#niprowrimo

[craftythingsarestupid]

20/30 Remembrance

Recently, the United Methodist church leaders voted to remove a clergywoman from her leadership position because of her sexuality. In any other context in the United States this would be considered discrimination and cause for potential lawsuits. This is dedicated to those leaders.

Remembrance

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, Jesus took bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: "Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

Do this in remembrance of him. Take part in a feast of a perfect God made human, Accept grace, freely and unselfishly given. Take, though you do not deserve it, Receive, though you did not earn it.

A gift so beautifully bestowed And you have hoarded it, Sold and exploited it To what end?

His love, his grace, his freedom Now a product you say you control, Doling it out only to the cookie cutter, Obedient minions Who fit neatly into your made up categories. You took a wild and unconventional and defiant act And removed its edges, its bite, its power. So that you could more easily understand, More easily manipulate and define it. You missed the point. And to make matters worse, You dared to proclaim one you created yourself.

To exclude and set apart The very people your Precious Jesus gave himself for. You have turned a gift, A RIGHT, Into a membership card. Applications will be reviewed By only the people with sticks the Farthest up their asses. Any blemish even remotely untoward Will have to be removed before an applicant May be admitted. Any reference to faults of the reviewing committee Will result in automatic dismissal.

But remember that Jesus required nothing of you. Or her. Or him. Or them. He simply gave literally the breath In his lungs, His very body, tortured and broken For you to do the same In remembrance of him. For you to love him enough To accept the people he loved. He did not count your faults Before granting you a life free from them. In gratitude, Do not count the faults of another. Love without a second thought, Give for all people, Even the ones you struggle to understand. Do this In remembrance of him.

[craftythingsarestupid]

18.5 Ode to Elizabeth (Love, Someone Who Desires You)

A black out poem in the voice of the guy who’s clearly had a crush on me for 2 years and never said anything.

Ode to Elizabeth (Love, Someone Who Desires You)

Who can love me like myself? No one better and no one worse. OH ELIZABETH, you live your life With a LAUGH in your heart AND a song on your lIps. The anger on your face JUST the tendrils of the flames Burning inside your soul. From your mountain peak feet All the way to your galaxy mind Your body CAN’T contain the expanse You’re just discovering yourself to be. For your oak tree love stretches So much farther than you've ever realized, Shading, protecting family and strangers alike. You are a constant relief Once they learn to understand Your barky exterior. You understate and underestimate yourself Closing your eyes to your own brilliance, Accidental peeks turn to terror In the wake of all you could be. Elizabeth, you are the horizon Never ending, never STOPping You are the calm and the hope Of Something more, of someThing AfteR thIs. You are the calm. ANd the hope. Because you are so much more Than the pieces you used To Glue yourself together. YOU ARE a mosaic, Inherently broken and BEAUTIFULly whole.

[craftythingsarestupid]

17/30 Ode to Winter (On its Last Day in April)

Ode to Winter (On its last day in April)

Oh Winter, Persistent and frustrating, Will we ever be able to shake you So that we can shake out of our boots and coats? You bury us all in your crisp, dry layers To which we can only respond with layering up. No one doubts your prowess – It reaches around the earth For months on end. Your spindly fingers tracing goosebumps Down to each person’s core. As you slowly melt away, Disappearing in light of the sun’s return, We throw on our rose-tinted sunglasses Fondly wishing you goodbye And return soon.

[craftythingsarestupid]

13/30 A Song Made of Songs

Prompt: Describe your body using only lines from songs.

In my head there's a Greyhound station, I'm just a ghost you walk right through Could I ever be a person, so real and so true? I'm not even 5 foot 3, A size too small, I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for. I don't really care to brush my hair When I can feel with my sun hands. My human heart won't mend itself, Without you I'm still whole 

Playlist for this poem in order of appearance:

Death Cab for Cutie, Soul Meets Body Sufjan Stevens, All of Me Wants All of You Clean Bandit, New Eyes Flannel Graph, 5'3 Sufjan Stevens, Size Too Small John Mayer, Bigger Than My Body Girlpool, Slutmouth Local Natives, Sun Hands Liza Anne, Lost Relient K, I Don't Need a Soul

[craftythingsarestupid]

2/30 Carter: A Formal Review

Carter: A Formal Review You loved the best way you knew how, It just wasn’t quite good enough. You were my best friend. I miss that. You obsessed about everything From cars to football scores, Just not a future with me

[craftythingsarestupid]

14/30 The Blues

The Blues

I got the blues. The unexpectedly-single blues. The longing-deeply-for-someone-to-love blues. The crying-cause-two-characters-on-TV-got-engaged blues. The wondering-if-there-really-is-someone-for-me blues. The social-media-blown-to-bits-by-wedding-hashtags-and-engagement-rings blues. The can’t-joke-about-these-things-just-yet blues. The preparing-for-a-life-without-a-partner blues. The scared-he-was-the-best-I’ll-ever-get blues. I got the kind of blues that spread your legs for anyone who’ll distract you from the loneliness. The kind that drop your heart into your stomach and the contents of your stomach back up through your esophagus. I got the wishing-I-was-over-him-but-unable-to-get-there blues. The wondering-what-a-marriage-worthy-relationship-looks-like blues. The terrified-to-trust-again-not-even-sure-how blues. The craving-human-attention blues. The blues I got paint a smile on my face while filling my lungs with the tears I won’t cry. These are the trying-to-forget-the-love-of-my-life blues. The moving-a-piano-by-myself-at-1am-because-there’s-no-one-to-help-me blues. The finally-learning-to-cook blues. The going-out-and-going-to-sleep-alone blues. The loving-yourself-by-yourself blues. The hoping-for-something-more-than-glued-pieces-of-a-shattered-heart blues. The refusing-to-go-back-again blues. The desperately-clawing-to-a-better-tomorrow blues. I got the blues today and maybe tomorrow and maybe the next few months. But that’s the thing about the blues – you got ‘em for now, but not forever.

[craftythingsarestupid]

6/30 Wish You Were Here (Pick Yourself Up)

Wish You Were Here (Pick Yourself Up)

You won’t be able to breathe through all the tears. It’s ok, you will have stopped breathing by that point anyway. You won’t know what’s water and what’s tears, no longer aware of your surroundings. Only that you keep taking in as much air as possible, and It’s still not enough. You’re going to wonder if the world has been flooded – you’ll feel like you’re always underwater – unable to breathe, everything seen through a veil of water. So swim. Swim and swim and swim until you reach the surface. Swim until your entire body groans and aches and then swim some more. It will feel like decades. It will only be minutes. Keep swimming. Eventually you won’t feel it anymore – the water, I mean. Eventually it’ll all dry up and you’ll be able to stand on solid ground. Keep. Going. Do not stop. Start walking. Start hiking. Relish the outside, savor the beauty and wonder you just keep walking through. Notice how it revives and reenergizes you. Remember that. Remember that every time you have to walk this path again, remember that this walk will be your sustenance. Finally, you’ll come back to civilization, you’ll start to see people again and you’ll remember what it was like to not be alone. Do not become addicted to this feeling. Give your time to the people who deserve it, not just to the people who will take it. And the people who deserve it might not be the people you want to give it to. Give it to them anyway and you’ll find yourself in a world you never imagined. It will be your personal promised land, one you’d only dreamed of up until now. The rolling hills will truly sing music with you, the air will be eternally fresh and crisp, the sun won’t stop shining (and you won’t mind). Your heart will not be able to contain the joy coursing through your body. You will forget, for a time, that there was ever a time you existed without oxygen. Allow yourself that pleasure. When you leave, know that it will never look the same. You’ll come back again and again in your mind and in reality, but it will grow and adapt with you. And you will grow and adapt with it. You may not be here now, you may be hoping against all hopes that you could be here, but I promise you’ll be here again. And now you know the way.

[craftythingsarestupid]

24/30 The Lake

The Lake

I watched a woman Scream at fighting ducks To STOP! Wading into the water To protect a duck she Had nothing to do with. To right the wrongs She saw in the natural world Fueled by what? Fear of nature's cycle, Anger at injustice, Sadness in the weak overcome?

What if we all fought for each other The way she fought for a duck? Would we rid the world of inequality, Staring power in the eye And balancing the scales? Or would we make matters worse, Forcing our values on Situations we'll never know, Intervening without understanding.