Diane Prebula Poetry

More than anything, this poetry is a reflection of my relationship with my creator. When I commune with Him outdoors, in nature, I feel complete. My joy is also full as I express myself through poetry because I learn a lot through what is released. My prayer is that I will be an instrument that releases the joy, peace, and strength that helps to draw you closer to the God who created you, and that you may be all you were created to be.

Ocean

Diane Prebula 1. She finishes her drink---the pain
of arrangements , road and weather conditions
that change daily. With early April
the possibility of a spring blizzard is always a risk.

And when she travels alone
she unravels in the stress of it.
Still, she anticipates the break
in the tough shell of her year---

to breathe the fragrance
of the almost unreachable core.
The weather recedes. The road clears. She steps
into the pungent mist of the Oregon ocean air.

Lifted by this and the sudden sun
glistening long streaks on the water,
she settles into the tantrum screams of gulls
claiming home where she can only visit.

2. The trail to the high rocks blows through the evening
with a spray of salt, and opens to the tall stands
of evergreens across the bay, the flickering lights
of town, and the infinite ocean horizon.

Waves fall, shedding heaps of lace
in the spill. Some race and crash the rocks.
Some slow down
and draw back.

She stands on a prominent rock
that watches the dark green ocean. The moon
spills some light on her dress.
She turns and the wind lifts her hem and hair.

Pulling the lace of a wide tide over her shoulders,
She walks off with her shawl and leaves
a train of fragrance from her open shell
in the wake of a generous spill.

Fall and Recovery

Exhale, inhale, weather weaving through—
traveling our veins, settling our bones,
as branches shift, leaves shiver,
release and turn, suspend and…

Autumn drops like a dancer falls.
Doris Humphrey captured a glimmer
in her classic bend of choreography—
nature’s dilemma pulling us to our ground floor.
When we look up from the cellar, redemption draws us.

When we walk the path thick with leaves,
the wind calls through empty branches
like a runaway train that bays
with finality, and prostrates our best intention.
Collapse winters our plans.

Frost stamps our confidence to breathe its last.
Snow fills our mouths and deadens rampant desire
until we lie still and see
our glimmer of sun reaching through branches
to pierce our eyes.

When the snow shrinks, we stand on a muddy road
we never intended to travel.
Standing beside a fierce river and facing the hills,
we move without thinking, growing more certain with every step---
that this is our spring to surge.

From the introduction to the book Fall and Recovery:

When speaking of poetry, the award winning poet, Stanley Kunitz, wrote as part of an introduction to his book, Passing Through, “ The craft that I admire most manifests itself not as an aggregate of linguistic or prosodic skills, but as a spiritual testimony, the sign of inviolable self consolidated against enemies within and without…”

In order to master our craft we must be diligent technicians. But poetry is so much more than a clever manipulation of language. For me, poetry is an honest rendering of my journey as a spiritual being as I relate to my creator and the world in which I move.

As human beings we all share in the joys and battles, the victories and defeats of life. We must face reality—the truth—because when we don’t, we experience consequences. God never gives up on us; all these consequences are opportunities to grow, to accept reality, to face our fears—our pain.

This book is an account of my journey. Although it touches on a variety of seasons in a sixty year span, it was written over the past three years while I have been working with women in recovery. As program Manager of the City Light Home for Women and Children (with Boise Rescue Mission Ministries), I am engaged in intensive work with women in recovery. These women, who have fallen into the hole of addictions—drugs, alcohol, depression, anxiety, self (absorption) idolatry—and a host of mental illnesses related to abuse and addiction, arrive at our City Light home to work their recovery as they learn to turn to the Lord for their life.

We’re all in recovery; the addictions are too numerous to mention here. The bottom line is always whoever or whatever we cling to (our attachments), other than our Creator, in order to numb our immediate pain, will block our growth and cause us serious, long term trouble.

Fall and recovery fills the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation. This is just another story of one person’s journey, reflecting many falls and many recoveries.

Because God is the ultimate reality and has graciously given us free will, He never forces our hand. We are free to use our space and time in any way we choose. But if we accept His free gift of new life, we are in for a spectacular adventure—we can be all that we were created to be. When we let go of the controls, we are in the hands of the One who created us. Time is short; let us choose well.