This month Mary Lee offered up our monthly challenge. She asked us to use the poem “Next Time” by Joyce Sutphen as an inspiration to write our own “next time” poem.

There’s something so evocative about that phrase: “next time.” It incorporates both a sense of regret and a sense of hope. It offers a chance to “re-do” and intimates that there will be a time and place for doing so. Paradoxically, it seems to hold both the possibility of agonizing over mistakes (perceived or real) and/or of anticipating redemption.

For some reason, I really struggled to wrap my head around responding to this challenge. I’ve stopped and started again and again. I’ve played with tone and topic, writing and rewriting. The phrase has lived in my head like a resounding echo: “Next time…next time…next time…” Still, despite many starts, I’ve struggled to come up with one coherent poem.

At this point, I’m already late posting, so I’m cobbling together a few strands from my fits and starts, and hoping they hold together, however draftily.

Next Time

I won’t mourn
the hummingbird’s absence
whilst it still lingers in my garden. 

I won’t spend too long lingering
in the past or the future.
I’ll take the hike, dive into the sea,
read the book and write the poem.
I’ll focus on creating a here and now
to savor.

Next time, I’ll learn earlier about perspective–
how shifting your lens
can change the world from frightening
to exciting, bringing new views
and understandings.

I’ll embrace each challenge, enjoy the process,
buckle up and ride the highs and lows
of the learning curve, leaning into faith, 
rather than fearing failure’s stain.

Next time, I’ll wear that stain
like a badge of honor
a proud proclamation that I
didn’t settle into complacency,
nestling too deeply into
my comfort zone.

I’ll also know
the comfort zone isn’t a bad place
to linger for a while.
It just shouldn’t become
a permanent residence.

Next time I won’t be seduced by comfort
or become paralyzed
in a web of “what if’s” and worries.
I’ll turn a deaf ear to the siren’s call
of safety and perfection, boldly
ignore the neat restraints of convention
and step forward to spread my wings.

Even if I only flap wildly
or fly in an ungainly manner
even if I never soar…
I’ll try.
Next time.

©Molly Hogan, draft

If you’re interested in seeing what the other Inklings did with this challenge, click on the links below:

Linda @A Word Edgewise
Mary Lee @Another Year of Reading
Catherine @ Reading to the Core
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe

This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Buffy Silverman at her blog. She’s offering a sneak peek into her soon-to-be-released book, Starlight Symphony. Be sure to stop by and take a look at this gorgeous book and check out some other poetry links while you’re there.