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Posts Tagged ‘morning pages’

#SOL21: Morning Pages

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , on March 29, 2021| 8 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I’ve been writing morning pages for a few months now, and every once in a while something appears that is worthy of sharing. And then I saw this quote on the last task in the last week (Week 12).

So today I am sharing some morning pages writing.

3/23/21 Touchstones, things you love

  • Flowers in a vase on my kitchen table
  • Pearl ring from my Godmother’s estate (Margaret means “Pearl”)
  • Wisteria blossoms, azaleas, sunflowers, magnolias, roses…flowers!
  • Dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds
  • Pecans, roasted, sugared, and in pie
  • Paul Simon Graceland
  • The name Simon
  • Grandbabies
  • Papa’s shirt

3/26/21
Reading Aimee Nezhukumatahil this morning. Just writing
her name makes me feel smart. She names things
like fruit bats and whale sharks, becomes animal in her poem,
leads me to wonder what animal I am, barely alive, awake
enough to feel the familiar ache of waking.
I am worried about the final shot, how my body
will react or not, and what immunity really means.
Yesterday my dog jumped on the AT&T saleswoman
at the door. I told her he was friendly while I kept
my distance. We all keep distances between us.
I wonder what immunity really means.

Margaret Simon, draft

3/29/21

Resistance in “not good enough” mantra

Fear is an infection poisoning my body so I cannot perform

Anger is I can’t do this; why do you make me?

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SOL21: Day 27 Pause

Posted in #sosmagic, Gratitude, Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged , , , on March 27, 2021| 10 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
Open Invitation to Write on Sharing Our Stories

 One of the most satisfying things about teaching for me is learning. I learn something new every day, and it still surprises me. On Teach this Poem by Poets.org, I learned about a poetic device: caesura, referring to a pause for a beat in the rhythm of a verse, often indicated by a line break or by punctuation. This literary device was used with effectiveness in a poem by Yesenia Montilla, a brief meditation on breath.

A brief meditation on breath

–they’re saying
this virus takes your breath away, not
like a mother’s love or like a good kiss
from your lover’s soft mouth but like the police
it can kill you fast or slow; dealer’s choice.
a pallbearer carrying your body without a casket.
they say it’s so contagious it could be quite
breathtaking. so persistent it might as well
be breathing                        down your neck—

Copyright © 2020 by Yesenia Montilla. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on July 21, 2020 by the Academy of American Poets.

A long held belief of mine is that our bodies will tell us when to pause. I’ve believed this since 1995 when a herniated disc in my spine caused severe pain and subsequent surgery. There was nothing to do but pause and heal. Whenever I moved, pain would send me back. Luckily, I’ve not had any serious trouble since then, but I have learned to listen and pause when my body tells me to. I haven’t quite conquered yet the annoyance and guilt that sets in. We always want answers, so when the answer is “wait”, we twiddle thumbs and pace and complain.

Pause to enjoy the azaleas–
Walking to the parking lot from school, I stopped to notice how two azalea bushes were intertwined.

Following The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, I’ve been writing morning pages for a few months. They are scribbled scratches before my coffee, before my mind wakes up. I really wasn’t sure this exercise was working for me. I’ve been resistant and irritated about it. Like when my body hurts, morning pages were a kind of pain in my side. I did them out of obligation, a commitment to a weekly group. But yesterday morning, a poem came out. And today, I wrote about a picture book idea.

So, wait a minute…you’re telling me that writing morning pages every day since January 3rd is finally opening up your creativity? Could it really take that long? Perhaps it won’t for you, but it has for me. And I’m still unsure if I’ll keep up the practice after our last meeting this week. Yet, there is something to be said for taking a pause, taking your pulse before the day begins.

Like caesura Pause. Begin. Be.

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