Thank You, Elizabeth

I recognized it.
A little pocket of silence.
I was hiding,
feeling sad and brittle
and about seven thousand years old.

A cause for revolution,
all this swinging.
You wanna see pretty colors?
More razzle dazzle?
Be happy?

Just sit down,
find the balance.
Shut the door.
Cease your relentless participation.
Accept the best I can do.

Just
be.

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Victoria is tending bar at dVerse today, the virtual pub for poets. She asks us to do some Erasure Poetry. A new form for me. We choose a book or text and by “erasing words” from it (or an alternative way to say it is by choosing words from it), make up a poem of our own. We cannot add our own words…all words must be from the book or text. Each line in Thank You, Elizabeth is an exact phrase from Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. Punctuation is mine. Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time. Come join us!

18 thoughts on “Thank You, Elizabeth

  1. Apple October 26, 2017 / 3:34 pm

    I love this section:

    “You wanna see pretty colors?
    More razzle dazzle?
    Be happy?

    Just sit down,
    find the balance.
    Shut the door.
    Cease your relentless participation.”

    Liked by 1 person

    • lillian October 26, 2017 / 3:57 pm

      Hah! Me too….a lesson for us all. Sometimes we just need to sit 🙂

      Like

      • Apple October 26, 2017 / 4:40 pm

        But some of us are mani(a)c(s) and can’t! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Victoria C. Slotto October 26, 2017 / 3:45 pm

    I think you have more or less summarized the entirety of “Eat, Pray, Love” in this brief extraction. In fact, the final two words do it. Really well done, Lillian.

    Liked by 1 person

    • lillian October 26, 2017 / 3:58 pm

      Thank you, Victoria. This was a new form for me….and I was relieved to find out it didn’t have to be from just one page 🙂 Although those of you who distilled from one page are truly masters! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    • Apple October 26, 2017 / 4:41 pm

      One of my favorite books, by the way.

      Like

    • lillian October 26, 2017 / 4:10 pm

      . . . and a lesson to us all. Just Be! 🙂

      Like

  3. alisonhankinson October 26, 2017 / 4:28 pm

    A little pocket of silence….made me want to go and read the book.

    Like

  4. Bev October 26, 2017 / 6:03 pm

    This recalled the movie to me. I loved the closure … Just be ! Well done.

    Like

  5. Frank Hubeny October 26, 2017 / 7:24 pm

    I liked the line: “Cease your relentless participation.”

    Like

  6. Grace October 26, 2017 / 8:09 pm

    Just be. That ending is perfect Lillian ~

    Like

  7. kim881 October 27, 2017 / 2:30 am

    You’re on a roll, Lill! Erasure poetry is fun and can produce such gems – like this one! I love the lines:
    ‘A little pocket of silence.
    I was hiding,
    feeling sad and brittle
    and about seven thousand years old’
    and
    ‘You wanna see pretty colors?
    More razzle dazzle?’

    Like

  8. lynn__ October 27, 2017 / 11:26 am

    Lovely erasure, Lillian, and great advice!

    Like

  9. Mary (tqhousecat) October 27, 2017 / 3:07 pm

    Just sit down
    Find the balance
    Shut the door
    Cease your relentless participation

    Love this. I find myself there so more often now.

    Like

  10. dornahainds October 28, 2017 / 11:52 am

    Groovy-sweet! 😎😎😎🥀🥀🥀😎😎😎

    Like

  11. Erin F June 18, 2022 / 1:41 am

    Hi greatt reading your blog

    Like

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