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“The aspiring poet is constantly lowering a bucket only half way down a well. coming up time and again with nothing but empty air. The frustration is immense. But you must keep doing it anyway. After many years of practice, the chain draws unexpectedly tight, and you have dipped into the waters that will continue to entice you back. You’ll have broken the skin on the pool of yourself.”

 – SEAMUS HEANEY

Beatha and her boys

This is my friend Beatha Munganyinka, with her three boys.

You can find out more about Beatha by following the link below

https://beathaandherboys.wordpress.com/

Before I dive in to the regular Wednesday post, I’d like to (re)share a poem I wrote a while back, in recognition of the fact that today is International Women’s Day. For inspiration I turned my thoughts to my heroines…the mothers of Africa, or more specifically, the women in Rwanda who have been such friends and sources of inspiration to me. For more about International Women’s Day, follow this link:

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme

She bears a year old child upon her back

Her body oozing sweat in vicious heat

A child beside with nothing on her feet

Walks in silence down the dusty track

No waste of precious words to voice her lack

The woman’s rod straight back shows no defeat

Her head held high she stops to meet and greet

For all are friends who walk this dusty track

A car pulls up to offer them a lift

She feels the soothing air conditioning

Her daughter waits to see what she will do

The man inside is offering a gift

He’s smiling now and beckoning them in

They walk on by, thank God her mother knew

 

And now, a belated welcome to this regular slot each Wednesday, which I call Writers’ Well because: it’s intended to be a source of nourishment and inspiration for the writer in you, it expresses my belief that creative writing can benefit our well being on many levels, and…I love the above quote from Seamus Heaney. It gives me goosebumps every time. It also resonates with my own intention when leading writing workshops. It’s not about producing good writing, it’s about brave, real writing. Writing that goes down deep within to draw up something unexpected.

Writing Prompt:

Each week, I share one of the writing prompts used the previous Friday in my weekly workshop, along with an example of what was written in response. Today’s prompt (allow around 15 mins in total) is called…Mundane Miracles

Begin by making a list, speedily and spontaneously, of about 10 things/experiences, you consider to be little everyday ‘miracles’. If you’re doing it in a group, you can pass your list round to the right after each item and add to each others so you get some creative cross pollination of imaginative ideas.

Now, with your list for inspiration, though you do not you have to use everything on it, nor are you limited to the things on your list(s), write a poem. Here is what I wrote:

 

I believe in miracles

the daily, mundane kind

no need to wake from death

or fly with pigs

just smile

smile with heart and soul on show

and you catch me in that glow

and I feel that joy and lightness

grow in me too

watch that wild thing following freely

with nothing to gain

but a moment of connection

unspoken friendship that neither asks

nor wants but flies away

as lightly and spontaneously as it came

colour, that child of light

ever changing as the day births,

grows and dies

spilling a vast palette

from an ever changing sky

onto a receptive world below

that forgets blue is so much more

that a single four letter word

nothing need change

for life to become

a series of mini miracles

it’s all already there

just waiting to be noticed

 

 

May your day be Miraculous 🙂

If you enjoyed this prompt, then you can find more here:

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/upcoming-writing-workshops-and-some-prompts-for-you-to-play-with/

and here:

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/writing-prompts-the-elements/