Pandemic Reflections: Home — Tumlinwood Farms

During times of crisis, I often turn to the mentors and spiritual leaders who have guided me on my journey. Dr. Maya Angelou is one of those giants whose wisdom I’ve especially craved these days. When I was a sophomore in college, I had the incredible privilege of having Dr. Maya Angelou as my professor. This week I remembered one of the many poems Dr. Angelou recited for us in class, “And Still I Rise.” This is the link to Dr. Angelou reading the poem: https://youtu.be/JqOqo50LSZ0. It is so good that I have listened to it almost daily this week; you must hear Angelou read it to get the full benefit.

Another thing I do when I’m feeling groundless or unmoored is return to images, metaphors, rituals, and memories from the past that give me strength and ground me. During Spiritual Care Live this week, I led a simple writing exercise. Everyone filled out a template for a poem called “I Am From”—created from a poem originally written by Appalachian poet George Ella Leon. Each of us took 6-7 minutes to fill in the poem template, where we remembered the various memories, people, places that we consider “home.”

I am including the poem template here if you would like to try the exercise. I’ve attached both the poem template as well as the original poem by George Ella Lyon’s. There are no rules; feel free to make it what you want and consider the suggestions on the template, just suggestions. It is meant to be a poem about wherever you find “home” and strength.

As I write this, I’m looking out the window of my home office at the blue skies and my 6 sheep frolicking in the spring sunshine. I can’t help noticing the incongruity of the beauty of this spring day in the midst of a pandemic. The scene reminds me there is beauty and peace surrounding us even during this strange and unsettling time. Angelou ends her poem, “Leaving behind nights of terror and fear/ I rise/ Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear/ I rise.” In the Christian tradition, this coming Sunday is Easter, where Christians all over the world celebrate that love has conquered death… that in this brutal and beautiful world, love finally wins. Together dear friends, we will rise because the human spirit is noble and resilient.

Where I’m From

I am from __________________________ (specific ordinary item),

from ____________________________ (product name) and

____________________________. (another product name)

I am from the _______________________________________________ (home description... adjective, adjective, sensory detail).

I am from the ___________________________(plant, flower, natural item),

the __________________________________ (plant, flower, natural detail)

I am from ______________________________ (family tradition)

and _________________________________ (family trait),

from ________________________________ (name of family member)

and ________________________ (another family name) and

___________________________ (family name).

I am from the ___________________________ (description of family tendency)

and __________________________________ (another one).

From ___________________________ (something you were told as a child)

and _______________________________________________ (another).

I am from _________________________(representation of religion, or lack of it).

I'm from ______________________________ (place of birth and family

ancestry), ___________________________________________________ (two food items representing your family).

From the ________________________________________________ (specific family story about a specific person and detail),

the ____________________________________________ (another detail),

and the _________________________________________ (another detail

about another family member).

I am from __________________________________________________

(location of family pictures, mementos, archives) and

______________________________________ (another line indicating their worth).