{Writing Wednesday: A Prose Poem}

Hey friends, welcome back to Writing Wednesday!!

Last week I shared a poem that came from part of my weekly journaling practice; this week I'm sharing a prose poem about growth and growing and change.  It's an intriguing piece, and I'd welcome discussion on it.  Growth doesn't happen in an echo chamber, so leave me a comment if you're curious about something.

I grew up in the shadow of an elephant, and on the windy road of a big, flat land, and in the sights of of a shooting range, and with the winds from Hell's Gate whipping my hair.  I grew up on bicycles and dirt roads and in the rivers and lakes of the Treasure State.  I grew up mining for gems and fishing for tiny trout in creeks named for gold and fish and snakes.  I grew up where the mountains meet the valley and the L and the M stand watch over all.  I grew up reading books about hooded mountains and sides of mountains and planes in mountains, but always mountains.  I grew up with an author's itch and a reader's heart, a wandering soul that seeks to explore and understand, but also a homebody who loves the comfort of a life well loved.  I grew up and lost the wild, the curated trails became my home, the roads safer, the heights smaller.  I grew up and replaced the singing of birds for the radio blasting, the waves of the lake for the wind in my hair as I drove winding back roads at high rates of speed.  I grew up and found that a safer road doesn't mean a lesser road, and that a well-filled pantry doesn't mean a more generous heart.  I am growing up to discover the marriage between the wild and the want, between the need and the need to be free.  I am growing up to learn that the wind in my hair can mean the windows are down and the waves at my feet can be found in the wildness of the ocean or the solace of a river float.  I am growing up to know the value of sun seeking and Son seeking.  I am growing up to learn how the song of the ocean is different in winter, and how the mountains shed their winter coat to let new life begin.  I am growing up to learn new things, to unlearn parts of what I learned before, and to hold tight and strong to the lessons of love along the way.