A slip of paper I stuck in a book three weeks ago as a bookmark (in Elizabeth McCracken’s excellent short story collection: “Thunderstruck”) brought me to tears this morning when I rediscovered it. The simple phrase – “Work together as a society” was the result of an artistic exercize that I gave my Teen Writing Academy students this past summer at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. During the two week intensive, I challenged the five writers in the Academy to write down 50 things they fear. They, in turn invited their peers to add their fears to the …
Tag: creative writing
When I write, I require equal measures of concentration and solitude. Everything I do begins to move into the realm of meditative practice. Baking bread, walking the dog, digging a new bed in the garden. On any given day, these activities can hold vast meaning, and, on truly remarkable days, they bring about a blessed untangling of thoughts in my mind. 2. Heaven – Haven A nun takes the veil I have desired to go Where springs not fail, To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail And a few lilies blow. And I have asked to be Where …
We had a taste of spring over the long weekend, (or perhaps “tease” might be the more appropriate word.) Nevertheless, there was enough sun and warmth to bring both me and the bees out of hiding and into the yard for some much-needed buzz and dance. It’s amazing to see them move in and out of the hives this time of year. They waste no time in dragging out the old, so they can begin to find their way to whatever pollen is available. They are eager to get on with constructing, nurturing, feeding the new. We are going into …