Poetry Patrol

I latched onto Ted Kooser's phrase, "poetry patrol," in his book The Poetry Home Repair Manual. I realized that I had been on poetry patrol on our recent trip to Philadelphia. While my husband attended a conference, I walked around the city seeing the sights, some I searched out, like Galileo's telescope, and some found me, like the protest against Lockheed Martin's corporate contribution to war efforts. I came home with notes and ideas for several poems, which I now need to sit down and write.

I still have trouble making myself sit down to do the actual writing, though it's slowly becoming more of a habit. Why God has called me to the work of writing is still a mystery, but I'm trying to put one foot in front of another on this path upon which God seems to be directing me at present. I try to focus on the immediate rather than think too much about long term. After all, I have no idea how much long term I have. None of us know that for sure. My immediate problem is to find a way to describe the march of a half dozen individuals who chose to devote their time to protesting war and its profits, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were a dozen at most heading to a confrontation with a politically well-connected mega-corporation. But then I learned as a child in Sunday school that when God is with us, our own size and strength are irrelevant. All that matters is our faithfulness.

Grace and Peace,
Donna Sue