When you hurt, create
Or some poetry for these times
Welcome. In case you’re new here, I’m Caitlin, a writer of all sorts of things—fiction, life, the occasional poem—but last year on The Time Given I often shared how I was spending my days amidst grief, infertility, and midlife. Sometimes it was slow stories inspired by my daily life, other times it was prayers & poetry. These days, I’m working out what sort of space I want The Time Given to be with the hope that by the end of 2025, I’ll have a little more focus around here. As always, thank you for reading.
The more my heart feels heavy these days, the more I find myself turning to beauty.
There is too much violence in our current times, both in action and & in words, and the only way I have begun to escape it is to create.
Whether it’s curling up with a beloved story, stirring homemade Butterbeer on my stove, clicking LEGO bricks together for buildable art, or penning words I want to bring hope, I find myself making.
Everyday life turned into art.
Last weekend, I had the chance to spend a few days with fellow creatives, making, being in, and savoring beauty. I left the conference with a new perspective on artistic work, realizing there is only so much we can take into our hearts & minds on a daily basis, and I do not want it to be posts and videos and news stories that replay the ugliness of our times. Instead, I want to immerse myself in stories and poetry, nature and art—and to learn from dear, old Samwise.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
-J.R.R.Tolkien, The Return of the King
Lost in a wold of darkness with no end in sight, Sam allows beauty in. And in that moment, hope returned to him.
If there is anything these days are revealing, it’s that there is never as much darkness as there is when we step away from beauty.
But we must pay attention to it—we must grasp it desperately, purposefully—if we want hope to return to us.
So today I offer you this—a poetry chapbook that invites you to walk among beauty for a time.
This chapbook was created at the DITA 2025 conference by creatives and poets and artists who are filling the world with beautiful things. My thanks go out to
& for their invitation to contemplatively meditate on the mystery of God's presence in Creation.The result is a beautiful collection of poetry, of which I am honored to be a part.
From the summary—
Each poem is a small act of theological imagination rooted in place, shaped by sacred memory, and formed within the creative constraint of the Golden Shovel.
My poem, “On Loreshire Gardens” sits alongside many others, including my dear friend
’s “On the turning of the Chagrin River, Ohio.”May you read these poems & be blessed.
May you seek beauty when all seems lost so that hope may be found.
I’m Caitlin, a writer, hobbyist, and creative who believes in the power of story, and that things like nature, wonder, faith, grief, hope, and art are worth our time and attention. I write stories for young readers centered around the themes of grief, belonging, loss, hope, and found families, which I share in my newsletter Lost in Story, while also exploring them in my own life here on The Time Given. My writing here will always be free to read, but it does take time and heart space to write. Please consider supporting the work I do by giving a one-time or monthly donation, or by subscribing to my weekly writing.
I was at the DITA conference and also had the honor to participate in the poetry meditation and creation with Hannah and Nicole--what a gift! The whole conference was such a beautiful time of learning from others and experiencing joy and beauty around every corner, from the architecture to the friends to the concerts. Looking forward to following your work!
We were so grateful to have you contribute to this chapbook, and to the reminders of God’s goodness that are so needed right now. I look forward to following your writing here!