At breakfast with two artistic friends this morning, we discussed the importance of encounters, either unplanned or planned (like ours), in nurturing creativity. Artists create works for the purpose of catharsis or connection, and too much alone time can lead to blocked artistic flow. Our meandering discussion touched the topic of worrying, and the notion stayed with me for the next few hours, finally crystallizing into the new poem below. I don't usually post a first draft, but I am doing so today to convey how connections can catalyze creativity and compel communication (not to mention excessive use of alliteration). So, here's the poem that enables me to justify a fun morning off with extraordinary friends. I hope you'll let me know if it moves you. And if you do connect with my words and wish to read some more polished poems, check out my newest published book, Disillusions of Grandeur--and Other Eye-Openers (click title for more info).
Worry Walls
by Susan L. Lipson
Worrying is a symptom
of our sick need for control—
control over all that occurs outside of our own actions.
Worrying has no power to change circumstances, events, or others’ decisions;
no power to heal, show support, or remove pain;
no power to maintain a dependence upon our input.
Worrying disempowers us,
erecting walls around our crumbling castles of control,
blocking our view of the reality beyond our courtyards.
If we summon the strength
to climb over those Worry Walls,
pausing on top to regain balance,
we can see what IS,
not what “should” or “could” be,
and if we the summon the faith
to take a leap into the reality,
causing the walls to collapse behind us,
we can leave our castles to erode into dust,
and land on our feet--
shaking, perhaps--
but ready to walk forward.
