Next time, I hope I’ll be settled into the routine of the new school year and actually post on Friday! In the meantime, here is my response to Mary Lee’s challenge to “use Next Time, by Joyce Sutphen as a mentor poem for your own Next Time poem.” Seems pretty straight forward, right? I had to make a conscious effort not to revisit every past mistake, real or perceived, to keep my own “Next Time” poem from devolving into a laundry list of guilt and shame.
So here instead is a gentle reminder to myself. Maybe you need it, too.
Next time
I wander into the wild,
I’ll leave my watch
at home.
I’ll slip into shadows
of oak and pine
with only the sun
to mark my passage.
I’ll leave my worldly cares
on the threshold of a place
where time grows slow,
recorded in years, not seconds.
I’ll breathe in the patience
of rocks and ferns
and remind myself to just
be.
Draft @ 2024, Catherine Flynn
Please be sure to visit my fellow Inklings to read their responses to Mary Lee’s challenge:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Mary Lee @Another Year of Reading
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Then hear over to Buffy Silverman’s blog for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
This is so wonderfully peaceful…yes, leave the watch at home. Slip into the shadows as part of the scene because you are. I am too. What a wonderful meditative take on this prompt. I agree that it’s easy to first think of regrets. But, the original poem is so happy! I now know that it takes effort to write what looks effortless as you have done here.
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Perfection in a small moment of next time, rather than trying to tackle the whole big life-picture!
“time grows slow” is a great reminder to let ourselves sink into the heartbeat of the world, instead of trying to keep up with the frantic snare drum of human society.
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[…] @A Word EdgewiseMary Lee @Another Year of ReadingCatherine @ Reading to the CoreMargaret @Reflections on the TecheHeidi @my juicy little […]
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I love how you turn to nature to breathe and be. A wonderful reminder to us all. I hope to slough off the week’s worries with a slow walk, but all we’ve had here for days is rain, rain, rain.
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Very nice! It reminds me of how I was willing to not rush when my kids were small. I feel like their needs gave me “permission” to really be present and understand that hurrying was off the table.
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Wow–I love this Catherine. The slipping into the shadows, the threshold of a place where time grows slow, the reminder to just be. Your effort not to revisit past mistakes–what I’m sure I would have done with this challenge–paid off in spades.
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Catherine, what a lovely next time! Here’s to leaving one’s watch at home! : )
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I can relate to every word of your post. My first attempts at next times were filled with negativity and recrimination. It was pretty eye-opening! Like Mary Lee said, I love how you zoomed in to a smaller wedge of time. Your poem, with its reminder to slip into the wild and find peace, is absolutely lovely. “I’ll leave my watch/ at home.” YES! Linda’s post brought tears to my eyes and yours tipped them over the edge.
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A little prayer, a little meditation, a little quiet beauty:
I’ll slip into shadows
of oak and pine
with only the sun
to mark my passage.
This is a very Catherine poem. ❤
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