A pantoum poem by: Tricia Bates Smith, 1-7-2023

I hear you, fear. 
I am the one who keeps you small. 
So that you are safe and at home. 
You asked for ease.

I am the one who keeps you small. 
Can ease not come to me as I am out exploring? 
You asked for ease. 
I am acting on your beliefs.

Can ease not come to me as I am out exploring? 
Everything is easy as you create from what you are. 
I am acting on your beliefs. 
When you choose what action to take, it can only be successful.

Everything is easy as you create from what you are. 
When you choose what action to take, it can only be successful. 
You can’t do more than what is in your being. 
What I want from you is for your presence to shine.

This poem came from an exercise in seminary class. It was a magical process. We were asked to journal for ten minutes having been given some writing prompts. The prompts that I considered were: I am the one who … I am here to tell you … This is my gift to you … What I want from you is … The gold that I am denying myself is …

Next, we were asked to highlight 10 sentences or phrases that were meaningful within what we had written in our journals, labeling the phrases from A-J. Then, we were given the format for the poem which, using the ABC labels, ordered our key phrases into the poem.