Process Notes--"The Holy Spirit Takes a Holiday"

I have been following the election of a new bishop at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.  For more on those results, head on over to my theology blog and read today's post.

I've been following the election by way of social media posts, primarily on Facebook.  There's been lots of talk about the Holy Spirit.  In yesterday's post on this blog, I wrote:  "In a week of Churchwide Assembly considering the "filioque" and voting for bishop of the ELCA means there's lots of discussion of the Holy Spirit. I have been thinking of a poem or perhaps a work of theology that talks about the Holy Spirit as the one who wreaks havoc--it might be good havoc, but it's the kind of thing that can leave ruins in its wake, Holy Spirit as disruptor. We often think we would like that, but we often fail to consider how changed the landscape would be."

I got to work and spent the day capturing lines that became a poem about the Holy Spirit deciding she has had enough.  It's not the poem I was thinking I would write in the blog bit above.  In the poem I actually wrote, the Holy Spirit is decidedly female and so very tired of being in relationship (in relationship with the Creator, in relationship with the Son, in relationship with humans, and in relationship with angels and all the hosts of Heaven).

This stanza gives you an idea (and if it sparks an idea for you, feel free to run with it):

The Holy Spirit hides
in an unassuming house,
an old bungalow built
for a previous century,
cramped for a crowd,
comfortable for one.

In terms of title--I like "The Holy Spirit Takes a Holiday."  But in the poem, is she on holiday or permanent vacation?  Perhaps the ambiguity works.  

It's not a perfect poem, but it's closer than many I've written.  It's the time of summer when I'd be relieved to produce anything that makes me feel like my poet self--so to have a poem arrive close to fully formed is an unanticipated gift.