Friday Flash 55 - "Limitations"

Photo courtesy of One Stop Poetry

Limitations

Success is often

a matter of the heart

longing and reaching

for the "impossible".

Dependence is often

seen as weakness

and often confused

with defeat.

Limitations require

a new approach;

like quicksand's victim,

the known disappears.

Suffering

can be transformed

into victory.

Weakness

can be harnessed.

Adversity overcome

is an inspiration

to us all:  a true

masterpiece.

by Margaret Bednar, with inspiration from Joni Eareckson Tada, Art Happens 365, May 27, 2011

Photo Courtesy of One Stop Poetry - Art Work by Chuck Close

This is for One Stop Poetry's "Friday Poetically with Brian Miller"  The post today is about "Chuck Close", a gentleman who in the late 1980's became paralyzed from the neck down.  Click HERE for a short interview with the artist.  

I hope this qualifies as a poem.  I wrote it as a "Flash 55" for the G'Man's blog "Mr. Knowitall".  A story in 55 words or less.

A book I have read at least 5 times is "Secret Strengh" by Joni Eareckson Tada.  She is a quadriplegic in a wheelchair and has learned to paint while holding a paintbrush in her teeth.  She has written 14 books and I'm sure has inspired millions with her Christian ministry.   I have memorized many phrases throughout her book and use them on my children and on myself when I need a "fix" of strength.  Some of the words used in the poem above are gleaned from the pages of her books.  Words within stories and her pondering that I have internalized for the past 20 years.

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These reflections were taken at Sea Pines Forest Preserve at Hilton Head, SC.  The one below I submitted to "Weekend Reflections" #88.  That might be a turtle in the lower right sticking its head out of the water for a few tasty bugs... as there certainly were plenty of mosquitos and bugs to go around!