HOME, A Writing Prompt for February 3, 2010
Lately, I have been so busy that when the weekends roll around, all I want to do is stay home. As Jane Austen said, “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”
This is a funny thing since for most of the almost 11 years that I have lived in North Bath, I have not felt in anyway that my home is my home. In a city of captain’s houses, I live in a circa-1984, FHA-approved energy-efficient former salt box on an acre of pine trees and clay approximately exactly on the town line of West Bath and Brunswick. I never meant to live here for five years, nevermind 11, but when I was pregnant with my first son, my mother had also just been diagnosed with cancer, and I hightailed it for “home”.
In many ways, I feel like I have never arrived.
Because I never imagined “coming home” to be part of the script I would live out in my life, I have been reluctant to accept that this is in fact, my whole story.
Charles Dickins said, “Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.”
I see now, as I enter my second decade as a resident of “my hometown”, that what I have been longing for is not a set of walls and doors, an address, or a physical location, but the vibrations of a word.
Om.
Weekly, sometimes daily, I sit in meditation with my hands in prayer position before bending and twisting through a series of Sun Salutations, and I chant the sound of Om. In Buddhist tradition, all of creation was set in motion by the vibration of Om.
Ommmmm. Ommmmmm. Ommmmm.
This is the closest I come to feeling at home in the world.
“You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it’s all right,” Maya Angelou says, and when I consider my yoga practice, I think, yes. I am everywhere and nowhere and somewhere, and here. Now.
But still, I long deeply for a home outside of myself, a place, a location at which I can arrive, and finally, finally let go.
“Peace”, memoirist, Kathleen Norris writes is “the other name for home.”
And that’s it. Peace. What I am searching for is a place in the world where I feel continuous and abiding peace, where I can live in peace with myself, and in peace with the past, where I look forward to the future, in peace, where I greet all who I love with peace in my heart.
Sometimes home is the last place where this can happen.
And sometimes, as I have learned in the last 11 years, it has to the first, and sometimes, you get a second chance to get it right.
So, here is my prompt for you? What about home is resonant for you?
The best responses will appear in the next issue of Wife of Bath in March.”
January is (was) National Letter Writing Month
I just found out that January is National Letter Writing Month. When was the last time you wrote a letter? I mean, a real letter, not just an email, or a text message, or a Facebook status update?
This got me thinking about “the lost art of letter writing”, the lament of those nostalgic for the pre-Internet days when one imagines we had time to express ourselves to each other in reams of handwritten, heart felt prose. But the truth is, or probably is, that in the pre-Internet days, we were likely more engaged with that primitive device called the television or the radio.
The era of letter writing has been by-gone for at least half a century.
Actually, as a college writing instructor, I believe people write MORE now than they have since those letter writing days. Between emails and texts and status updates, when was the last time we saw so many people WRITING in their daily life?
But in honor of National Letter Writing Month – with just five days left – here is a prompt for today:
Pick one of your recent emails, texts, or status updates and address it to someone in particular. In the case of emails and texts, this will be easy; in the case of Tweets or status updates, pick one friend or follower to whom you want to address it.
Say more.
Rewrite your brief, electronica post as a letter. What more would you say to the addressee? What more would you say on the canvas of a full blank page?
My theory: Underneath all of our abbreviated dispatches are much deeper reflections on our lives.
Go there.
A “Journal Jar”
It has been about a month since I posted the last writing prompt, and that is because the sails of the Wife of Bath Ship of Dreams have been filled with many favorable winds.
1. The Ghost of Christmas Past issue sold out! For those of you who wished to buy a copy, I am in the process of arranging a second printing.
2. We held our first Writing Marathon at the Linden Tree Meeting House in Phippsburg on January 9, and discovered that it really is possible to be in the practice of writing for 8 HOURS! In fact, I am worried that we didn’t have ENOUGH time, but that might just be me. It’s a good thing we have Marathons scheduled for February 13, March 13, and April 10 because the first one created more and more ideas for how to spend this time.
3. Paula Hersom, who coordinates the music for Bath Heritage Days contacted me about creating a media kit for Christian Cuff, one of her musician clients, and a son of the City of Ships. Since we are all true participants in Maine’s creative economy (you know, like, we bar tend, adjunct, and haul trees in addition to practicing our various crafts), Christian agreed to do a show to kick off Wife of Bath’s event series in exchange for writing services.
And, 4. Paula came on board as WoB’s event coordinator. She has tremendous drive and enthusiasm, and excellently engages in all the activities that I can be a bit squirrelly about (like…ummmm….talking to people).
Since I am still learning how to sail this ship, I had my work cut out for me just keeping up with all the opportunities these synergies have brought my way. It’s great to learn the ropes of what Wife of Bath is becoming in fair winds.
But now that I moving full steam ahead, it’s time to get back to the very ocean of potential the process of writing presents to each of us.
Last night I attended the Brunswick Art Collaborative, which is held at Thornton Oaks on the second Tuesday and fourth Wednesday of each month. The collaborative is a group of artists and craftspeople who get together to make art in an open-ended way. People share materials, and basically work side by side on whatever they want to work on. One woman brought rubber stamps and card stock; another brought collage materials like Magnetic Poetry and driftwood. There were painters, and jewelry makers, and some who just came to enjoy the company.
Since I am not a visual artist in any sort of way, and struggle even to decorate my home in a pleasing manner (to anyone besides my family), I had no idea what to bring with me. I just knew that it would feel really great to do something in which I have no expectations of being good at it.
I googled “art prompts”, and came up with some instructions for making a “journal jar”. This is something I have actually done in the past by writing prompts on slips of paper and sticking them in a jar to be pulled at random when I get stuck for something to write about, but what I focused on in these instructions was the single line that siad…
You can decorate your jar.
So, I did.
Now what I need are the writing prompts!
Since I want Wife of Bath to be collaborative experience, what prompt would you put in this jar?
Think of lines of poetry, song lyrics, questions you do not know the answer to, scraps of characters, bits of recipes, mini-plots, a strong setting, details, ideas that chase you, single evocative words, and so on, and so on.
Post them here and I will add them to the jar, and each week I will choose one to post for the enjoyment of everyone who visits the site!
Kickoff Event with Singer/Songwriter, Christian Cuff
Happy Solstice everyone!
Christmas is just about to dock in the City of Ships, and that means lots of good things coming our way, but once it pulls out of port, we are into the snow globe world of winter in Maine.
Wife of Bath has been busy planning literary events for 2010 starting with our kickoff with singer/songwriter and Bath native…..
Saturday, January 16, 2010
7 PM
Winter Street Center
880 Washington Street
Bath, Maine 04530
Post a comment below and we will enter your name for a drawing of two free tickets!
Ghost of Christmas Past Almost Sold Out!!!
Ghost of Christmas Past, by Bill Lent
Ghost of Christmas Past is almost sold out. I only have a few copies left!
This issue features not-so-typical holiday stories by Nicole Chaison, Tara Connor, Elizabeth Dickinson, Keli Scrapchansky, Amy Lent, Lisa Kolosey, and Mark Wilson, plus art by Andy Jones, Bill Lent, and Romy Polizotto.
For a sample of stories, please click on the link above
A single copy is just $3 and makes a great stocking stuffer for that hard to shop for person in your life!
To purchase: Comment below, and click on the donate button, or mail a check to Wife of Bath, PO Box 384, Bath, ME 04530. Or, track me down between Front & Center Streets in Bath!
THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Writing Prompt for Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Last week in my creative writing class, I gave one of my favorite three-prompts. I originally learned it in graduate school when I was working with poet, Ray Gonzalez. It is a particularly good one for the holiday season.
One of my students, Pete of the Pete Kilpatrick Band wrote his letter to the month of July. Much to my surprise and delight, he brought it to the recording studio, and sent me an mp3 of the only prompt I have ever given that inspired a song!
Here’s the prompt:
Write a letter to someone with whom you have unfinished business.
Keep in mind that this is a THREE-part prompt, and this is only part one. So, whatever you do, and no mater how much release you feel after completing this prompt, wait, wait, wait…for parts two and three, which I will post in the next two weeks.
And here’s the Pete Kilpatrick Band with their response.
As always, don’t think, just write!
And, if it’s not too personal, post your response below….
Writing Prompt for Tuesday, November 24, 2009
When I started this writing prompt thread, I invited my writing students to go out and find some writing prompts of their own.
They came back with some gems.
One of them puts me in mind for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and it goes like this:
Write about what you would say to an uninvited guest
Well? What would you say?
Don’t think. Just write.
Writing Prompt for Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Some of you may know that I am working on a narrative cookbook.
What is a narrative cookbook? Well, I thought it was just recipes and stories to go along with them, but when I started going through the index cards and yellowed, vinegar-stained pages handed down to me by my grandmother, scripts that were passed down to her from her mother and grandmother and back and back through the centuries, I realized that what I am writing is not really a cookbook at all.
What I am writing is an extended metaphor.
Here is an example of what I mean from Cooking with Character: The Hyde School Cookbook. It is attributed to the Schwenzer Family, but I think I have seen versions of this in other places:
Recipe for a Happy Home
Combine Happy Hearts;
Melt Hearts into One;
Add A Lot of Love;
Mix Well with Respect;
Add Gentleness, Laughter, Joy, Faith, Hope and Self-Control;
Pour in Much Understanding;
(Don’t Forget the Patience!)
Blend in Listening Ears;
Allow to Grow and Share;
Sprinkle with Smiles, Hugs and Kisses;
Bake for a Lifetime.
Yield: One Happy Home
Serves: Everyone
I should add that what I am writing is not this tidy, sentimental, or winsome. I wish it were.
The prompt for today is to write your own recipe as a metaphor for something else.
For example I might write a recipe for working at home called…
Always-Fails-At-Something Two Crust Pie
Combine three children and one unprepared mother
Cut in equal parts provider husband and private ambitions
Blend with fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
Slowly drizzle in tears of unmet needs
If that’s not enough salt, add guilt,
frustration, and regret from the spice jars
on the shelf.
Sweeten with occasional freelance checks
Gather together with a fork until a ball is formed.
Flatten with a rolling pin
Fill with dreams.
Now you try!
Don’t think. Just write.
Writing Prompt for Tuesday, November 10, 2009
I used to try to be driving somewhere at 9:00 AM so that I could catch Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac on NPR, but a few years ago a friend told me that I could just have it sent to my email inbox every day.
So, I subscribed. I encourage anyone, whether or not you love poetry, to become members of this list, especially if you are a writer, or want to be a writer.
The prompt for today is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Stephen Dunn’s poem, The Sacred, which appeared on the Writer’s Almanac on November 8. I had the good fortune to work with Stephen Dunn one summer when I attended the Stonecoast Writer’s Conference, and the extreme luck (since she works with only a handful of students) to have his wife, Barbara Hurd as my first semester mentor at the Stonecoast MFA Program. I recommend not only both of these writers as people you should read, but also both of these writing programs.
Please read The Sacred.
Then write a poem, short short, essay, or memoir piece about your sacred space.
Post here for feedback.
Don’t think, just write!
H1N1 Vaccine Clinic at Bath Middle School
I just posted a blog at Raising Maine about attending the RSU1 H1N1 and Seasonal Flu Vaccine Clinic at Bath Middle School on Saturday. My school-age kids were eligible to receive these vaccinations, and I struggled to decide whether or not they should have them. It brought up memories of receiving vaccinations at the old Dike School in the North End in the 1970s.
Vaccinating Against H1N1, and other musings
Does anyone else have memories of public school vaccinations? Please share them with me!