Hitting the Reset Button....

It’s the Christmas season, one of my favorite times of the whole year.  It’s a time to get my thoughts sorted out and my perspective realigned.  There’s nothing better than crisp, winter air, a nativity scene and decorations around the house, a tree that my husband and I trekked through the woods to find, and multi-colored lights glowing on the branches to reset the brain and the heart.  Throw some Bing Crosby or Burl Ives in the CD player and some hot cocoa in a penguin-shaped mug (thanks, Ashleigh!), and you’ve pretty much put me on Cloud Nine.  And don’t even get me started on the candlelight service at church….it’s the proverbial cherry on top. 

I hope as Christmas approaches you can find your own sense of peace and calm.  It’s hard to come by these days, but it is so worth the effort to carve out time to quiet the world and focus on what really matters.  

To that end, here is a poem that captures a little slice of Heaven here on earth.  It’s called a “found poem.”  Take your favorite piece of writing (or a magazine article, news article, short story….), cut out your favorite words and phrases, and then “find” your poem by piecing the words and phrases into a poetic structure.  It is somewhat like those fun magnetic poetry kits you can buy, but it is your own prose repurposed.  This poem might feel familiar, and that’s because I “found” it in my essay I shared with you a few weeks back. 

So I encourage you to grab a hot mug of tea, turn on those Christmas lights and music, and enjoy the peace of the season!

“December 12, Kidd Island Bay”

Lights from houses along Kidd Island shore

reflect on the smooth winter black water.
I’ve seen these soft expectant clouds before;
this gray December sky is pregnant with snow.

As noise in my mind fades, small snowflakes fall.

In a few hours fat flakes pile up,
the world outside my window becomes calm,
and I am astonished at the silence.

Snow continues to fall.  Tree branches bend

toward the ground, and white ribbons drape in waves
on the splintered rungs of the split-rail fence.
This silence I hadn’t noticed in some time.

Sound seems to settle into mounds of snow
and become lost.  Ice slides from the metal roof
of the blue cabin down the road, and though
dark, on this night my eyes can finally see.