OK, Let's say you're sleeping soundly and then slide into that REM sleep thing, and you go down that sometimes bizarre road of disconnected ideas and images. Then you start to wake, and your thoughts get more rational as you enter the atmosphere.... That's how I describe some of my inspiration for writing my poetry. For example this last evening/morning, I came out of one of those "foggy rooms" and a phrase of poetry stuck with me. I woke up in the darkness and had this urge to write it down, so I grabbed a pen and wrote as best as I could between the shadows on the paper on my desk.
The phrase that just 'came' to me has to do with what we do as Chaplains (in my case Hospice). We must "assess" a person spiritually, to see how to help that person the best possible way as things deteriorate in that person's life. We call this a "Spiritual Assessment". So, I woke up thinking about my work, I suppose, and all the ways we have to get the person to talk about their spiritual interest (or not). We find things that are meaningful to that individual. Sometimes it may be a spouse or family member. It might be a church experience, or better yet a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. (Note: from the Chaplain's perspective, he/she allows the individual to tell the story of their own faith journey, and then we do whatever possible to encourage them to follow their own path, which may include true Christian faith experience.) (Note on this Note: Being a chaplain is somewhat more complicated than being a Pastor. I make no apology for being both.)
Back to POETRY....
Ok, I rub my waking eyes, and this powerful little phrase sticks with me:
I Assess a Soul,
and that Soul
Asesses me.
I spent some time working my poem around that thought and will share it in my next post. But I thought you might be interested in knowing how those creative juices work... then again, if you are not interested, no harm done.... (it's my blog.....! )
