Noticing Nuances ~ Valerie Ronald

 

I keep this poem in my writing files to remind me to look for the nuances, subtle shades and depths in the commonplace with potential to blossom into inspiration.
 

Valentine for Ernest Mann       by Naomi Shihah Nye

You can’t order a poem like you order a taco.

Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two”

And expect it to be handed back to you

on a shiny plate.

Still, I like your spirit.

Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,

write me a poem,” deserves something in reply.

So I’ll tell you a secret instead:

poems hide.    In the bottoms of our shoes,

they are sleeping.    They are the shadows

drifting across our ceilings the moment

before we wake up.    What we have to do

is live in a way that lets us find them.

Once I knew a man who gave his wife

two skunks for a valentine.

He couldn’t understand why she was crying.

“I thought they had such beautiful eyes,”

And he was serious.    He was a serious man

who lived in a serious way.    Nothing was ugly

just because the world said so. He really

liked those skunks.   So, he re-invented them

as valentines and they became beautiful.

At least, to him.    And the poems that had been

    hiding

in the eyes of skunks for centuries

crawled out and curled up at his feet.

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us

we find poems.    Check your garage, the odd

    sock

in your drawer, the person you almost like, but

not quite.

And let me know.

   ***
I think this poem is telling us something we all know as writers. Our readers may think writing ideas come from the fascinating and adventurous lives of writers but few of us lead such lives. The truth is, we as writers have a certain way of looking at the world around and within us, seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary ˗˗ a story behind the mundane. As the poem says, what we have to do is live in a way that lets us find them. By looking for subtle nuances in small, everyday circumstances and scenarios we find ideas to fill volumes.

What this poem doesn’t tell us is that as writers who are Christians, we have a Divine Inspirer. God is the Master Creator. Everything in this vast universe came from His infinite mind and hand. Being made in His image, we have a small share in that creativity. We have unlimited resources for writing ideas everywhere we look, but how we look is inspired by our heavenly Father.

I will give you hidden treasures and wealth tucked away in secret places; I will reveal them to you. Then you will know that I am the Eternal, the God of Israel, who calls you by name. (Isa. 45:3 The Voice)  

I have found that going to the Revealer, asking Him to make known what He would have me write, eventually results in what I call a shining moment ˗˗ that moment when I see something in a new way, when the seed of an idea blooms suddenly in my mind and I can’t wait to develop it in writing. He never fails me.

Writing is a shy craft. Ideas flit through our heads at the oddest moments, in the strangest places, waking us from a sound sleep in the middle of the night, requiring a notebook close by for us to capture random inspirations for possible writing projects. That surge of adrenaline when an idea hits is God speaking, telling us, “Here! I am revealing to you the wealth tucked away in secret places! Be aware of the nuances here, with subtle shades of meaning and depth. Write it down and use it well, My child.”

Keep looking for the poems hiding in the eyes of skunks, waiting to curl up at your feet. 

    

Valerie Ronald writes from an old roll top desk in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, with her tortoiseshell cat for a muse. A graduate of Langara College School of Journalism, she writes devotionals, fiction and inspirational prose. Her purpose in writing is to encourage others to grow in their spiritual walk.