Suggestions List

From the list of suggestions we got for writing poetry, one thing that really stuck out to me was the Linda Gregg quote, suggestion number 60. She wrote: "It is not that the darkness/ must be here, but that it sometimes is."

This line really resonates with me in relation to my fiction prose and my poetry. It pretty much sums up what I want to do with my writing. I want to expose darkness for what it is, but I want to leave people with hope. I would hate to know that all someone got out of one of my poems was that darkness exists.

I don't even think we live in a universe that demands the presence of darkness to balance things out. I think that darkness in the world is imbalance, not the leveling of something. Perfect balance is found in perfect goodness. I'm aware of what a high and lofty goal this is, but the presence of a possibility is what I want to convey when I write.

As a Christian, my goal in writing anything is to glorify God. That sounds complex, but to me, it simply means to expose the darkness for being untruth, and also relate the simplicity of truth. We are a broken people, us humans, but I would be amiss to only study our brokenness. I would also be amiss to ignore it. For me, the purpose of writing is to acknowledge my own bruised and broken nature, and to acknowledge the Christ who saved me from that misery.

I think that is why the Linda Gregg quote means so much to me. What she says is what I want to convey with all my poetry and all my prose; that the darkness is sometimes there, but that it doesn't have to be, and that there is hope beyond it.

-Audrey Guire