Clearing
by Martha Postlethwaite
Do not try to serve
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there patiently,
until the song
that is yours alone to sing
falls into your open cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to the world
so worthy of rescue.
Poetry offers a beautiful respite when the world feels confusing and the voices of conflict seem so loud. I’m drawn to poetry because, more and more, I believe it is the essence of what I understand smaller and deeper to be.
It is smaller because profound and subtle truths become clear in just a few words. Most often in new, gentle, and/or provocative ways. Poetry is deeper for the same reason; what is most mundane and ordinary is laid bare and open in unexpected juxtapositions. Profound invitations artfully hidden in gentle words and observations offer us a new lens to see the quotidian.
“Clearing,” the poem by the poet Martha Postlethwaite1 caught my attention this week. I’m sharing the lines that sparkled to me with invitations to consider my life in new ways. I hope you’ll pause with this poem and share what is speaking to you in the comments.
“Create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently.”
Create is an action infused with vitality, grace, color, and newness. The act of creating is to make something new. Creating is purposeful, unconstrained, joyful energy. “Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create…” The contrast of these lines is so meaningful; the longing or impulse to “save the world” is familiar to our human nature, but she suggests we first create.
Clearing, too, feels different from words like make space or pause, which could have been chosen to convey a similar message. Clearing implies the space is crowded. I don’t clear an empty table or counter; I clear a table with dishes, silverware, food, and napkins. Clearing acknowledges the complexities and fullness that are a realistic part of life. The invitation to pause is lovely and needed, but pausing means stopping in the forest, while clearing is an active preparation that results in a spaciousness that wasn’t there before. I know I need both, pausing in the midst and clearing away what is excess, finished, or even no longer relevant or needed.
Once creating and the clearing has happened, the poet instructs us to “wait there patiently.” That is easier said than done. Waiting patiently is not waiting passively. It’s an act of courage and focus to wait patiently. Waiting asks us to trust and believe that a message, growth, transformation, purpose, or a new calling will come. Waiting is often the most challenging part.
I use poetry often in spiritual direction. It’s a key that opens up new truths and new ways to view the questions and trials that are our constant companions.
Each time I read a poem, a new place, word, or idea sparkles. These are the words that sparkled today for me. But tomorrow, or later today even, a new word might wave and say, “What about me? I have something for you too.”
A Blessing for Clearing
In the densest parts of your life, in the place of confusion, darkness, or paradox, may you sense an invitation to create, with vitality, colorfulness, and freshness, a clearing. In the clearing that you create, may you actively wait, with courage, expectation, and grace, for the gift that is for you.
Read the poem slowly, and notice if a word or phrase stands out to you.
Define those words, not with a dictionary, but with your heart and soul. What do they mean to you at your core?
How does that word or phrase talk with the events, people, and questions in your everyday, ordinary, walking-around life?
If you want, share in the comments what sparkles and the invitations you find.
My Five Favorite Poetry Books (in no particular order)
Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems by Phyllis Cole-Dai (Editor), Ruby R Wilson (Editor) (This one is my current favorite!)
Bread and Other Miracles by Lynn Ungar (She is the author of one of my favorite poems, “Camas Lilies.”
How to Fly (in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons): Poetry by Barbara Kingsolver
Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World by Pádraig Ó Tuama (This is wonderful in audio form, and make sure you listen to his podcast, linked here)
The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón
Listen to this choral version of Clearing. May it be a blessing and invitation to you this week and beyond.
I wrote about this poem in July of 2021
Love this poem and it's message for me. I'm learning to wait patiently for my song to sing.
This is a keeper poem and choral rendition of the poem. "Not saving the world" and "waiting" speaks to me. I recognize clearing I have done... Probably need to keep an I on that. Re authors, I just finished kingsolver's book "unsheltered". Like her other books, the story is riveting with layers of meaning and a prophets exploration of the times we live in. I can imagine her poetry is similarly meaningful. Thanks for your emails.