Defining Moments; a brief reflection.

What are defining moments? Most of us would say that they are times when we encounter something that radically changes the direction of our lives. Others might say that it is a time when our perspective does a 180 and we can never think the same. In both scenarios, the moment is metaphysicalized into something that will change us forever. Truthfully, it is never this dramatic, as the proportion to how defining any said moment is, is dependent on our capacity to attach meaning to it.

Still, even if these moments are not some grand plot device in the story of our lives, as there is no story to our lives, these random moments can become defining if they do one thing; remain with us. As we go through our lives, we find ourselves having moments every single day, moments that just seems random and inconsequential. This is the "nature" of life; a series of random events that are cobbled together to form a narrative that we call "our life story." As such, any one moment is no more important than any other, but in the process of unconsciously crafting "our story" we attach these grand meanings to moments. More often than not, these defining moments are things like a marriage, the birth of child, a debilitating accident, a new job opportunity. Something that has a physical consequence; something that we can point back to and say, "see, my life was different from that point on!" While this is true, this is also true of any moment, as your life has no set path to follow. It is always in the process of being different. However, there are times that "stick with us" and many times these aren't the big things that were mentioned previously.

These "stick with you moments" are times when something happened; an inconsequential moment like a million others, but that your mind won't forget. A moment that can manifest itself at the most random of times. A moment that remains vital and relevant years after it occurred. For me, one such event was my summer spent in St. Louis. While this event would count for the "big defining moment" category that I mentioned above, the immediate physical outcome, a bolstering in my Christian faith, did not last. Much of what I attached so strongly to after returning has faded into a reflection that seems better suited to someone else's life. However, the inconsequential details are the ones that continually rear their heads. A young boy scowling at me and saying, "I hate white people," a conversation with a homeless man about a homeless shelter that was less than godly, and a half heard conversation between two other people about black and white views of each other. These are the things that stick out years after. These are the things that continually come up from the waters to say, "deal with it!"

Faith, is not something that is dependent on physical circumstances. It is, as a wholly metaphysical reality, in opposition to physical reality and that is why such "mountain top" experiences never last. However, the minutiae never leaves, as it is the minutiae that creates our physical world. It is the minutiae that never leaves us alone, continually shining on us like the sun. We may not notice all the time, as it is constantly there, but when we stop to admire it, the complexity becomes readily apparent.

Defining moments exist, but in ways we don't realize. They won't make themselves apparent until years later and in retrospect, will never be what we think they were.

Steam

Steam billows forth
From a cup of coffee
Or a stack, giving one
The necessity to make a cup of
Coffee

Windows fog with steam
The breath of the beating
Hearts, in unison
In separate, in time;
Steam

Gabriel once said,
"Whenever heaven's doors are shut
You kick them open,"
And I would have to
Agree

One sip, two sips,
The steam builds on
My lenses, and still
I am unequivocally
Content

To write a poem a day?

In one of my courses, a potential final project is to write a play a day for a month, in the same spirit as Suzan Lori-Parks 365 Days/365 Plays project. While I am not doing said assignment (I chose the always reliable presentation), I am curious to try my hand at this. At some point, I may start doing this and I may post them here on the blog for all to read. Mostly though, I think it is an interesting and unique idea, one that will be difficult and hard to achieve.

Similar to this, I have tried my hand at writing a poem everyday for a month and I thought this might be a good time to do that. While I certainly have a lot on my plate at the moment, I think a bit of creative verse might help ease the tension and keep my "head in the game" if you will.

With that said, I plan to start this process tonight and post it the next morning. I will be generating new content everyday and while many of these poems won't be good, I hope it will be an enjoyable experience.

Some ground rules before I begin;

1. I can not go back and edit these poems for content, only grammar. In doing this, I hope to get the task of writing everyday down and not so much produce a "masterpiece" every time. It's the experience, more than the result I am going for.

2. I must try and write in at least three different poetic forms. Once again, this is about the experience. My poetry is very modern in it's style, owing less to a rhyme scheme and more to rhythm and image. In this regard, I fall closer to the William Carlos William's of this world than the John Donne's. So, part of the experience for me will be to try my hand at a few different forms, to broaden my scope and style of writing, hopefully. With that said...

3. Nothing is off topic and what comes out, comes out. This might be the death of the whole project, but in attempting to write a poem a day for 30 days I can't really think about it too much. While I can certainly plan ahead, what comes out when pen hits page (or keystroke hits screen) is what is going to come out. This relates back to my earlier statement of not editing for content. If this is going to work, I feel it needs to be "honest."

I hope whoever falls on this blog will enjoy at least some of the poems I write and will at least enjoy this process with me! Tomorrow, it begins...