Tune your ears to Hope

Tags

Glorious Chorus, performance, poem, poetry

 

I performed this poem last night as part of a fantastic fundraising Christmas Concert by the choir I used to sing with, the fabulous http://www.gloriouschorus.co.uk , led by the amazing Helen Yeomans. Now I share it here for others to enjoy too…

 

Tune your ears to hope

and hear the real news,

seek the true news that lives

far beyond the front pages

for it is too wild, too bright,

to be trapped in black and white.

 

Cultivate neighbourhoods

of brotherhood, sisterhood,

lighting up your communities

like Christmas trees,

with evergreen kindness

that blooms with compassion,

whatever the season.

 

There is no room

for a fair-weather faith in humanity

we must believe in our capacity

to make choices that take down walls

instead of building them.

So practise “Welcome!” and “Come in!”

in as many languages

as there are places at your table

because home is simple –

 

It’s heads resting in safe beds,

all the children fed

and nothing said that could break

the invisible thread

of the web love has woven

because we will fall

but with love

none need fall through.

 

Feel the vibrant music of life

singing in your chest,

just like all the rest,

in tender, soulful harmony

with generations past

and those yet to be,

it calls from beyond time

“Create!

a world of love

for all our sakes.”

 

Love holds no nationality.

It travels freely,

with no concept of lack,

for it knows, when it’s given away

it just grows and grows,

pouring into every deep felt thirst for –

a sense of belonging

a chance to contribute

a need to be held,

and hear love say,

‘You’re safe. I’m here.

It’ll be ok.”

 

So look for the gold

in the souls you spend your days with,

and share in the pain

of revealing beauty again,

for we’ve all, at times,

tried to hide, tried to deny

we’re made of stardust.

 

Let’s help each other to reveal

what cynicism tried to steal –

we know the way home.

The way is freedom,

the way is wisdom,

the way is healing

until we are so much more,

as one whole,

than the pieces we were before.

 

Broken parts,

broken hearts,

must dine on hope

365 days of the year

to feed the flame of faith

that melts the edges

between what’s you and what’s me.

Peace can be

closer than your very next breath.

Just take this gift of hope

deeply in –

and let love win.

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Writers’ Well – Beliefs

Tags

belief, creative writing, creativity, poem, poetry, writing, writing prompt

Just another broad, easy (!) topic to word-explore on the blank page, with nothing but a pen and an open mind – Beliefs.

 

It’s a topic I’ve used as a prompt before, in different ways, but this week we started with these half sentences. to be completed three times each, for your eyes only, however you choose:-

I used to believe… (x 3)

I still believe... (x 3)

I want to believe… (x 3)

Now read through those spontaneously collected thoughts (which could be completely different on another day, or at another time…) and let them inspire a poem, to be written in ten minutes.

This is what I wrote, and please bear in mind that this is unedited and written in just ten minutes, so it’s raw and imperfect.

 

 

Ask and you shall receive –

is that something I believe?

it seems to play out

but I still doubt

 

because sometimes it’s scary

to ask for the stars

so we ask for something lesser

and when we receive it complain

that we didn’t get something better

 

What you believe, you can achieve –

is another cliche people keep up their sleeve

but without a picture

drawn or just in your mind

how can we possibly find

the way towards what we want to create?

 

The Universe is a playful thing

but we have to join in

 

Can I put those innocent truths

back together – what’s the glue?

They were so strong  but it was

so long ago, they got broken

I don’t know how

I can’t hope to find

all the pieces now

 

so perhaps I just need to recreate them

with some of the wisdom I’ve accrued

through the years and tears

and create a container for the pieces

and let them be a reminder

 

to be kinder to the beliefs of others

 

because there is so much more in this world

than I can ever be sure of

that’s a belief 

I’m glad to no longer keep

because believing I’m right

narrows my sight

and breaking that one opened my world

into something much wilder

and more beautiful than

‘I’m right’ could allow

 

so now

all I ask to believe 

is that the world knows

my needs and talents

and will feed the one

and nurture the other

if I can believe

there’s room enough for me to grow

without taking up space

to allow others the same chance

to stretch and thrive

 

I wish

the whole world 

would come fully

joyously

alive

 

***

 

So, what do you Believe?

 

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/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writers’ Well – Time

Tags

creative writing, creativity, poem, poems, poetry, time, writing, writing prompt

A few questions for you. Well, not exactly questions, but, if I were to offer you this start to a sentence:

 

I spend too much time….

 

 

 

how would you complete it? Five times?

 

And what about:

 

I spend too little time…

 

 

And because the best things always come in threes…

 

I would like to create more time for/to…

 

Well, this was one of the prompts we worked with last Friday – completing those three sentences, each one five times, leaving us with fifteen insights into out relationship with the resource of Time,  how we’re currently using it…and what we dream of using it for.

Next, we wrote a poem inspired by that exploration…in just ten minutes.

There were some stunning responses, but I can only share my own for now…so, this is what I wrote:

 

If time were banked

In a building

On the High Street

One where the money banks

Have made way

What would the cashiers say?

What would their job be?

 

Because we can’t pay-in time

We could only bank memories

But we’d never be able to know

How much we had left to spend

Only how freely we’ve been spending

 

For time capsules

Buried with ceremony

Intended for future folk

To dig up and discover

Don’t contain time –

They contain memories

Just memories

Memories…

 

Maybe I could set up

A memory bank!

People would be advised to

Deposit once a week

What have you made

With the last seven days?

 

Not how much did you earn

The things that you bought

The stuff others can see

That’s not why you’d come

to the memory bank…

 

You’d come to remember and record

The unexpected conversation

You had with a friend

Or the salmon you saw leaping

Because someone called you over

You’d never seen them

Leaping before

 

And maybe that morning

Like any other morning

On the outside

But inwardly somehow

It felt different

You felt excited about

The next twenty four hours

In a way you hadn’t…

 

My father shared

Part of his own story recently

And though there aren’t

Memory banks on the high street

They exist

 

In the hearts of those we love

But need reminding to ask,

 

“How have you

Spent your time?”

 

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/

 

 

Writers’ Well – Sensible/Sensitive

Tags

creative collaboration, creative writing, creativity, poem, sensible, sensitive, writing, writing prompt, writing workshop

 

“Too much sensible really isn’t good for one.”

I wrote this phrase in another recent piece of writing, so maybe that’s where the inspiration for this prompt came from. It is also a nod to my background as an English Language teacher, and the concept of false friends. Sensible in English is one thing, but the same word in French, pronounced sensible…means something entirely different – sensitive!

So, we began by writing sensible is… and then completing that with whatever word or phrase came, passing sheets of paper around the circle, until we’d collected some ideas. For example:

…thinking before you leap

…not putting your head in a lion’s mouth

…always carry an umbrella, just in case

etc etc

 

 

Then we turned the page, and began sensitive is…, and the circle became quieter and more earnest, while writing things like:

…what it must feel like when a bee lands on a flower and tickles its way to the pollen

…allowing joy and grief – all of it

…really being able to listen deeply

etc etc

 

 

The invitation was then to take that inspiration in whatever direction you wished, and write a poem in ten minutes! This is what I wrote:

 

 

Comfortable shoes

eight hours a night

eating less cake 

when my jeans get too tight

putting my wellies on

when the rain falls

answering the phone

when my mother calls

paying my bills

and being on time

live life like this

and you’ll see how the time

ticks by with the monotony

of my grandfather’s clock

on a shelf out of reach

so it doesn’t get knocked

or damaged in any way

but it’s clockwork

so when I don’t wind it up…

 

I don’t know the time

so I look at the sky

and pretend I can feel

each moment fly by

I linger to chat

to a snail on the path

tell it “don’t be so slow!

The bikes go pretty fast!”

 

I’ve forgotten my water

so I follow a sign

I’ve seen for a cafe

but I never had time

 

now I have a black coffee

though I know I won’t sleep

and it’s hard to keep

in the laughter that creeps

into cells that have known

my routine for so long

they’re confused and excited –

what on earth has gone wrong?!

 

the heartbeat, the smiling

the caffeine, the song

I do hope she won’t

keep this up for too long!

 

I pay and I leave

with a bounce in my step

now where’s that next promise to me

I’ve not kept…

 

I had a lot of fun writing that, and thoroughly enjoyed all the other poems that came out of that gathering of thoughts and ideas. Such variety! Care to try this yourself? You’re welcome to share or link in the comments below.

 

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/

 

 

Introducing…Poetea!

Tags

creativity, gifts, poems, poetea, poetry, tea

A few photos of a box of Poetea I made for a dear friend’s birthday!

 

 

Basically, I wrapped an empty tea box, made little paper pockets from sewn together bits of the same wrapping paper…

 

 

…and folded up a poem of mine to pack into each one like a teabag. 20 poems in all. It was a lot of fun 🙂

 

Empty your cup… – Writers’ Well

Tags

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/

 

Open/Close – Writers’ Well

Tags

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/