Young Writers Society

3. closing prayer for the 2022 student awards ceremony

Before we begin, let’s sit together in silence. The semester is always so busy and stressful—more so now, against a backdrop of war and disease. Let’s take a moment to share silence with one another before we give thanks to God and ask for His blessings.



In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

Loving God,
thank you for the gift of this community—
faculty, staff, sisters, and students—
their kindness and welcome,
their hard work in the service of others.

As we leave here today,
with the rush and noise of the school year behind us,
help us find You in moments of stillness
and in all things:
in the smell of lilacs,
the forsythia blooming,
a blackbird’s trill,
the sun shining on the damp grass.

Let us join in Your love,
and let our hearts be songs.
May we go forth today
to love and serve You
and one another.
Amen.

is home
a victory cottage in West Toledo
with the gardens I cleared,
hour after hour ripping up the straggly periwinkle
that had strangled the creeping juniper and hostas?

where the books Aunt Yuko sent in a box every Christmas
live on the bookshelf my grandfather built
and every evening I curl on the couch
with the person I love
and read by the light of the dimpled silver lamp we bought at Marshall’s?

is home
the house in Chatham Crescent
with my mom’s five dogs lounging on the hardwood
and my dad’s first patent approval in a frame on the wall in the den?

can it be home,
a house in a city I’ve never lived in
if I spend every Christmas on the foldout couch
in the little back room stacked with gifts,
sleeping in the golden glow of the little plastic pine tree’s lights?

or is home
the place I grew up?
a riverside town a ferry ride from Sombra,
a twenty-minute drive from the brick house on Jefferson Street
where my mother grew up?

can it be home
when my grandparents are gone
and my parents and sisters have moved away?

is it enough that the curve of the river,
the shores of the lakes are mapped on my spine?
that it calls to me the way the moon calls the ocean into tides:
come home, come home, come home

is home
.......a place
.............people
...........a life

...........or maybe
.............it’s all of them

.............maybe home
....................is everywhere
................you’ve felt loved

right I forgot I actually did start vaguely planning for this poem this month

I did not go the area codes route or anything obviously lol but I do eventually want to do a poem with that

Well maybe it's because I am an absolute sucker for home-sick poetry but that last one actually made me tear up a little bit honestly. Really beautiful, and earnest and honest, and true. It reminds me of that other poem about that I gave you feedback on a while back that I think I said was wonderful because it was both specific to the speaker but relatable to the reader. <3

"maybe home / is everywhere / you've felt loved" - stated so simply and yet perfectly so.

Also, apart from the stress<3 I am glad Sister asked you to write that prayer - because look at you totally bringing all the Mary Oliver vibes.

help us find You in moments of stillness
and in all things:

^ Amen! <3

I am very happy for you in reaching your goal + and also I think the "poetry doodling" / notes along the way also count for something as they're great threads you can pick up another day. Thanks for sharing your poetry, it was a treat as always (especially that last one which is trying to shatter my heart </3).

@lliyah thank you 👉👈 another friend reacted the same way so I'm glad I went for it even though I was like "hngggggggg it's the last day can I really churn out a poem on the last day" especially since most of the day I wasn't home

lowkey considering actually posting it for review feedback because maybe I have a potential future submission here, but we'll see

also I love that you vibed Mary Oliver from the prayer, because guess what I did before I started writing it, when I was feeling like "HNGGGGGGGGGG I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WRITE A PRAYER"

I read a bunch of Mary Oliver

(also, like, examples of past closing prayers and also some Franciscan Pause+Prays I had saved in my emails. but Mary Oliver though)

Am I now simply using this as a dumping ground for gifs I make so I can use them on the site? Maybe.

ugh

beep boop

fshhhhhhhhhhhh