Empty your cup… – Writers’ Well

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creative writing, creativity, empty, poem, poetry, receive, story, writing, writing prompt, zen

image credit: https://blog.englishteastore.com

This week’s prompt was inspired by my sister sharing a story, a version of which you can find at the link below:

http://bengtwendel.com/your-teacup-is-full-empty-your-cup/

In summary, before you can receive (more tea, new ideas etc etc) you need to be empty. So how do we empty ourselves? This was the question, and we sent papers round to collect ideas, such as:

• Sing to the trees – and the dog
• Really LISTEN to what another is saying – really LISTEN
• Dance in the kitchen like a mad person
• Brush my cat
• Walk in nature
• Stare at the sky last thing at night and simply WONDER

and so on…….beautiful!

These gather sheets were then placed in the middle for inspiration and each of us wrote a poem in ten minutes. Here is what I wrote. It’s raw and incomplete, so I’ll likely play with it some more, but this is what I had after the ten minutes:

 

The Green Umbrella

 

I stand beneath

A canopy on the brink of summer

Still bold enough to declare there’s more to come

Still tender enough to show the

Shade of these leaves

Has a little deeper to delve

Into the adventure of green

 

And the light gets through

Dappled and scattered

And drops of rain get through

Slowed down and spread

To land softly on the earth

Or hang like diamonds

From leaves and branches

Rich and abundant

 

The rain plays a song

As it falls through

A pretty delicate song

Full of light, bright voices

Calling my own song out of me

And some notes

Float up to the birds

Who perch up above

Others fall and are turned over

And brought under by worms

And other composting busy beasties

Others shiver the leaves and become

The new shade of green

 

And the last

Disappear

Into the light of the space in between

It all

Through which rain drops continue

To fall

 

 

 

How do you create the space of emptiness?

 

 

 

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/

 

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Open/Close – Writers’ Well

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close, creative writing, creativity, open, poem, poetry, writing, writing prompt

Super simple prompt this week. Go on – try it. Get some paper and a pen…

Now, ten times, just write the word open and follow it with whatever word or words want to come…ten times, until you have ten lines, each beginning with the word open.

Next, ten times, write the word close and follow it with whatever word or words want to come…ten times, until you have ten lines, each beginning with the word close.

You have now created some inspiration from which to draw in order to write a poem in ten minutes.

When we did this in last week’s workshop, we each read aloud what we’d written so that all out ideas could cross-pollinate. Our lists contained everything from the mundane to the funny to the profound to the mystical.

 

open the window and let some air in

open as the blossom opens to the bees

open sesame

close your eyes and guess

close of day, such beautiful light

close up, we’re done for today

…and so on –

 

 

This is the poem I wrote:

 

There’s something unhinged

about 24/7

McDonald’s serving big macs at

three in the morning 

is that necessary?

No wonder we’re manically sleep deprived

constantly at the mercy

of that lit up rectangle in

our pocket on

the dash by

the bedside lamp

 

the sound of a fish opening

and closing its mouth

under water –

pop, bubble

nothing to swallow

much less digest

if we don’t take a rest

from the open all hours 

free for all

 

the door

is shut

the windows

are open

to ripple the closed curtains

with spring air

as eyes close

the outer door

gently but firmly

until the inside opens

and seeds gathered

are sorted and sifted

the best kept and planted

others discarded

and behind closed 

eyes they grow

to a glow

until its time

to open anticipating eyes

to let them shine

the inside

out

 

 

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/

 

 

 

When you’re real… – Writers’ Well

Tags

bambi, creative collaboration, creative writing, creativity, disney, flowers, margery williams, poem, poetry, real, the velveteen rabbit, writing prompt, writing workshop

The prompt I’d like to share this week began with me reading a very beautiful passage from a book called The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams. Here is the quote, which you may well have come across, as it’s become very popular…

**********

“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’

‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit. 

‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’ 

‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’ 

‘It doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” 

**********

We then each took a blank sheet of paper, writing at the top “When you’re real…” and completing it with our own thought below; passing the paper on to the right, and receiving another to the left, adding another thought until our own paper came back.

Taking this creative gathering as inspiration, we then each wrote a poem in ten minutes. This is what I wrote, inspired by someone who’d written, “When you’re real…you know how a flower feels“. Enjoy 🙂

 

I’m not a flower

“I’m not a flower”
was a line from Bambi
and it always made me giggle
because the character
wanted to be really
at least
that’s what I heard

bees that roll around
in a huge pink poppy
dressing in pollen
make me giggle
daisies still curled up
sleeping through daybreak
because the sun’s not yet reached them
make me giggle too

kindness makes me roll
inwardly like that bee
dressing myself in joy

hiding under the duvet
on a day off I dare the curtains
to let in the sun before I’m ready
to wake

Do flowers know
they could be picked at any time
Could anything be so fearless

as to let its beauty radiate
so brightly the world
is desperate to claim it for a vase
yet still it holds nothing back
of its colour or scent

I think I need to study
with the dandelions
and the child I saw at the end
of his father’s arm
leaning down
to blow the clock off it

I’m not a flower –
yet

 

Here is the moment, in image, from the Disney movie. Turns out Thumper actually said ‘That’s not a flower!’ and the skunk didn’t actually say ‘I’m not a flower,’ but was still quite happy to be called one!

 

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/

Sisters (and brothers!)

Tags

poem, poetry, poetry slam, sisters, writing

From Wikipedia: A poetry slam is a competition in which poets read or recite original work.  The performances at a poetry slam are judged by a panel of judges, or sometimes judged by audience response. The judges usually give each poem a score on a scale of 0–10 (zero being the worst and ten being the best). 

I recently said yes to participating in my first poetry slam (!) which takes place in a couple of days, and would like to share a poem I wrote a while back (for my sister’s birthday), which I memorised this morning. It’s the one I intend to use for the first round (!) Enjoy 🙂 And wish me luck!

 

Sisters are doing it

for each other right

building their might

behind not you or me

but us, together, we

can face the world

without a scowl or a smirk

just the willingness to work

at the compassion that says

I know your pain

I’ve been there

I know your joy

I’ve flown there

with wings so strong and free

I was sure I could take the whole world with me,

but they stayed behind, why, I cry

I don’t want this just for me

It’s nothing if not shared, so frankly

what’s the point if you’re not in the sky too

refusing to look down and

racing at the clouds

until they part like a floating white sea

you, me, free

laughing our way over the mountain peeks

until we reach the other side

and fall clinging to each other

through the pain of a landing

that doesn’t break us but sows

the seed of something new

in a soft soil that takes our tears

as invitations to try again

bigger, brighter, lighter, taller

reaching up with the grace of

tender topmost branches

that dance and sway

and leave the flying to the birds

preferring to stay rooted in the earth

because this time it’s not just about the highs

but earth and sky

and everything in between

I mean, love is the trunk

that thickens in circles, expands

with the breath of the years that roughen

the bark and keep the insides wildly tenderly

alive, so thank you sister

for rooting me in the earth

whose darkness I was afraid of

for I never know what I’m made of

until you need me, see me

feed me your belief in the me I can’t

yet see myself but catch a glimpse of

in the light of your love but it’s not enough

to thank you I want to grow you too,

shine so you can see

the best in you.

 

 

Strength and Fragility – Writers’ Well

Tags

creative writing, creativity, poem, poetry, writing, writing prompt, writing workshop

I’d like to share another prompt recently used in one of my creative writing circles. We warmed up with ‘what’s in a name?’ I’m intrigued by the power of the word, but also by its limitations – for there are some things we can’t put words to, no matter how rich our vocabulary. I believe that’s one of the beauties and strengths of poetry, for it plays with words and uses them in non everyday ways to hint at a truth that evades logical description. The best poets lay pathways that lead us into a new we can not turn back from, because we’ve felt a truth, and we can’t undo or unknow wisdom that’s touched at a cellular level, however much we try to deny.

 

Anyway, I’m going off the point! So then we did one of our ‘gathering’ exercises, sending out sticky blank pages to collect thoughts like a bee harvests pollen. On one side – images of fragility, on the other, images of strength. When it came to reading the lists aloud, a couple of people were unsure whether they were on the correct side, a beautiful illustration of the fact that these two qualities are deeply interrelated. It is sometimes when we are at our most fragile and vulnerable that we discover or demonstrate our strength, and it is sometimes in intentional displays of strength that we reveal our fragility.

 

Anyway, I digress again! After sharing and digesting this image gathering I asked each person to write a poem exploring that edge, that threshold, that mingling, that inter-relatedness between strength and fragility. This is what I wrote:

 

You held me

stroked my hair

lifted me

with my hands in yours

you guided, taught, shared

hands full of strength

who’s palms against my being

were like roots and rocks all at once

now have skin that cracks

spots of age that can be read

like the circles in a tree trunk

enough to play join the dots

and draw out the story

of these hands that carry love

invisible and unseen

unspillable in their warmth and responsiveness

that now shake when life’s storms hit

and I hold one

in both of mine

and know myself as root and rock

in hands that stir and lift and chop

to serve and nurture

I hold your hand

in both of mine

and in your eyes

see the strength that hasn’t left

it’s just moved home

 

It’s a tender sweet spot, isn’t it, that meeting place between these two? How would you describe it?

 

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/

“I think of a few of my favourite words…” – Writers’ Well

Tags

creative collaboration, creative writing, creativity, Landmarks, language, nature, Robert MacFarlane, words, writing, writing prompt

I’d like to share with you one of the prompts I used in last week’s writing workshop, which was inspired by my having recently read the beginning of Landmarks, by Robert MacFarlane. Here is the paragraph that particularly moved me, copied here from a newspaper article which you can read in full by following this link:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/27/robert-macfarlane-word-hoard-rewilding-landscape

First, without having said anything about the background context to the idea, I asked each person to take a sheet of paper and write at the top one of their favourite words (no theme, just a favourite word). That paper was then passed to the right, another received from the left, and another word added until we had a beautiful collection. I then read the above paragraph, and asked people to write a poem in celebration of their favourite words. Of course, it need not include all or any of the ones we’d already collected, for as always I offer prompts with the lightest of nudges – there are really no rules, just a wide and heartfelt invitation to play in that general direction.  This is what I wrote, in 10 minutes, unedited and imperfect:

 

 

Story, a collection of words

phrases and sentences

but also a weaving

a binding, a flowing

of a river that takes you

on a journey

 

I have a story

and it has a beginning

and it will have an end

but the words that fill it

are as life-full and vulnerable

as the elemental environment

 

If I plant wonder and cuddle

and sharing and joy

the earth of my roots

fixes in itself foundations of

magic and kindness

and feasting and fun

 

but stories are being polluted,

like car fumes choking our air,

with thick rooted, thorn stemmed

fear and hatred,

indifference and defense

 

To rewrite the story

mind needs a shedfull of tools;

compassion to cut down the fear that’s flourishing

and throw it on the compost,

and kindness to weed away the illusion of lack

that abundance might be visible again

 

The mind environment,

the heart habitat,

are threatened too

but we all have the word tools

we need to clean it up

let it breathe

let it weave

a journey of wonder again

 

Should you feel moved, follow this link to sign the petition requesting the reinstatement of these culled nature words in the Junior Oxford English Dictionary:

https://www.change.org/p/oxford-university-press-nature-related-words-should-be-reinstated-in-the-junior-oxford-english-dictionary

 

I could say so much more, but I’ll leave that for another time. Suffice it to say, my dear wordsmith, language loving friends – cherish words, use them well and widely!

 

 

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/

The Light is Coming Back – Writers’ Well

Tags

creative writing, creativity, light, poem, poetry, writing, writing prompt, writing workshop

A very warm welcome to the first Writers’ Well of 2018! I seem to have had quite an extended virtual hibernation, and my roots and shoots are still only slowly waking, but with renewed joy and wonder at the circles and cycles of life, and the sense of renewal and resilience at its core. One of my favourite of those circles is the group I write with each Friday morning, and I’d like to share with you one of the prompts I used last week.

 

Here in the Northern Hemisphere the shortest day passed almost a month ago, and so to acknowledge and celebrate the slow but sure lengthening of the days again, I asked each person to write a word or phrase in response to the theme ‘the light is coming back’ on their individual sheet of paper. That sheet was then passed to the right and added to, until we’d collected an abundance of images and ideas. And from those, my fellow alchemists of words and I were tasked to mix and stir and form a poem, in just 10 minutes!

 

This is what I wrote. Enjoy:-)

 

The flowers know it

or notice it

before I do

and begin to leave

the earth’s dark cocoon

breaching the surface

with green tips

like the summit of palms

met in prayer

pointing to the taller skies –

the light is coming back.

***

The leaves that hid

in dead looking branches

aren’t surprised either

and unfurl from who knows where

(I’ve seen snapped branches,

they’re not inside)

but I mustn’t rush

or frantically search for source

lest I kill the goose

and lose the golden egg –

of the light that’s coming back.

***

Is it old

or is it new

lit from an original flame

and so different, but the same

tracing its origins back to the start

and bringing life with it

touching with rays that wake

the spark that knows

it was there at the beginning too.

 

Funny the things time can so

when the light is coming back.

 

 

Wherever in the world this finds you, may you be touched

and inspired by the light of New Beginnings.

Many blessings on the year ahead!

Be Well, Be happy, Be Peaceful.

 

 

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/

 

 

 

People, Play and Purpose – Writers’ Well

Tags

creative writing, creativity, people, play, poem, poetry, purpose, reflection, writing, writing prompt, writing workshop

I’d like to share with you one of the prompts I used in last Friday’s workshop, which sparked much reflection in me, and I believe others. I continue to explore some of the thoughts and ideas it brought up, but for now let me simply share what we did, and what I wrote at the time.

For me this is the time of year for reflection, looking back on what has been and harvesting the juicy stuff, whilst throwing the rest on a glorious winter bonfire – right? It might seem a little early to some, as we’re not even in December yet, but I can easily get wrapped up in other stuff (!) in December, and then come to New Year and – oh? There’s another year gone? So no harm in starting early:-)

So, super-simply, I gave everyone three minutes to make some notes on the following topics, as they reflected on the year that has been; People, Play and Purpose. When those three minutes were up, those notes were used to inspire a poem written in 10 minutes. The notes themselves were not shared or read aloud, and I personally only touched on a few things in this poem, so the notes will no doubt be a potential source of further writing inspiration. For now, I share with you the poem I wrote:

 

Play is my hot air balloon,

my purpose a clumsy anchor

that play can help me lift,

if I trust its lightness

to hold such weight,

for I do not wish play

to float away

and disappear me beyond beyond,

for who would I find there?

What would I do?

For sure I need an anchor too.

But roots aren’t heavy,

plant pots can move.

I want to play my purpose

into carrying me,

instead of the other way around,

forge it in a fire

that leaves all unnecessaries

light and blowawayable as ash

and all essentials

bright and portable

ready for the journey…

but don’t search my pockets,

rather let’s both

reach into our own depths

and reveal

on one…

two…

three…

the world we hold

in the palms of our hands.

 

I just LOVE the interplay between play and the profound, for it seems in my experience that it is often in the most apparently frivolous moments that I let myself go enough to get a sense of something deeply true, which I then can receive lightly – know what I mean?

Blessings on the People in your life,

and may Play and Purpose dance in you

that your days may be full of joyous meaning…

 

 

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/

Poetry in three – take two!

Tags

creative writing, creativity, generosity, kindness, poem, poetry, poetry to order

Last Friday, while on a half-term break from the weekly writing workshop I lead, I followed through on a personal promise to warm up my three-minute poetry writing skills for real, in preparation for several upcoming events.

It was a truly magical morning, during which I went to the cafe in Exeter Library, and asked if I could write three minute poems for their customers while I drank my coffee. These people would give me a subject of their choosing, I would write the poem in three minutes, and then, if they liked the poem, I would invite them to make a donation to the cafe’s fund, which pays for a coffee for those who can’t afford one. In just half an hour I’d approached five tables, written three poems, and had £15 pounds to donate, as each person who’d received a poem had given me £5, and enough tears/smiles/appreciation to fill my heart to bursting.

I could have continued but I didn’t wanted to push my luck, or break the spell, or get  greedy. I’m sure I will become more accustomed, but it really is a very powerful and connecting experience. When a total stranger reads and receives my words, and responds with tearful eyes, material generosity and an emotional exclamation that I’ve truly captured something of their own thoughts and feelings, that is just…well it’s pure energetic alchemical gold. It’s also the closest I come to the experience of knowing that I receive all that on behalf of something much larger than individual little old me. During those three minutes something is gifting me, and I am accepting my role as the one allowing that gift to be passed on by making it manifest. That is an honour.

“That’s amazing!” said the cafe manager as I gave her the £15  “you should come again!” Indeed I intend to. You can read the poems in the photos. Remember these were written in just three minutes so no, they’re not brilliant, they’re far from perfect, but they spoke to the people they were written for…and that’s all that matters.

 

 

 

 

I’m very much looking forward to writing in collaborative circles again, both tomorrow and Friday, feeling creatively re-inspired and deeply re-affirmed in my belief in the potential power of poetry, and in general spontaneous writing in from a place of heart, humility and courage.

May you too know the experience of being blessed by the act of blessing another, until there is no distinction between the gifter and the gifted.

Poetry in Three!

Tags

creativity, poems, poetry, poetry to order, writing

Here’s me writing poetry to order at a Christmas Fair last year

I’ve been rediscovering my love for writing poetry for others on the spot in 3 minutes, to warm up for some Christmas ‘gigs’! Here’s one I wrote last week, for a guy who runs a local cafe. He asked for a poem on the topic of ‘Growing Teenage Girl’. Poetry has power people (but you know that…) – the conversation we had after that! And when I left, 2 hours or so later, he said I’d made his day…and it only took 3 minutes  Make someone’s day in your way today…it needn’t take long! So here it is, cheesy and raw, yes, but hey – it’s unedited and straight off the page…3 mins!

 

I know you’re growing

But I try not to see it

It was easier

When I could hold all of you

Your joys, fears

Lift you out of danger

Kiss sweet dreams

Into your forehead

Before you slept

But you’re growing

And some of those branches

Are out of my reach

Nobody teaches

Us to be parents

We have to learn

And grow too

But much as I stretch

I can’t always reach

The tips of you

So I feed the soil

With my love and trust

That if I take care

Of your roots

Keep you safe

As much as I can

Keep the fridge full

Of more than ready made crap

If you’ll eat it

And keep out home

A place filled with space and light

You’ll grow

Thrive

Be happy

 

 

And here’s another, written at a reunion with college friends. Some of it, well, you probably had to be there…written in three minutes, in a busy bar, on the sign that had reserved our table…

30 second stories

Can’t capture the lives

That have come together,

People who’ve not changed

In 21 years

And tears haven’t started yet

But the laughter’s there

And we fall

As a Renault crashes the party

We’re just getting started

But the leaving will come

Eventually too

No house to return to

Together for a party

In Postman Pat land

The fizz is flowing

Because we’re grown up now

But it’s the little ones

That give many of us

Life’s meaning

While others are dreaming

Of a life beyond the 9-5

And so the photos will capture

Moments and smiles

Until the next time

We reminisce and remember

This is what life’s about

Laughs that don’t change

And the chance to be

18 again

 

Want to try? I have an egg timer I can lend you… 😉