September Poetry Challenge, Part Two

How’s it going?

While I haven’t written a poem every single day of the month so far, I have managed to write most of the days. I do notice that with this challenge, I find myself looking at the world with a slightly more poetic eye; that is, daily life is more likely to spark an idea for a poem, or appear in sharper, more meaningful focus. So all in all, I think this challenge is doing what I’d hoped: Re-igniting a creative spark in my mind and spirit.

Two recent poems:

Am I Beautiful?

Your anxiety is high today.

You will waste time in the mirror

seeking beauty as the answer.

It’s not.

You are already beautiful.

But some days, you don’t see it

on the outside.

On those days, God invites you:

See what He is proudest to have made.

Not your eyes, deep-set like your grandmother’s.

Not your hair, showing ever more hard-earned grey.

Not your nose, which is your father’s nose (and you love your father).

Look closer: You are living.

This morning, you greeted your child with kindness and patience.

You smiled at strangers.

You laughed, listened, decided to keep going.

You breathed.

That was God moving through you.

There isn’t much that is more beautiful

than that.

September 11th Poem

I remember my brown sweater.

I remember I was late for school already.

Seventeen

anything was possible

and everything was mine.

I remember that end-of-summer morning

My mom had walked my sister to school.

She turned the television on.

It was all we would do at school that day.

Watch, and wait.

I wrote a bad poem that evening,

composing lines as I ran on the treadmill in the basement.

I spelled words wrong and acted dramatic.

But there was truth at the core.

There is no turning back from any day.

Just some days make you realize it.

Thanks for reading.

-Beth