From the Quiet Verse – Issue #6
Date: April 11, 2025
Theme: 🎯 Unsubmitted, Still Becoming
A reflection on imperfection, pauses, and the quiet value of unfinished work.
💌 Opening Reflection
Dear Reader,
In the QuietVerse Digest Issue #2, I talked about submitting a poetry collection for a contest. Then the weather closed in with an ice storm, knocking out power for a week. Since it was a mail-in submission, I didn’t get my collection printed… and missed the opportunity.
In a world of incompletes, I became one more dangling participant.
But not all is lost. Instead, I’m expanding the collection—adding new poems and choosing to self-publish. Sometimes, what we miss becomes what we make.
✍️ A Quiet Line
not to erase the frost,
but to soften the soil
— The Incomplete
While reading through old poems, I discovered enough for a small collection—The Incompletes. This line reminds me: not everything needs finishing to be meaningful. Sometimes, it’s enough to soften the ground for what may come next.
🌱 From the Garden
What the Garden Doesn’t Show
Frost found a deep home in the soil this year. As the earth thaws, the story continues underground. Tender green shoots emerge near the basement, while the lawn and gardens remain firm.
Like that, incomplete poems live quietly in my mind. If I allow it, their silence overwhelms me. But if I pause and listen, the incompletes whisper the way forward.
📖 Featured Verse: Why Continue
This month’s poem speaks to every writer who’s questioned the point of finishing. Sometimes we don’t continue to win—we continue to explore.
you know the ending—
where the villain claims the day,
because the hero defends
a heart—not ready to bleed
across the page.
he didn't follow the script,
in the middle he lost his way.
the hero turned aside,
the villain strode away,
with the toys from the game—
a hollow victory.
hero and villain
wore the same clothes.
still, a whisper stirs:
what if a twist remains?
your quill awakens,
though weary, reclaims
the plot—not to fix the ending,
but to explore.
🕊️ A Gentle Prompt
Begin Again with What You Didn’t Share
I invite you to pick up an unfinished piece or a poem you didn’t submit—and rework it with compassion rather than critique.
Or explore why the poem did not bloom. Begin with:
“I never sent the poem because…”
Let yourself answer without judgment. Allow unfinished thoughts to breathe.
📚 Rooted Reading: The Myth of Completion
We often imagine life as a clean arc from beginning to end. But most things do not resolve so neatly. Sometimes, what we call unfinished may actually be complete. And what we leave behind still holds meaning.
Mary Oliver’s Devotions offers poems that reflect on incompleteness and becoming:
In Blackwater Woods:
To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
The Journey:
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own.
These poems offer solace and inspiration for those navigating the uncertainties of life.
🌸 Quiet Gift
You can still receive the free chapbook Wisdom of the Quiet Muse, a small collection meant for soft restarts and slow beginnings.
🌙 Until Next Time
We'll be back on April 25 for Issue #7 of From the Quiet Verse with the theme Still Waters, Deeper Currents.
I’ll reflect on the strength beneath calm exteriors, the unseen work of change, and the quiet power that shapes us.
In quiet completion,
Herb
Poet of From the Quiet Verse
