During the Apologetics Research and Writing class I took and Dr. Ordway taught, the class was assigned her book Apologetics and the Christian Imagination. Though each chapter concluded with a poem, my initial reaction was to skip the poems, as I doubted my ability to comprehend them. I ultimately reconsidered. Dr. Ordway’s poem “Maps” particularly jumped out to me as a piece of writing that was both accessible and powerful. While there were other influences since then, “Maps” stands out as one major reason — if not the major reason — I really discovered the power of poetry. This poem is an expression of gratitude for Dr. Ordway for opening my eyes to a new way of seeing. In a sense, her poem “Maps” was a map for me, leading me into a world of poetry. I followed her sonnet format to help me describe my original misunderstanding of poetry, my later abandonment of it, and my current love for it. 

 

“Maps,” My Map

 

I once feigned an interest in poetry,

More as an opportunity to write

Down my feelings in some odd looking form,

Never really looking beyond myself.

Later I was focused solely on prose, 

Striving for the precise, unambiguous.

Certain this was the only way one should

Seek to awaken a slumbering world.

 

“Maps” invited me on a different path,

Beyond feelings, and mere statement of fact.

Not just to awaken, but to enchant,

To see heaven in the ordinary.

……“Maps”: My first step on a poetic road

……Where wonder grows deeper, the farther I go.

 

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Citation Information

Jesse W. Baker, “’Maps,’ My Map,” An Unexpected Journal: The Imaginative Harvest of Holly Ordway 4, no. 4. (Advent 2021), 171-172.

Direct Link: https://anunexpectedjournal.com/maps-my-map/

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