Posts by Jenny:
Scriptural Trimerics
Some time ago I confessed to you that I’m not really a poet. Poetry is something that has in the past surprised me usually at times of great emotion. Since then, I’ve found myself writing more and enjoying the form. Yes, I guess I’m a bit like a blindfolded child trying to pin the tail on the donkey. I don’t know all the terms, patterns and forms. I don’t always get the rhyme or metre right – but its fun and there are new forms like free verse and somehow it allows me to express things I otherwise might not have said.
Then along came The Month of Poetry (MoP) . The challenge of MoP is to write one poem a day in the month of January. I was a little tempted – but really, one poem a day! But my friends Michelle and Nola said, “Go on, you can do it.” So I signed up. And I have had an absolute ball – both writing poetry, learning new forms, reading my fellow MoPettes poems, and receiving feedback.
I’m planning on signing up next January.
All of this is a long winded way to say – I am going to have to confess to being a poet. Maybe not an accomplished one, or a brilliant one – but a poet nonetheless.
I want to say a big thank you to Kat Apel – moderator and instigator of MoP. I also want to encourage you, my reader, if you have desire to tinker with poetry, don’t worry whether you have the skill or not – don’t hold back, just let go of the hidden poet.
One of the forms I learned from one of my fellow poets during MoP was the Trimeric invented by Dr Charles A Stone. It’s a neat little form. I wanted to give it a go – and I was taken by a verse in Isaiah that resonated with me. The result was my first Scriptural Trimeric.
The Good Shepherd
He gently tends his flock
gathering little lambs in his arms
carries them close to his heart
shepherding those who have young.
Gathering little lambs in his arms
holding them tight and secure
our fears he softly calms.
Carries us close to his heart
hammering strong in rhythm of love
only prideful fears can push us apart.
Shepherding we who have young.
Scaling the depths of mother-father love
To his footsteps we have clung.
Based on Isa 40:11 NIV
© Jeanette O’Hagan 16 January 2014
Lighthouse
Steady light in the dark, stormy maw of the night
obscured by driving rains or, perhaps, my own tear blurred sight -
Jesus, my Lord and God, you are the lighthouse of my life.
Fine Lines
Fine Lines emerged out of reflecting on memory loss, family and faith – spurred on by the devotional verse I read this morning:
Fine Lines
By Jeanette O’Hagan
30 March 2013
Fine lines crisscross the map
In a tangled grid;
Pathways through the city’s maze
Lines in time and space
That situate the temporal place.
Fine lines adorn the beloved face
Marking passing years;
Deeper lines [...]
On Slaying Educational Dragons
Story Jeanette O’Hagan
Nestled in the curve of the Brisbane River, a sleeping beauty is beginning to wake from its summer slumber. Now quietly somnolent, the almost empty expanses of green manicured lawns, stately sandstone buildings and car parks will soon be a bursting [...]
The Winds of Time
Winds of Time
I wrote this song last weekend as a tribute to my Dad, who I love very much. It was inspired by his current journey in the shadow lands of Alzheimer’s. When I was a child he was my hero and I will always appreciate the way he encouraged me to think and dream. [...]
Speaking Silence: Ordination of Women in Australia
I love waking up to Classic Breakfast each morning. A couple of mornings ago, (the morning before International Women’s Day), I was abruptly roused (in more ways than one) by the informational byte:
“What could we finally do [on this day in 1992]? Women were finally admitted to the priesthood in Australia with the ordination of [...]
Cry My Beloved Country
On Friday morning, as I visualised the prospect of healthy babies put down like unwanted puppies, I could only weep. This poem is an outporuing of those tears.