Painting with Words

 

Credit: Cherie Roe Dirksen

I haven’t written any serious poetry – or indeed any poetry – since October 2020 when I had a poem published on the PoetryandCovid.com website. This was an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project (along with Universities of Plymouth and Nottingham Trent) which sought submissions which reflected on how people were reacting and coping with the pandemic. My poem, “Faith Meeting Faith thanks to the power of Zoom”, describes how a multi-faith group I am part of in Walsall, managed to keep in contact with one another and maintain the friendships generated when face to face meetings were prohibited.

 Since then, trying to find time and headspace to write any form of meaningful poetic lines has been difficult, although with a fifth wedding anniversary coming up this might yet provide the much-needed spark. Although these days I write mainly on matters of faith including my chaplaincy ministry, it is through the medium of poetry where I try to best express myself creatively. Although I have contributed to several charity anthologies in the past, in 2018 I took my first plunge into the world of self-publishing on lulu.com, and produced an anthology called Poems For My Wife. This was a collection of poems written to celebrate love and our first year of married life together. All proceeds go to Birmingham Dogs Home where we acquired our rescue Staffy, called Bella from.

 When musing on what to blog about for this month, there was a feature on television recently about painting and how artists use colours and shapes however abstract to interpret what they see before them. This reminded me of a poem I had published in Scriptor 10 magazine in 2014, where I reflected on the fact that despite not having the manual skills of craftmanship to create and fashion works of art or beauty, it was through the written word where I sought to glorify not only the beauty of God’s creation but also celebrate the love that goes into creating these same works of art and beauty.

This is something common to all writers whether we be poets or story tellers using words to fire our reader's imaginations, or travel writers taking us on a journey into those far-flung places which pictures alone cannot adequately portray.

So as my contribution for this month I have re-produced below that poem called simply, Painting with Words.

Unable am I, to bend hot metal to my will,

A Blacksmith’s life did not to me instil,

A sense of wonder and anticipation; of iconic images

Forged by strength of skill and imagination.

 

Unable am I, to carve and shape the rough-hewn stone

That ensures our heritage retains its reverent tone;

Whether a banker or a fixer or preserving a façade,

The Stonemason will ne’er leave our glorious history to fade.

 

Unable am I, to turn the earth grown lumber

Into objects of beauty of such infinite number;

Using the chisel, the mallet, the saw and the drill bit,

A Carpenter’s skill has much to commend it.

 Unable am I, on a broad canvas with oil,

To paint the glories of England’s green soil,

No craftman’s skills have I to pass muster; yet painting with words,

 I show God’s creations in all their bright lustre.

Michael Cronogue originally from London now resides in Walsall in West Midlands region of UK. Writer and blogger discussing matters of faith and theology at www.michaelcronogue.com .  His self-published anthology, Poems For My Wife, can still be found for sale at Amazon ISBN 978-0-244-96948-6 with all proceeds going to www.birminghamdogshome.co.uk. He also blogs at https://blackcountrylondoner.wordpress.com