General Poetry posted March 6, 2025


Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level
Family. I sometimes wonder if I ever belonged.

Diagnosis

by William Stephenson1

Why am I
able to embrace 
a God that is so intimate
and sacred
 
And yet 
I have such a difficult time 
wlth intimacy in my family
 
Why knowing
that I am so loved
by God
 
And yet
 fear and doubt
keep me
from the love of 
my children
my spouse
 
Why knowing
that God on a cross-filled hill
removed the distance between
me and myself
 
And yet
I can't find the courage
to remove the distance
between myself 
and those I call
family
 
I have been able to experience
God's forgiveness in my life
 
And yet
I lack the will
to truly extend forgiveness
to members of my family
 
I have come 
to experience and embrace
God's grace in my life
 
And yet
I ration it out
with conditions and ultimatums
 
It is from these 
tormenting contradictions
that I am coming to know  
that the most valuable gift
I can bring to my family
is not in the prescription 
but in the diagnosis
 
 
 
 



Family writing prompt entry
Writing Prompt
Write a poem on the topic of family.

Recognized

#35
March
2025


Building, repairing, deepening relationships was the
way I defined myself. I made it my "job description" in my family. But when my family rejected this kind of father and husband, I then began a journey of
self discovery. I stopped being the rescuer with all the answers, and family rescued me.
Pays one point and 2 member cents.


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