Tags
creative writing, creativity, gratitude, imagination, international womens day, joy, miracles, nature, rwanda, soul food, well, well being, writing prompt, writing workshop
“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
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:
and here:
https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/writing-prompts-the-elements/
