Prayetry

I write. It’s what I do, but it’s also who I am. In response to contemplative prayer, scripture’s study, devotional readings, news reports, and life itself, I write.

It used to be exclusively prose; long paragraphs and thorough explanations. I thought more detail was better; that others would understand more fully if I painted the whole verbal mural for them. Then, about 15 years ago, words began to overwhelm me; my words, others’ words, books, magazines, journals, newsfeeds, TV. Too many words!

Then came things I needed to say but for which I didn’t have all the necessary words. Hard things; heart things; holy things. One day – I can’t remember exactly when – less words became enough. There was punctuation and blank space all around my words, and I could hear the words breathe. It was a sigh of relief from an exhausted mule, tired of plowing solo.

My words took the shape of poetry. Not so much in its traditional form. More like prayers, slowly breathed, in-between silence. And in the expansive room created by less wordiness I heard other people’s hearts beating, other stories filling in the blanks.

It was prayer, but also poetry. One day when I was poking my veins for a way to describe it, I wrote “prayer poetry”, then took my pen, marking through the middle four letters: 

prayer poetry. Prayetry was left.

You’ll usually find photos with my shared prayetry, because pictures both speak and beckon us to speak so many words left unsaid.

© 2015 Todd Jenkins