This poem is dedicated to a Mission Work Mentor of mine, Denny Kiel, who passed away at the end of March. As I like to spend my time in personal reflection, writing a poem felt like a great way to independently cope with loss and find my own words to celebrate Denny's life. I continued to fixate and interpret a deeper meaning to his use of "and stuff" at the end of many thoughts he had in our conversations.  Denny has continued to be a huge support to me as I explore mission work opportunities and develop a deeper faith. We share a love for Tanzania, where we met when traveling together for our first visit to our BKB partner parish. I really loved getting to hear all of Denny's stories and recieve his invaluable advice/ encouragement. To have a relationship with him in some of the most transformational moments of my life was a blessing!

I struggle with the idea of silence / being able to settle into silence both physically and mentally. After the routine of 3 prayer services per day at Taizé, the repetitive music followed by intentional time to sit in silence, I found it to actual become really peaceful and I ended up enjoying it. I wrote this poem as a reflection of how the silence felt. I am trying to commit to this Taizé practice in my daily self care routine because of how impactful it truly was.

When at the concentration camp in Berlin, I was drawn to write a poem about art displayed in one of the housing units we toured. 

This piece of art was titled "Absence" with a description that shared how the space in the middle stands for emptiness, loneliness and longing that prisoners felt. It then asked people to write what the space in the middle meant to them, and it could be dropped into a box at the front office. 

I think my poem more focuses a lot on what I physically saw in the sculpture, but then as I rewrote parts, I do feel like it still reflects my personal connection to the piece and I would be interested to know how people might interpret what I am trying to share about myself without being too straightforward.

With all that is happening back home in Minnesota, and not being physically present to support people I care about in the way I wish I could, it has been extremely hard to find a successful outlet for myself when processing these emotions. But, in the midst of me starting to really spiral in my thoughts, God's timing on the train one afternoon changed that.

Before even really putting much thought into what I read on the seat, I felt really eager to capture a photo of it. I could not stop reopening my phone to look at the photo as I was walking through town, finally having a flood of inspiration to write down all the thoughts and feelings tied to this one sentence. So I walked into the next cafe I saw, and I typed in my notes app for a solid hour about it all, which later in the week led to me creating this poem and adding biblical connections on my day off.

I wrote this poem with the idea that home is not a single place, but something we carry within us. Lately, I’ve begun to feel at home in the UK, while also deeply missing other homes: my community in Minnesota during a difficult time, and friends in Tanzania I’ve stayed connected with across distance. This poem is a reflection on holding multiple homes at once, and remembering that none of them are truly lost because they live within ME.

I hope you enjoy where my train of thought led!

I wrote another poem to share this month, inspired a photograph I took on my usual route when walking to rugby practice one evening. You can see it is a one way- brick walls guiding it all, cars parked, one narrow sidewalk with low hanging branches ahead and extremely steep. But above was a beautiful sky and open air. The image reminded me of how space can feel tight in our lives, emotionally, spiritually, or physically, yet there is always a way it quietly expands when we allow ourselves to exist fully in the navigation process.

I wrote this poem as a reminder that there is room, both within us and around us, for presence, connection, and faith.

I thought about writing a poem titled accompaniment because it is such a foundational piece we talk about as a YAGM cohort. When I finished this poem during my half term break, I realized this poem is from the perspective of how the intentional practice of accompaniment is impacting my own faith journey.

This is a poem I wrote, and will also be reading in November, at the 60th Anniversary event in London for Time for God non profit. Time for God is the UK side of my placement program, they partner with YAGM to recieve American Volunteers!