This is brilliant, Sarah! It resonates so strongly with me, and us folks who may see the quantity of friends decrease...but not the quality. Thank you for this gem.
I am really loving doing this project-- whenever I sit down to type, I'm never quite sure where the poem is going, and I feel like I've gained a lot of insight by seeing where each poem takes me!
This is very nice, Trish. I can relate to this, and love how you describe that unique aspect of long friendships, being able to pick up where we left off no matter time and distance.
We leave our husbands
and our children
and our jobs
and our home state
We drive together
retreat to the ocean
to the house that holds
us and opens us
We pour gin and tonics
into mason jars
and walk to the beach
at sunset
Every spring we gather
here, this salt water
this expanding sky
our rising laughter
Our friendship carrying us
through the tides
__
I love your poem, Kaitlin, especially these lines:
being
a friend is a kind
of honoring, a kind
of holding to kinship
This is splendid, Katie! What a beautiful witness to a special friendship!
Thank you!
Ships
To new ships
and old ships
and all ships
on the sea.
The best ships
are friendships,
so here’s
to you and me.
The two greatest
ships are larger
than we, by
ourselves, can tell.
They’re relationships
and partnerships.
Let’s work together
to build them well.
This is wonderful, Todd! Your use of ship as a connecting piece is brilliant!
A decade has got
nothing on us; we are more
than time and distance.
Love your haiku, A! So much said in so few words!!
Lovely 🥰
I love this A. You are a versatile writer of great depth and form--no matter what style you write in!
Let us wander,
You and I,
Over mossy sidewalk cracks and broken glass
To the river.
Let us exhale in the cradle of cottonwoods
And walk side by side,
Speaking of memes and interviews,
Worries and hopes.
The rule is that any conversation can be interrupted
To look at a bird, or a plant, or the fruiting body of a fungi--
"Look at this mushie!" you say,
And I say, "Warbler! But I don't know which kind, warblers are hard,"
And you say, "Is this a compass plant?"
And I say, "It's certainly Asteraceae, but that doesn't really narrow it down"--
Then we're back to errands we need to run
Or things that made us laugh
Or existential dread
Or some combination of it all.
And I breathe a little easier,
Because I'm with you.
"& broken glass" yup.
There's a lot of it around here! ;)
I love this wonderful poem, Lisa. What a beautiful way to describe your friendship!
Learning
As I get older
That in the
Field of friendship
The notion
Of quality
Over quantity
Really does
Hold true.
I feel
So supported
By just
A few
Precious people
Who truly
See me -
Who I can
Be myself with
Unabashedly.
Which in turn
Gives me strength
So the cycle
Moves forward.
What a sacred
Situation!
I guess
I'll keep turning
Oar-ward.
This is brilliant, Sarah! It resonates so strongly with me, and us folks who may see the quantity of friends decrease...but not the quality. Thank you for this gem.
Thank you Larry!
I am really loving doing this project-- whenever I sit down to type, I'm never quite sure where the poem is going, and I feel like I've gained a lot of insight by seeing where each poem takes me!
Let them drive
Yes, exactly!
I have a small collection
Of people in my life
Some gathered in recent years
Others, decades ago when maybe
I was someone altogether different
We journey together through this
Beautiful, confounding life
Sometimes in quick texts
Sometimes in conversations
Stretching into the night
Sharing stories only we know
In memories only we recall
Through laughter, tears, gossip, and music
Our connection both a time-capsule
And testament to the eternal within ourselves
And within those we gather
Into our family of choice.
This is lovely, Rachel. What a precious testimony and song to friendship.
Stories…
Memories…
Yes!
Her ‘no’ celebrated
Emotional safety incubated
Patience not pressure
Long gaps ok
Following-up quietly
Listening is love
We bear witness
Boundaries known, respected
Wisdom her perspective
Shared stories re-told
Tears intersect laughter
Houses not ‘prepped’
Plans fluid, flexible
Agenda is cheerleading
Hope’s door held
(sorry, dark & a little stalkish)
.
.
.
.
for everything there is a season.
a time to plant
and a time to pluck up.
It's that dang pluck time
that always addles
friendship leeches like me.
Turn turn turn.
Better to be dark & honest than sweet and lacking substance. Cheers, Chuck; you’re not alone.
✌️
The dark friends are the ones we know will go all the way into the shadows with us.
Nice use of Ecclesiastes and Pete Seeger, Chuck!
Friendship
Being able to pick back up
with the last conversation
no matter how many days
have come between
Knowing all the back stories
and the laughs shared
and the commonality
of thought
Finding a shoulder to lean on
and an ear to listen
and tears to shed
together
Going deep with words shared
and ideas and dreams
and attempts to explore
what is real
Feeling seen and heard
and understood
and cared for
just as we are
Friendship
no matter how many days in between.
That's some good words.
This is very nice, Trish. I can relate to this, and love how you describe that unique aspect of long friendships, being able to pick up where we left off no matter time and distance.
Friendship
The invisible bond
The unspoken tie
The reassuring presence
As life sweeps by
The rock in the storm
The comfort in pain
The love in the sorrow
Makes us whole again
What a precious gift
This friendship we find
This is beautiful, Jane . What a sweet song to friendship!
Lovely 😍
God of the lonely, the shamed, and the hurting,
you offered friendship without reserve to those
the world had bruised and abandoned.
Remind me to extend Your hand
to those around me when I think
I don’t have the spoons to extend my own,
because you never ask something of me
without giving me the power to create it.
Another beautiful prayer poem, January. Thank you! 🙏🏻
I've won the lottery
over a dozen times.
For at least that many people
have entered my life
in a meaningful way.
They've seen me and
loved me.
They've made me laugh, cry, wonder,
expand, and explore.
My friends have held me up
when things fell apart.
They've stood by my side
when the foundation shook.
They've kept me safe.
The freedom of authentic self-expression,
the gift of unleashing my inner weirdo,
the joy of unbridled living:
I've received these bountiful gifts
from my friends.
How lucky.
This is wonderful, Sarah. I expect your blessed friends have hit the lottery as well!
I embrace Mother Earth when I touch her life-giving soil.
I inhale the petrichor of a rainstorm
I exhale in relief when the sun reappears after disappearing behind a thunderhead
like a loved one returning home.
Petricor is a new word for me (and my spellchecker, evidently). Love it!
Katie, to this day, my spellcheck does not know the word 'bookstagrammer' and it's what I do for work! Thank you for your kind words.
Splendid, Sarah. Your poem reminds me of an environmental group I once belonged to, “Friends of the Earth.”
Thank you so much, Larry! Hearing feedback has been so helpful.
I loved this beauitful prompt!
Friends
-
Friend. Friendly. Befriend
Be a friend. Best friend.
What a friend we have…
You have a friend in me…
Precious and tender feelings of the heart.
-
The Sufi’s had a notion of God as friend,
and of God as beloved. Beloved friend.
In some Chrisitan circles the holy Spirit is friend.
Infinitely more comforting to me than “ghost”
or other more abstract descriptions.
Buddhists have the concept of spiritual friendship,
blessed companions who bring the best out in you,
and help lift you to your brightest angels.
-
Friends are sacred. Sacred friendship.
These beautiful and imperfect beings,
who lift you when you stumble,
and sometimes stumble with you.
Beloveds with whom you can laugh from the belly
and cry the river of tears that may never stop flowing.
Blessed humans who can start a conversation again
after years of distance and disconnection,
as if there were no miles and moments between us.
Precious friends, who see the beauty and wisdom
in the lines on our faces, the creak in our bones,
the typos in our notes and the struggle in our aging;
Who know when our brightest light is trapped in the shadows
And how to give us hope once more.
-
Blessed be to all those friends along my journey.
A deep bow of gratitude to all those, past, present or future,
who not only befriended me but loved me.
A delicious heart song sung for all those friends
who found me when I was lost,
or waited for me at the next junction when I lagged behind.
May your days be full of love and deep joy,
sacred moments with your beloved friends,
and the sweet symphony borne from our friendships.
This is beautiful! Also, I didn't know that about Sufiism, but I love it. Mystics always come up with the best things.
Too busy to write today
gardens to amend
dirt to spread
weeds to pull
beds to edge
then a rickety barrow
wheeling - squealing really -
the dirt all about
the church yard.
.
Neighbour Imad stopped by
took pity on my solitary labour
and joined in the
merry
mess
making
.
Now I must write
of an ancient Lebanese mountain village
of social contracts of common care
going back countless generations
of kindness
of kinship
of our mutual keening
for a world
made
new
by
friendship.
This is so sweet and nice, Bob. I like where you take us and how you connect the stanzas. Great work!