A reminder came through for us in my Blackout Bible Poetry Project– “begin again.” I don’t know about you, but much of what prevents me from beginning is the fear that I won’t find an ending. This is something I equate to the grieving/ shame process that shows up in our writing. All those old stories, we haven’t yet met with now inviting us to wrestle with our fear of starting something new, getting to know ourselves along the way, and completing a project that leaves us with a responsibility to respond– Will I trust myself in creating this? Will I choose to believe in myself even when it is difficult? Will I let myself be seen? Will I risk being known? Will I put myself out there? “Begin again” is the reminder to keep the faith in your creative process.
You’ve probably heard me mention it time and again, but I truly believe that all of life, creativity, healing, writing, and spirituality is iterative. We are uncovering more about ourselves as we travel through repetition of stories, emotions, language. We “begin again” every single day. I don’t know about you, but this gives me great hope. In the words of Jacques Lacan….
“I identify myself in language, but only by losing myself in it like an object. What is realized in my history is not the past definite of what was, since it is no more, or even the present perfect of what has been in what I am, but the future anterior of what I shall have been for what I am in the process of becoming.” - Jacques Lacan
I am slowly moving through my Black Out Bible Project and am still in Exodus. It’s taking a little longer this round, probably because each book of the scriptures asks me to “begin again” – to learn, to wrestle, to be that sacred work in progress. I am shifting to posting these Black Out Bible shares to once a month for ya. Here is another piece that came through that reminded me of my resiliency. I hope it reminds you of yours as well.
If you are joining along in this challenge (you are also totally welcome to just watch my process unfold as well), then I encourage you to write your own poetry in the book of Exodus as you dive into your black out poetry experience. As always, feel free to read the text first, circle the words to create your poem, haiku, story, etc. Then fill the rest of the page in black. (micron/ fabre pens work great!)
Feel free to share your black out poetry in the comments on these posts each week as you’re writing and cheer one another on. You can also hashtag #blackoutbibleclub and @meganfebuary on the socials. :)
Wouldn’t it be amazing to finish blacking out the entire bible? I’m in! Are you??? I hope so! You can, of course, jump in and out at any time.
Let me know how these writings awaken you!
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Wow! I’m new to your Substack and love this Bible Blackout project. I bought a bible at a thrift store yesterday to start my own :)