Sunday, April 13, 2008

One Single Impression: Glory


The prompt for this week's One Single Impression is "glory." I'm not very happy with these - they are not glorious - but they are the best I could squeeze out of my brain this week. I tried to write another poem for autism awareness month also.



Look around my friend

There is glory everywhere

Just open your eyes


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oh morning glory
blossoming at break of day

your beauty stuns me


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The glory of war
Civilians accept the lie

Soldiers know better



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Many thousands dead
Torture, cruelty, lies for greed
War brings no glory


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The wonder of you
Opens my heart in joy

I feel life's glory



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"Glory be," she cried
And I thought "yes indeedy"
It is a grand life


~~~~~~~~

He is Himself
for Connor

As with any child
There is glory in small things
He's not a label after all,
Not an "ism"
He is himself

Unique, special

Looking for love
Just like the rest of us
Austism is a part of him

But it isn't who he is

Who is he, then?

He is his mother's son

His father's boy

His brother's friend

He is his own glorious and beautiful self
And what more could we ask?


~~~~~~~~~~~



I hope you will all take a minute to remember that this is Autism Awareness Month. The following blogs and posts offer an opportunity to put a human face and heart on something which for most of us is just something we have heard about but don't really understand.

These are the Days
Forks Off the Moment - We are All Unique
Mother of Shrek
Full Soul Ahead
Down River Drivel
Look Me In The Eye

29 comments:

Barb said...

I especially enjoyed your poem about Autism. I have a 8 year old nephew in the Autism Spectrum. I like that you said Austism is a part of him But it isn't who he is.

Our society seems so anxious to give out Labels these days. We forget sometimes that he is who he is, not what his label is.

Jo said...

I especially liked the last glory poem. Your answer to Who is he, then?...beautifully expressed, Raven, so simple & true.

SandyCarlson said...

Your morning glory poem made me smile; that's one of the most wonderful weeds out there. It's a flower because we say it is; glory really works the same way. So this was a wonderful antiphon to your autism poem for me. There is glory in being yourself, of living far away from the box of labels. Thanks for these.
Writing in Faith: Poems

Akelamalu said...

I love your poems especially the one for autism.

STP said...

I particularly like the anti-war pieces and the twist of what is NOT glory.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why you're not happy with these.

Your poem reminds me of my experience of someone with autism. He said over and over of his mother, 'She doesn't know me for who I am'. Very sad when this happens, especially as the mother in question did an enormous amount for her son, but she just couldn't accept him as he is.

Anonymous said...

These are all great takes on 'Glory'.

I especially enjoyed your poem on autisim. I have an eight year old son who carries this diagnosis, and sometimes, people can't see the "glory in his small self".

Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Raven, each of your poems is special. I love them all. Too bad more people can't see what you do.

Anonymous said...

Each of your verses stand out. I liked the Autism one best!

pit of your spit

Linda Murphy said...

"He is his own glorious and beautiful self"

That describes my son. I couldn't say it any better.

I'd love to use this poem with your permission in my sidebar.

Glory is such a strong word and you have used it so well in all of your poems. Brava!

Raven said...

snoopmurph - I'd be honored to have you use the poem. I was actually thinking of you and your family when I wrote it, so it is Connor's poem. In fact, maybe I will add a dedication line.

Karen said...

Your poetry is beautiful--thank you for sharing!

WH said...

You're too modest. These are excellent and reflect very deep truths.

Teri said...

Each poem is just glorious!!!

tt said...

You relax me.
I love it when I read something that evokes an awakening within me. " he is his own glorious and beautiful self" I love that. simple and powerful.
Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

"And what more could we ask?"..i'm only a kleptomaniac ma'm.i'm not a thief.i only look to steal other peoples' good lines!

Dianne said...

Oh Raven.

You are glory.

I love all the poems and Connor's poem made me cry. I could see all the wonderful photos of him as I read the poem.

You are a true friend to us all.

Anonymous said...

wow. i'm speechless. found you through a link and then another link and i got here eventually through "forks off the moment".

what a beautiful use of words. my niece is autistic, but autism does not define her. i wish her parents would see that.

i'll participate next week in your wordzzzle puzzle, if you don't mind...

Raven said...

I'm a bit too lazy tonight to respond to every one individually - my apologies for that. I just want to say that I have begun to love Sundays better than any other day of the week because I get such lovely compliments. Poets, it seems, are very good complimenters.

I'm so glad that everyone liked the autism poem. I really think that Linda (snoopmurph) and her husband Thomas deserve as much credit for it as I do because it was inspired by their words and Linda's wonderful writing about her son Connor. Please visit her blog These Are the Days for beautiful moving writing about autism - and other things as well.

One specific response to heidianne jackson... I'm so glad you found me. I'm thrilled to have another participant in the wordzzle challenge. It's lots of fun and just amazing to see what everyone comes up with. See you on Saturday.

Raven said...

oops... forgot one thing...

stp - thanks for noticing the anti war poems. George Bush and our current predicament make me very cranky.

Joyce said...

I especially enjoyed your "Glory Be!" poem, and the poem for Connor. :)
Your poems fit the GLORY prompt just fine, I thought. :)

Unknown said...

Raven: There will be a major break on Autism. That is what I feel in my heart!

Daniel J Santos said...

Excellent moment, excellent poem,
well done.

Tumblewords: said...

Wow! This is a page of fine work! All of them are great!

Quiet Paths said...

You have touched on many colors of "glory". Some beautiful and some revealing the opposite. Well done and thank you for the efforts you wrote into these. You speak truth to power, because we have been misled and guided down a hideous path with the glorified war theme.

Steve H said...

connor should be proud!

Anonymous said...

Hi Raven. Being on vacation I'm taking my time visiting this week. I like your morning glory poem. It was the most difficult one for me to do this week: hours and hours and sheets and sheets of paper. And I'm still not happy. Yours is more like what I wanted to combine with mine. But that's too long for haiku!

The glory of war. Bah and humbug. I wonder when we will ever stop thinking like that as a nation.

Anonymous said...

hi raven,
i've discovered 'autism
today dot com'to be another relevant site on the subject.if u so decide may be they could benefit from ur sensitive poem 'He is Himself'..best wishes..

Raven said...

just realized there are a whole bunch of people I haven't responded to. My apologies.

joyce - thank you.

michael manning - I hope/believe you are right.

daniel j. santos - thank you so much.

andree - glory was hard, I thought.

quietpaths - I wish power was listening...

hotwire - connor & his parents are awesome people. Linda and Tom really wrote the poem - I just kind of took their words and made them into poetry, poetry.

tumblewords - thank you kindly.

zoya gautam - thank you for the link. I'll check it out and share it with others.

These got all out of order somehow. I could try and reorganize them but given how my brain is functioning, it would probably make it worse.

Thank you all for your kind comments.