NaPoWriMo 2023
This was my first NaPoWriMo since 2015, and also only my second fully complete one since that year! After years of lying fallow in terms of writing poetry, it's been nice to get back into the swing of things, write consistently in a season of my life where I feel like I have more brain space, and pick up the threads of writing projects long abandoned. Here is a list of the poems I wrote for this year's challenge. A big thanks to the fellow poets at :devNaPoWriMo: and especially for :devMedoriko: for organizing everything as she always does.
Four lefts make a full circle
It's been a long, long time, but a lot has happened for me. I finished seminary, for one. It was wonderful, but all the reading and writing severely depleted my poetic inspiration, along with other challenges and losses. It doesn't help that DA's changes to literature submissions has added an extra barrier of entry for me. But the winds have shifted and I'm resuming work on a couple projects that will hopefully draw more verse from me. I also hope to be writing more prose on my blog too.
Hope to see you around! Drop a line and say hi if you're still around!
Away for the Summer
In Memoriam
Life now is fraught with tragic truths and ironies. I've never even been to a funeral before, but now I have the responsibility of planning one. I got so used to being a big brother these past 21 years that I have forgotten how it feels to be an only child now. My sister, who was battling with mental illness while being in school, had quite a number of expenses, but at least our family is well off enough that she could afford to live. Now, looking at the funeral and cemetery plot expenses, we see that she could afford to die too.
Nevertheless, I have had two major sources of comfort. The first is my hope in Christ and the resurrection of the dead. The circumstances that led to my sister's passing arose from a confluence of sin and driving forces and disease and hurts beyond her control, but through the pain and sorrow she continued to trust in the grace of her savior Jesus Christ. She trusted that God loved her not because of how good she was or how great her accomplishments were, but because she was His daughter. Knowing that she was saved gives me tremendous joy.
The other is seeing the impact of her short life. She had tremendous gifts of mercy and generosity and selflessness. Many times she would tell me about certain people she had helped or was giving gifts to or building up, but until now I hadn't met many of them in person. For those who loved her to come and visit and tell my family how blessed they were by her has been challenging and inspiring to me. Would that I make such an impact when the time comes for me to be with God!
In any case, pray for me and my family. These past two years have been the hardest years of my life, but I see so much of God's faithfulness shining through!
The Great Move
Today I moved from my beloved home in Southern California all the way to New Jersey. I'll be serving in campus ministry at Rutgers University for the next year. To be honest it doesn't just feel like I moved cross country; it feels like I'm in a different planet altogether. It's not the travelling, or that it's particularly different from where I've been (quite the contrary). It's more of the fact that I am calling this place my home that makes it especially weird to me.
I have a lot of emotions swirling around so I'm sure that will manifest itself in some poetry coming out soon. But for now I'm exhausted, so I'll be turning in. Hope to update soon!