POETRY

Delay of Gratification

a Rhupunt poem

Closet upstairs, Paint the old chairs, Flowers are there at the new home.

Red rosebush grows Heart somehow knows Ready to go — make it our own.

Birdsong in trees I’ll be with these My deepest need is our new home.

Horses now gone House stands alone Welcomes heartsong Family — come.

In disrepair paint worse for wear I need fresh air. Place to call home.

Ready to paint Make it all quaint I’m forced to wait to buy our home.

Banks have the say to go our way? Take it away? Time only knows.

It’s hard to wait Hard to delay Trying to pray for our new home.

If it be Will for God to give and let us live in this new home.

I’ll wait and pray for fate to say it’s closing day — beloved home!

Rhupunt poems are not hard to write — but they are hard to write well. I have only written a few of them but I find myself struggling with the form every time. When writing form, it forces the mind to create in a direction rather than openly following the lead of creativity. My mind finds these constraints very difficult.

But in the challenge we rise to new thinking. We give order to disorganized thoughts and force our creativity to perform for us. I welcome the challenge sometimes when creativity seems to “sound all the same” — I know you’ve been to this creative place before.

When it happens, or when you feel “creatively constipated,” try writing in a new form.

Author note: The picture above is one I took yesterday at the property we are trying to buy (we have the loan — there’s just a lot of weird red tape for this property) at the barn area on the back of the property. I thought it was quite a lovely picture. The previous owners of the home had and loved horses many years ago. You can still smell the horses at the barn. It is very poetic!

Instructions on how to write a Rhupunt poem:

Christina M. Ward is a poet and “naturist” from North Carolina. You can follow her on social media.