eclipsing dark of night
Shadows flicker and play
Stained-glass luminants pray
Expectant, glistening
Lord, we are listening
Thank you and Ann again for the inspiration.
Wow, Fran! I will finish replying on your blog
Margaret, thank you for sharing such a inspiring and beautiful photo prompt, again. I resonate with your poem because your line /What we carry
is heavy/ makes me think of the heavy burden of 2020 that the whole world has carried. Your lines
lighten it
with match to flame
then blow makes think of lightening our burdens and blowing the burdens away. Or, to let the power of candlelight, which in turn will light away our heavy burden of 2020. I love your ability to write less words that convey powerful emotions and so many meanings.
I already wrote a poem that I titled Light Over Darkness and included it in my Christmas and New Year cards. Therefore, I wanted to write a different kind of poem from your prompt.
Today, my youngest daughter, who recently went back to her apartment near her college five hours away, returned my text asking how she was feeling with a phone call. I was delighted to hear her voice instead of reading a text. (Two days before when she had arrived at her apartment she was in so much pain, she had to go to the ER. I was anxious and felt awful that I couldn’t be with her because she was so far away and because of Covid-19 even if she was here I wouldn’t be able to go in to be with her. You know how you feel when your children have any kind of pain. Thankfully, she is fine!) We talked for quite awhile and then she mentioned the loss and sadness she still felt from one of our cats passing away in August. She also felt the loss and sadness of her housemate’s kitten that wasn’t coming back. A kitten that my daughter had bonded with and had brought her joy. Also, how sad she felt when my older daughter sends her videos of the kitten my older daughter adopted. I asked her if she would like to pick out a kitten for her birthday. The joy in her voice shined light on me and I felt so much joy. Thank you so much for your prompt! Therefore, this is my poem:
a kitten
is a candle
spreading light
bonding
with a purring light
love
gifting
a kitten
joy
Gail Aldous
Gail – I often think how animals are ambassadors of joy and hope, just when we need them most. Your poem reminds me that people – many elderly – have adopted animals during this pandemic to stave off the loneliness and to reclaim joy. A bleakness lit by “purring light/love,” indeed. I am glad your daughter is well and that this new living light is in her life – dying to know: What did she name it?
Thank you, Fran. We are in the process of finding her a kitten. There are extensive applications to fill out, appointments to set up, and tow kittens were already adopted that she looked at online. We’re keeping are fingers, nose and toes crossed. Heather will be twenty-one on the fifteenth and the kitten will be a b-day present.
We have three cats and because of the cold, all three were in the kitchen last night. They get along in the way cats do. But your poem reminded me of each one as a kitten and how, for whatever reason we found and adopted the kitten, they brought light and lightheartedness into our lives. Good luck with finding a kitten for your daughter. Thanks for responding.
Margaret, I’m glad you were reminded of the light each kitten brought to your family. Thank you.
[…] you follow my blog, you know that I am posting a photo each week as a writing prompt. Last week I posted a photo from Ann Sutton, a Methodist minister. Fran Haley took this prompt and wrote an […]