Grace and Messy Elegance

Hi everyone,

I have been thinking lately if and how grace is part of, adds to, or is perhaps even essential to messy elegance. Gracefulness, Grace, Graciousness - these seem to enrich, to warm, to soften what otherwise might seem clumsy on one hand or icy brittle on another. “Gracefulness is not learned by rote, but by the absorption of the spirit of beautiful things,” is a quotation attributed to John Ruskin, and reinforces that this grace may be not something we are endowed with, but also what we can learn. And Emerson, “All writing comes by the grace of God, and all doing and having.” Does it add or detract to add grace, and its qualities of beauty, the divine, and more to the ways in which we consider messy elegance at it's best?

I just wrote a poem called Graced and a question for you. You can find them here.  I'd love to hear what your thoughts are about this as this journey of thinking about Messy Elegance moves forward.

Thank you.