by Barbara Burt
I am a new student of Transformative Language Arts, but it feels as though I have finally come home. Besides reading and hearing about all the wonderful work being done in the field, I’ve taken two online classes, “Your Calling, Your Life” with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and “Changing the World with Words 2017” with Joanna Tebbs Young, which have reawakened my love of poetry and connected me to a community of thoughtful, generous, and creative TLA colleagues.
The poem below was written in response to a prompt in “Changing the World with Words 2017”: “Now is the time” for what in your life?The prompt was accompanied by a poem by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, titled “Now Is the Time.”
Ask Yourself
Now is the time
to reckon with time’s
loss.
There are no endless strings
of days to spin,
no heaps of months,
no piles of years.
Someday, some child
will search your files
and wonder.
Why is this sentence unfinished?
This sweater unraveled?
This plot unresolved?
Take a bottle of cobalt glass
and toss it on a stony beach.
First the shards are sharp.
But sanded by waves and time,
they soften to sapphire nuggets.
Now is the time, if you want,
to knot the yarn
and finish the tale.
But ask yourself
What is the one thing
your time is worth?
Do that.
You can leave the unfinished
unfinished.
Now is the time.
About Barbara Burt: I’m freelance writer, researcher, and editor who’s always been fascinated by the power of the stories we tell about ourselves. I’m also a classical musician and play in ensembles in midcoast Maine whenever I get the chance. Becoming involved with the TLA Network has given me a chance to liberate my creative writing skills, loosening the learned bonds of academic and professional inhibition. Maybe musical improvisation is next!
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Editor’s Note: This blog post was submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the TLA Network Certification program.
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