Poetry Month: The Beauty Between 6 of 30

For the month of April, I'll be writing poetry each day in celebration of National Poetry Month.  I've decided not choose a theme, not to plan the writing, but instead to wait to see what poetry finds me each day. 

It's also Friday.  Today I'm joining the Poetry Friday community as they celebrate poetry.  Today Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is hosting at the Poetry Farm.  Stop by and join the celebration.  

Obsessed with beginnings and endings,
we celebrate new houses,
newborn babies,
new job opportunities,
new discoveries.

We lament over endings:
the final page of a book,
the close of a day,
the conclusion of a vacation,
an end to life's journey.

We find ourselves with mixed emotions
at the line between an end
and a new beginning.
Graduation. Retirement.
Leaving one home to start anew in another.

Beginnings and endings matter,
but the sweet spot
is in the middle.
The middle is where
the magic is made.

It's not yes or no,
right or wrong,
left or right,
black or white,
but the gray in between.

Middles matter:
the center of an Oreo cookie,
the inside of a Reese's cup,
the coach's words at halftime,
the dash between.

The answers you seek,
The moments to keep,
The dreams you create,
The life you make,
Happen in the middle.  

© Cathy L. Mere, 2018


Comments

  1. Beautiful to realize that middles matter! I love the examples you provided.

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  2. I love your list of middles that matter, and the alliteration is wonderful. You are so right about the way we treat beginnings and endings.

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  3. Wow! I really love your poem. I love the contrast between the beginnings and endings. What a wonderful call to action to savor the middle.

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  4. Sometimes the middle is so huge, we get lost in it. The other day, our guidance counselor popped in and in a series of conversational turns too complicated to explain here, we (everyone in the room) started exploring the magnitude of my teaching career. Yes, I could have been your dad's fifth grade teacher. Yes, I could have been the guidance counselor's fifth grade teacher. Yes, I was starting to study to be a teacher in the year the guidance counselor was born. GACK! Thirty+ years feels like a blink...but also an eternity. And as I get closer to retirement, I start to understand that event as a simultaneous end-start.

    Anyway. Sorry for the blather. Love your poem!

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    Replies
    1. So many ending are new beginnings. Yes, end-start. That's some of the beauty, isn't it? I guess whether it's the beginning, the end, or the middle, there are always new possibilities ahead.

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  5. Some really big truth here, I think. And even though we talk about making the most of what goes on in the dash between the beginning of life and the end, we really don't celebrate it. This is a perfect reminder. I especially love the middle of an oreo cookie, and maybe because of my boys, the coach at half time. Yep, yep, yep!

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  6. It feels just right to me, to "be" in the middle and love it is a very good thing. I love your examples, was just at the grocery this am, saw Oreos have a new flavor, at least to me. It's hot cinnamon! Sounds like a good place to be, doesn't it? Thanks, Cathy!

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  7. Oh yes, those middles are important--and so hard to pay attention to, sometimes.

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  8. This poem took me on a journey, Cathy. And all of those middle-comparisons prove your point perfectly - middles matter! I vow to enjoy the middle of this evening and tomorrow, the middles. xx

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