Friday, January 20, 2012

I meet every other week with three wonderful ladies to share and reflect together. It was my turn to lead this time so I decided to have us each write a Malaysian poem called the Pantoum. I first was introduced to the Pantoum in Zambia by our MCC country reps and was profoundly moved by the experience. Once again, the Pantoum did not disappoint and I was amazed at what emerged through the exercise. There is a form for the poem that has you reflect and repeat on different lines throughout the poem, and each line takes you deeper and deeper without even being aware of it. One of my friends commented, “You could write a Pantoum every single day and it would always come out different.” So true. What follows is my Pantoum, reflecting the tension I experience in “coming home.”

I am at ease.

I am home.

I see anxious people.

They flitter and flutter.

I am home.

Sometimes I am a foreigner.

They flitter and flutter.

I want to soothe them.

Sometimes I am a foreigner.

I have new eyes.

I want to soothe them.

It runs so deep.

I have new eyes.

Still I am blind.

It runs so deep.

Change is slow and hard.

Still I am blind.

I see anxious people.

Change is slow and hard.

I am at ease.