The power of meditative poetry
A guest post from Dave Karpowicz
I am delighted to welcome to The Mindful Writer today. Dave’s publication Abundant Everyday Joy was one of the first I subscribed to and his daily doses of joy arriving in my inbox have been very welcome ever since. When he took a break from writing earlier this year, I missed them!
Here’s here today sharing his ideas on writing meditative poetry. I hope you enjoy them - please do let us know what you think in the comments and if you write any of your own, please share them too! 💙
Amanda, Thank you for inviting me to be part of such an esteemed group. I am honored and humbled.
As a way of introducing myself to your audience - here is a bit about me.
I had a patchwork career of being an accountant and entrepreneur. I loved being an entrepreneur, and whenever I ran out of money I returned to being an accountant.
I have been writing under the banner Abundant Everyday Joy for about two and a half years. The focus is joy, connection, and the beauty of everyday life. Most of my work is short reflections/meditations. Some people have been kind enough to call them poetry and even go as far as to classify them into a category of poetry called Meditative Poetry.
Dr Google explains that meditative poetry has been around for centuries. The psalms are an example. My particular slant on the art is that joy is not limited to one religion, but is universal. So I write in a vein that hopefully everyone can understand and feel the wonders of everyday life in their soul.
I write short pieces (mostly under 150 words). The simplicity supports the goal of one emotional response, or one thought, per piece. Ideally, my work is seen as a one-a-day read, allowing time for the words to be absorbed. If read in succession, there is dilution.
For variety, I spread my posts across the categories of
Spiritual insight
Nature
Everyday life
People that I have met
Occasionally I will write about the wonders of greying
Although I believe my work to be most effective on a one-per-day presentation, for this introduction I would like to take a look at a few, so you can see what I was trying to do. You can judge for yourself whether I was successful.
Let’s start with The Lake of Joy - part of the Spirit Collection
The Lake of Joy
Breathe in — Breathe out
Breathe in — Breathe out
The trail of Now
Lies in the valley
between the mountains
of the past and the future.
Breathe in — Breathe out
It winds past the silo of projects
Past the day’s trivia
Past the stable of thought
It winds
Past the forest of fear
Past the towers of disappointment
Breathe in — Breathe out
We walk on
Leaving those behind
We come to the Lake of Joy.
Unlike her choppy cousins
of Happiness and Elation,
She is deep and ever so calm.
We sit for awhile
Absorbing her beauty.
Ridding ourselves
of our trappings, we go in
A Feeling - connection
overwhelms
- life itself
embraces our soul
We know we will never be the same
What am I trying to do?
You will notice the repetition of the phrase “Breathe in, Breathe Out.” While it connotes meditation, incorporating this phrase allows me to control the speed while providing necessary pauses.
The focus on Now is common for those who read Spiritual Growth books. I hope to generate alignment by using it.
The repetition of “past the” reflects a Rumi influence.
About halfway Joy is differentiated from happiness and elation.
Finally, there is absorption becoming one with Joy and one with Life. If the reader can connect with that feeling, the post was a success.
Here is another.
Sunrise is from the Nature Collection. One of the recurring themes of my work is urging readers to slow down and see the wonders that are before them. Sunrise is a good example.
Sunrise
Driving
East
Predawn softness
Embraces the fields
A sliver of sun
Scattered clouds
Outlined in gold
As I turn north -
Then west
The tops of the trees
Glow orange
I cannot help but
Stop and
Take in the
Beauty that
Surrounds me
And one from the Everyday Life Collection.
The Race
Breathe in — Breathe out
Breathe in — Breathe out
At the checkout
Wife - “How many creamers did you get?”
“One”
Wife - “Coupon is for two.”
Breathe in — Breathe out
I eye what is left to scan.
“I can do it”
“No, you can’t”
Breathe in — Breathe out
I am off
In frozen foods, I realize the truth -
S______I am running -
I haven’t done that in years
Double S______,
I'm breathing hard
Made it to dairy
Grabbed the French vanilla
Headed back
Brea in — Brea out
Back
Navigating through the line
Three items left to scan
Yes!
Bre in — Bre out - Bre in — Bre out
Clerk, “I could have called someone”
“Now you tell me”
“I wanted to see if you could make it.”
Breathe in — Breathe out
“How much was the coupon for?”
Wife - “Fifteen cents”
“Only fifteen cents - You could have told me”
“I wanted to see if you could make it.”
Breathe in — Breathe out
Such is life!
My hope is that this one will encourange the reader not to take everything so seriously.
I cannot help myself - last one I promise…
That my new friends, is my work. It is simple work — heartfelt work anchored in the belief of Abundant Everyday Joy.
Thank you, Amanda, for giving me this space. Thank you all for reading.
If any of you write feel-good pieces or pieces of insight and would like to cross-post, I would love to see what we can do together. I have also recently launched a new literary project seeking works of joy, The Zest of the Lemon.
 | A guest post by
|
Thank you so much, Amanda! D
Dave, you're back! I missed you.