Tender...

Well, it's actually Saturday, but it's not as if anyone really expected me to post

a Five Minute Friday on Friday, right?

I'll take it, though, considering that it's the only poem I've written for over a month,

and I truly got it down in under five minutes.

And, it's a double deal today, because writing is one of my Favorite Things,

I'm linking up with Rachel at Finding Joy, as well.

Way to go, me!

 

Here are the rules:

Write for five minutes only, on the topic posted by Lisa-Jo.

Link up at The Gypsy Mama.

Spread some encouragement!

Ready?

Here          we          go.



Tender…

tender as a bruise –

the slightest breath of pressure awakening

the pain, the vulnerability beneath –

and my mind constantly awash

with all the dangers

tender as a steak –

pounded thin and spread wider

in new directions than I ever believed possible,

made malleable and accepting

by the heavy steel mallet

of this new situation You’ve put me in

tender as a payment –

the cost demanded for a treasure,

the submission offered up, the sacrifice

made to bring this child into the world,

to bring me to the foot of the Cross,

to You, when I’ve wandered away

Let me know what you think!

Five Minute Friday : Unexpected...

You'll never guess what I spent yesterday doing!

The kids and I went to my mother's house

to help clean out the toy loft.

I wish I had thought to take pictures!

We found all sorts of relics from my childhood:  Happy Meal toys,

storybooks with tapes or 45 records, and the record player

to play them on {missing its needle, unfortunately}.

All this to say - once again I'm coming in late for

Five Minute Friday.

Better late than never, right?

You remember the rules, I know, but just in case:

Write for five minutes flat on Lisa-Jo's prompt, which is

unexpected

and then link up at The Gypsy Mama,

and hop around to give some encouragement

to your fellow writers.

Ready?

Here          we          go.

Unexpected…

cleaning out the loft of all the toys

I remember playing with when I was a kid,

and how I knew we’d get sidetracked

no matter what our best intentions might be

driving down a twilight road

to pick up the pizza for PIZZA NIGHT

{yes, it deserves capital letters:

Thank you, Pizza Fast!}

and seeing a buck, antlers spreading wide,

standing against the trees, just yards

from the road, unaffected

just browsing the thick brush for his own

dinner, before stepping into darkness

the fierce joy that doing this

kindles, the way I sometimes can’t stop

it from coming out, even if I’m tired

or busy or worried, when the words

want out I have to sit down

and appease them, and I never

never

would have thought

it would be like this

Thank You, Lord

Don't forget to leave me some feedback!

Felicitous feedback is almost as good as pizza.

{grin}

Five Minute Friday : Remember

Welcome to Friday morning!

It's time for Five Minute Friday,

the time we set aside to pound the keyboard

for five minutes,

with no excuses, editing, or fear.

{Yeah, right!}

Ready?

Here          we          go.

Remember

It kept me up all night,

off and on, twisting under covers,

winding my brain around the everything

I need to get done

lessons this morning

groceries to be bought transported stored cooked

dishes (always) - sometimes the sink

is like another hungry mouth

to be filled and emptied and cleaned-

and my hair - what to do

with this mop, untidy,

when I'm too tired to care too much

boys up soon, probably dragging,

and what will they wear?

I think I did laundry yesterday.

But most important - today,

everyday

every instant -

let me seek You

first

so my legs move with-

and my mouth speaks out-

and my hands offer-

You

Now it's time for you to give it a go!  Spill your heart onto the page

and link up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama.

And give some other brave souls some encouragement while you're there.

What did you think?

FMF : Beyond... & Friday Favorites!!

It's time for Five Minute Friday!

Today we are writing for five minutes flat on the prompt:

beyond...

So, limber up your word-weaving fingers and share some thoughts!

(Don't forget to link up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama and then leave some fabulous and encouraging feedback for fellow posters!)

Ready?

Here          we          go.

Beyond…

beyond my expectations –

an awesome morning

at our homeschool co-op today,

with the kids loving their classes

and loving their friends,

and I loving the companionship

of moms who live this same life everyday,

life lived with books on every

available surface,

and math done on couches

and beds and sometimes even

in the aisles of the grocery store,

and big kids helping their littler

brothers/sisters

and beginning to frame up

the dreams that stretch seemingly

forever and will be here

before you can blink,

and amazingly attentive little kids

in my classes today,

bubbling over with joy

at making volcanoes

out of empty water bottles

and one asked,

“where did all these bottles come from?”

{there were 12 or 13}

and I said, “I saved them just so you all

could do volcanoes today”

and her eyes grew wide

with wonder

© Victoria L. Banks

I'm also linking up with Rachel at Finding Joy for Friday Favorites,

because homeschooling, writing,

and enjoying the wonder of children learning

about God's Creation

are all some of my favorite things!

FMF : Growing...

Coming in late this week for Five Minute Friday!

It took a haircut to get my poetry juice flowing.  Thank goodness the link is still open!

All right - you know the drill. 

1.  Write for five minutes.  No whining, qualifying, or editing.

2.  Link up with Lisa-Jo at Gypsy Mama.

3.  Visit some fellow brave posters and spread some encouraging feedback.

Ready?

Here          we          go.

Growing…

my poor hair

had you cut today

I knew – I knew –

that you’d shrink up

like trying to crawl back up

into my scalp and hide

so I told her to keep it

a little longer than she thought

it needed to be and now

it’s far far

shorter than I wanted

but Lord, look,

there’s a face under there

emerging from the cave

where it used to hide,

shrugging the weight back

over the shoulders,

pulling the bangs down

to cover all the inadequacies

who is she?

wanting to please you

but striving to please that

noisy little self

too often

far far

too often

who knows who she’ll be?

except You

is this accidental, this exposure?

© Victoria L. Banks

9 / 26 / 11

FMF : Older...

Wow, am I productive today, or what?

not

It's been a day of cleaning and hosting here at The Home Front, and while I feel as if I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, I have spent some time writing.  My instructor would be so proud!

Anyway,

it's time for Five Minute Friday.

So get ready to give your best 5 minutes of unediting, unqualified word-weaving to this prompt:

Older

Then link up your post with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama

hop around to give some other brave souls some encouraging feedback.

Ready?

Here          we          go.



Older…

I always thought that when I got older

I’d feel less like a child—

now that I’m 33 (just a couple weeks

ago) I realize that I’ll always feel

like a child, always searching, always

uncertain, always doubting the truth

that You give me, like when You say

that You love me and I’m beautiful

and forgiven and free, but I hide

my head by tucking it down

against my shoulder, blushing,

protesting without speech, but with

the broken-beaten-down bend

to my neck and the helpless shrug

of the shoulders that I’m helpless to stop

even though I know that I’m not

the wise one, I don’t know all,

but I know that You are, and You do,

so I’ll try to spend this year and every one

to come learning to hear You and trust

© Victoria L. Banks

Let me know what you think and check out the other great posts!

FMF : New...

It's that time, once again...the day I look forward to and dread at the same time, all week long.

It's Five Minute Friday!

This is your chance to join in.  Set a timer for five minutes; write from your heart on the topic of the day; link up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama.  Then hop around and give some fellow posters some encouraging comments!

The theme for this week is ...  New.

Here          we          go.

New…

knowing that I’ve been touched,

that You have done away with my darkness

with a sweet breath,

the going down into the baptistery

and emerging back into life,

more brilliant for realizing that I

never knew I was dead

until You woke me

the crisp air of new existence,

colors sharper, water streaming

from me like sin flowing away

(c) Victoria L. Banks



FMF : Beauty ...

It's time to limber up the poetry bone for Five Minute Friday!

Get ready to write for five minutes (ONLY five minutes!), link up, and share some encouraging commentary with the blogger before you.

The topic chosen by Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for today is:

Beauty

Ready?

Here          we          go.

Beauty…

Elusive, hidden

in the raising

of hands to Heaven,

and the hiding of eyes

when I know I must be

a disappointment to You.

Where’s the beauty

in failing?

In watching the clock

hands race and never quite

catching up with where I

think I should be?

The striving, the quiet

prayers whispered beneath

the breath, the constant

rededication,

the breaking of me

to be made more like You.

Scarlet washed white,

drenching me in

mercy’s flood.

The weak made strong.

A nondescript, numb

existence made beautiful.

(c) Victoria L. Banks

Five Minute Friday : Whole...

I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five Minute Friday.

It’s a little like riding a roller coaster for me:  very scary, but exhilarating, and when done, it’s never quite as good as I hoped it would be.  But very worth it – even if I sometimes frequently doubt the fruit of my efforts.

Anyway…

Here          we          go.

Whole…

I put the words down on the page,

to explain how the day running down

in measured paces according to plan

wasn’t due to my skill or work ethic,

but was all You, Lord,

and it was all about me in the end

I’ve nothing to brag about

except how useless is my strength,

how perforated my plans

(the plans I sat and constructed

over hours when I should have been

praying for Your strength instead)

when the end of the day comes

and I feel as if I’ve conquered

all these minutes,

all these tiny crises of children

learning how to love their brothers

in deed and in truth and in sharing

in the end, nothing of me is worth

sharing except this fact— You love me

because without You

I’m not whole,

I’m not capable,

I’m not me

© Victoria L. Banks

Sheesh!  I don't know why, but that was hard this week.  Wouldn't you like to try it?

Write for five minutes about the prompt, link-up, and hop around to check out some great thoughts from some wonderful ladies.  (And leave lots of nice comments!  Everyone likes comments, right?)

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think!

Five Minute Friday : Still...

Today is a double-link-up kind of day, I think.
First, I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo again for Five Minute Friday.  Here are the guidelines:



1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word on the prompt, “Still.”
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Get a little crazy with encouragement in the comments of the five minuter who linked up before you.


Here     we     go.

Still…

sitting when I should have been

up already, fixing breakfast

weak and aching after a week

of finding muscles I didn’t know

I’d lost, finding strength in You

believing in happy endings

even in the face of this world

ever more rapidly spinning

into chaos and shadow

unsure where all this is going,

but knowing how it clicks,

all these stolen moments

at the keyboard, all my feeble

efforts to direct the fount of words

You’ve loosed in me

certain of the ending,

no matter how badly I screw up

today (like yesterday),

no matter how the hours unwind

before me—

always, forever, unchanging

You, Lord

and thankfulness for letting me

walk with You

© Victoria L. Banks

7/29/2011

I'm sure this is not a surprise to any of my family who read this, but I've discovered that I love to write.  Even within strictly enforced time limits.  (Actually, the rules make it more fun!)

What about you?  Would you like to join the fun?  Share your own thoughts and link up!

I'm linking up to Five Minute Friday because I love to write,
and
linking up to Finding Joy because loving the Lord through my writing is one of my Favorite Things!

Five Minute Friday : Full...

I’ve seen other bloggers link up to The Gypsy Mama lately, so I meandered over to check it out.  And of course, now I’m hooked! 

It’s very intriguing to me (probably since I’m a perfectionist with my writing) to just write for 5 minutes.  Usually my poems sit for a while and “cure” before they’re declared finished.

{Although, I’ve heard it said that poems are never finished; you just have to stop tweaking them at some point.}



I thought I’d give it a try this morning.  So, as I link up and fight my natural inclination to offer a quality disclaimer, here’s my five-minutes-worth on Full.  Hope you like it!


Full…

Jars on the countertop
filled with good
things—the oatmeal and teabags,

the long-handled spoons
warped from use and dunking
in hot pots and skillets.

My kitchen is small and always
stuffed, laundry overflowing
on the table, schoolbooks

leaking from the shelves,
board games in progress
shunted to the side,

boys continuously seeking
snacks and drinks and pencils
and crayons and paper and socks

and the book-I-just-put-down
and the stuffed animal
that got coated with jelly

and peanut butter at breakfast.
The days stretching
to the point that I fear I might snap

like silly putty stretched too far,
but always full of life
and beautifully satisfying.



July 22, 2011
© Victoria L. Banks