Exquisite Collaboration Poem: Letting Go Takes Time

Two dozen strangers contributed to this poem, organically creating an ebb and flow of pausing, releasing, and embracing.

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

* a list of poets who contributed to this piece can be found at the end of this poem, along with the prompt and other information about the project*

LETTING GO TAKES TIME

I am letting go of fantasy to make room for what is real

Cutting chains of expectations to soar: hollow boned, liberated

I’m letting go of the need for clarity

I am getting rid of inhibitions to find my new boundaries

I am letting go of Atkins to make room for donuts

I am letting go of fear to make room for love

I am letting go of apprehension to make room for growth and creativity

I am releasing hostility to embrace forgiveness

I am letting go of doubt to make room for belief

I am releasing fear and doubt in order to embrace who I am and to live out God’s purpose for my life

I am releasing past me to embrace Springtime Me

I am letting go of fear of letting go and embracing all the possibilities of extra time and space and emotion

pause

I need to release ………..my breath.
I need to release that part of me that is holding onto the old and not wanting to let go.
It’s kinda strange how tightly this grip is.
My new self is just there -another breath away.
However, my old self is fighting me tooth and nail... pulling me back ever so cleverly with tricks and cons…holding me ransom in the same predicament of old habits and thoughts -hating myself again.
My new self is standing there (or rather sitting-as it’s quite tired of waiting for me to let go) ready to welcome and embrace me with deep and all accepting love.
I need and want to embrace my new self.
If I want this to happen, I will do this in baby steps.
Whilst my old self sleeps, I gently slide over to sit with my new self and release into the fold of my wonderful new future filled with all that I so truly want and desire.
I release all the heavy weights of fear, loathing, doubt and judgement that binds me and blinds me.
Now,
I can fly untethered,
Trusting this leap of faith into the NEW
Whilst my old self gently sleeps on and on and on…

release

I am releasing the burdens of past responsibility to embrace the joy of the freedom

I am letting go of expectations to make room for gratitude

Letting go of fear, has made me feel free, free to be me

I’m trading clutter for contentment

I am letting go of self doubt to make room for confidence

I’m releasing the expectations of motherhood, and embracing Act III in my life

Letting go of clutter of stuff and thoughts to make room for more things I want to learn and do

I am letting go of being in a rush! So I have room for reflection and listening - really learning

I am letting go of self-doubt to embrace self-confidence

I am letting go of sorrow to make room for tomorrow

I release my limiting beliefs around success to embrace more abundance in my life

I am letting go of momentary chaos to be more present in each moment, no matter how messy the moment

I can let you go until I see you everywhere, reminders of what I have lost

I am letting go of solving to make room for healing

I am releasing my sense of security to make space for an exciting and scary future

I am releasing the desire for control and predictability to create space in my soul for the gifts of the world and the people around me

* * * * * * * *

THE PROMPT:

The prompt for this poem was offered up in April 2024. For a variety of reasons, it took me until April 2025 to post it. But, like everything about this entire project over the years, it’s reveal is right on time.

Participants were asked to contribute a sentence, fill-in-the-blanks style:

I am letting go of ______________ to make room for _______________.
or
I am releasing ___________ to embrace ____________.

Or, if they chose, they could write their own sentence in any form inspired by the theme of letting go to make room for something. Participants could contribute more than once.

The poem was created organically from the contributions in the order they came in; the only changes were to remove punctuation at the end of sentences to offer a free flowing text, and the addition of the words “pause” and “release” to bookend a particularly long but perfect middle to the entire piece; this middle was contributed in its entirety by one poet.

Whatever meaning you find in this poem was meant for you.

* * * * * * * *

THE POETS:

LDA
Crystal Hayduk
Tracy Gerhardt Cooper
Leslie Joan Millenson
Circusof3
J
Coriander in the Spice Rack
Brandig
Kris Downey
Lori B. Duff
Stephanie Gittleman
Fara Linn
Amy Hartl Sherman
Happy Ford
Leslie Noyes
J Sarkis
Ginger Claremohr
Liz
Ian Davies
anonymous
ME
El Corteville
Eleanor Sayer

* * * * * * * *

THE POETS HAIL FROM:

Rochester, NY
Southern California
Loganville GA
Reno, NV
Pennsylvania
Michigan
New Jersey
Chicago, IL
Singapore
Florida
Illinois
Boise ID
Havana, Florida
Indianapolis, Indiana

* * * * * * * *

This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment. What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.