Detail or panorama…it’s all great

Last night I had the privilege of joining a group of next gen. 20 somethings at Trinity Mosaic as they gathered to focus on things with spiritual meaning. I’ve been with them before… seems it just gets better.

In their creatively expressive liturgy (think old school church with candles and rows of chairs and hand washing and crosses and response prayers, instead of their usual contemporary way of doing things)… into that atmosphere of praying and singing (the old hymns I haven’t sung since I was little, like How Great Thou Art), I gave up some poetry. I went to poetize alongside the band, and I came home with something more.

Anyway, as is usually the case, I go into most things with my intent and purpose all clearly outlined, my lines polished and practiced and then something happens. Something bigger moves: a dart of truth finds its prickly way inside me. I nod my head, search for a pen to write down what I think my (soul) just heard. What was it? I come away with words, a phrase, a little gift thought.

Not every time. But most times. Mostly when I hesitate in saying yes to the ask is precisely when something waits for me at the end of my whatever it was I was withholding in the beginning. Hmmm… interesting that. Doesn’t seem to matter if you are looking at the horizon or down at your feet… his great can capture when you least expect.

Awakening to a small gift of great,

Lesley-Anne

p.s. rumour has it that you will soon be able to experience last night’s collaborative spiritual expression in a number of ways, so please stand by…

Upcoming event…

As noted under “News” on my author website;

Thanks to the marketing team of the Okanagan Regional Library, posters, radio spots, and newspaper ads are spreading word of an upcoming Poetry Reading at the Mission Branch, Kelowna.

Lesley-Anne Evans will read poems and share her experiences of getting poetry out into the community through Pop-Up-Poetry initiatives. Local creative, Dörte Meyer, will provide atmospheric instrumental backdrop to a fun evening of poetry readings, and interactive poetry with the audience.

Thursday, October 17th @ 6:45 pm

The ORL Mission Branch is located on Gordon Drive, in the Capital News Centre.

Brilliant.

Dearest Bob,

Thank you for your fresh INTERACTIVE POETRY idea. You have an incredible mind, always inviting me outside the box of ordinary. I know you aren’t really a poetry person, you’ve told me that yourself. Still, you tolerate it, add to it, and sometimes find yourself in my poems too. And now this new poetry idea…

When we were chatting a while ago about what makes my work most sweet to me, you heard my desire to connect with people, not just deliver up words. Then you suggested something brilliant. And now that we’ve tried it, have seen the potential, it will be something I repeat. It’s so much fun.

So, here is our first interactive poem, posted here! Brilliant idea, babe. Brilliant.

Thank you for who you are and what you do, and for championing my journey as a poet. Knowing you are for me is what matters most.

Onward together,

LA

I want to know.

As much as I spend time alone, create alone, work and think and pour out alone, there’s part of me that wants to know… others, their thoughts, their responses to my words. I create to express, work to sharpen myself as an artist, but also to share. And when I share there’s absolutely nothing more catch-my-breath-in-my-throat, than to really really know I am become a small part in someones life, a link in a chain strung from here to eternity.

Pop-up-poetry may just be a small miracle. I remember reading Stephen Kings book “On Writing” years ago, and resonating with Kings thoughts (I must look at it again!) that writing somehow transcends time and space. He says, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” To be a writer, to commit words to paper/internet, and then moments, days, years from now, someone reads those words, in a connection across time and space… is miraculous! And so I press on and pop up.

Thursday of last week I pinned poems on Cawston Ave. in Kelowna. I imagined how the words might impact… how God might take what I wrote and begin something or heal something or continue a thought process… with someone I didn’t yet know.

That my poem pinned to a gateway would be welcome home. That my poem pinned to a bench would be rest. That my poem pinned to a community garden would be food.

And I went home believing.

I received a comment here at the bottom of my “About” page that quickened my heart upon reading it. The joy… in knowing… just a glimpse.

Here are some photos of my pop-up-poems, scattered to the wind, looking to land.

All SDG,

Lesley-Anne

You just gotta have fun!

From time to time, someone asks why I do Pop-Up-Poetry. They often look slightly puzzled.

I pause, then explain I want to write, and I want to share my words. Then there’s the giddy, excited feeling when I install poems, almost feeling like I’m breaking a law of some kind, and I’m going to get caught. And that appeals to the rebel in me, and to the childlike mystery of taking action and anticipating ripples, like a comment on my blog, or meeting someone who says, hey, aren’t you the one who does Pop-Up-Poetry? And then there’s the taking steps of faith part of it, like doing it not knowing exactly why, but knowing it somehow feels right.

And it’s just FUN! Shouldn’t we all have fun in our lives?

Here are of the more whimsical installs I’ve done this year: