In the Drift

Here I am 

on a blank page 

wondering 

which words go together 

too many words come at me 

all at once 

not blocked 

merely too many good ideas 

or were they really good?

or just a disparate word 

scribbled on the page with 

the oomph knocked out of it,

maybe even the why of it vanished.

“The clouds don’t overthink; they just drift.”

~ Avijeet Das, poet and writer

Hints

 

Another blank page

Words beg for release

Mere hints of poetry    

“There are no blank words. Just blank pages.”

                ~ Hadinet Tekie, poet and artist                            

Delete...Delete

There it is again

A blank, and very white page

Staring at me 

or am I staring at it. 

Willing brilliant thoughts

   ~ any thoughts ~ 

to appear and make sense.

 If I had been trying to compose on paper, 

my waste basket would be overflowing 

with crumpled lines of drivel.

(The delete button has replaced 

the satisfying crunch of paper.)

“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.”

~ Margaret Atwood

Coming to the Page

Coming to the page….. my companion for decades. Some call it a brain dump, which it is. But I see it more of a companion. Not always cheerful, not always charming, sometimes whining!! OMG! Such a whiner. Fortunately, over the years, that has slowed and almost stopped. Hmmm……I seem to have written something like this before. But, it’s probably been a long time ago, so this morning the words ‘coming to the page’ felt fresh and a great beginning to an essay. This simple action of coming to the page each morning wakes up my mind to solutions rather than worries, gratitude rather than annoyance. There have been days missed; or mornings that became afternoons. All for a variety of reasons. These pages also are reminders of birthdays, world events, my to-do’s for the day, and about the birds in the trees, the weather. There have been the beginnings of stories, dreadful poetry, dreams, ideas or just a good pity party. Occasionally when words fail me, I sketch something - sometimes notes of music, sometimes a tree or a flower or just a doodle. For a time, my penmanship was becoming completely illegible, but with a new project on the horizon that will require good penmanship, my daily entry has become my practice companion. Coming to the page is much more than journaling. When I began writing these Morning Pages, I wrote just because it was recommended. Realizing its value to me, I have continued and will continue even if it’s just two lines on my way out the door. 

“Inspiration may sometimes fail to show up for work

 in the morning, but determination never does.”

~ K.M. Weiland

 

Eye-catching

The page is blank tonight ~

empty and still as the old barrel

~ thoughts as tightly held as 

the green buds that caught my eye.

“you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

~ Stephen King

Break Time

Oh, the blank page ~

silent, flat and 

a plateau for a rest

uninvited, stretching and

a pause to refresh.

“Get comfortable being uncomfortable, that’s how you break 

the plateau and reach the next level.”

~ Chalene Johnson, author

Listening: The Human Factor

This little essay is about writing and reading, two of my favourite pastimes. When I’ve written and posted a Book Review without listening to our book club’s discussion, I find I have more difficulty with organizing my thoughts. This despite reading book reviews on line. Those reviews are very helpful, giving me different perspectives to consider. Discussion among friends is somehow different. Maybe it’s just the laughter, coffee and goodies that are marvellous accompaniments! But somehow I don’t think so. In this world of instant everything, we have access to many, many opinions, online chats, information, various forms of markets and games. What is not immediately accessible is the human contact of….you guessed it….laughter, coffee and goodies. The human dynamic that is the joy of listening and learning about books we read, the movies we go to, a shopping experience or a weekly walk with friends. As I write I see that this little essay is about more than just writing and reading, but about the human experience that touches all of our five senses, as well as our sense of spirit. 

But neither is technology a bad thing. This laptop, cold to touch, holds the photo of my great granddaughter on the screen. It  fills me with a glorious cheer, reminding me of her soft little hand touching my wrinkly old face. My pen, with black ink, and my journal, with soft cover and lined pages, are mere objects. Yet when my hand takes them up each morning, I enter a private space for exploration into my thoughts, ideas, worries, solutions and sometimes even a to do list. Then I take some bit of my writing to the electronics of my laptop and onto my blog site at Standing Still Slowly. To write in my journal or on this electronic page for even a grocery list I have had to listen. To listen to myself and the ideas and experience of others. We can allow technology to disconnect us in annoyance, or use it as the useful tool it is meant to be. Whether electronic or good old fashioned pen and paper, they are all useful tools for writing, for reading and maintaining human connections. By the way, I was introduced to my present walking group, book group and a circle of new friends from an online search many years ago.

Listening is a human factor felt through all of our senses infusing our hearts and spirits with the context of life. Our surface intellect tends to censor what has been heard, sometimes with too much evaluation. When listening is as invisible as the electronics of this computer, the details will be at our fingertips in whatever we do.

“Writing too, is 90% listening. You listen so deeply to the space around you

 that it fills you up, and when you write, it pours out of you.”

~ Natalie Goldberg,  Writing Down the Bones (pg.58)

Inspired Writing ~ 2

Inspiration evolves 

when I slow down and think

when I search for a synonym.

when a sound becomes clear

when just right words pop up.

Inspiration evolves from 

my experiences

my preferences

my abilities and

gradual development.

Inspiration evolves like a balloon filling with air

so that it floats above the surface of the earth to be seen,

felt, and touched until it goes higher 

than I can reach but floats away 

and all I remember is 

its beauty but not the words

Inspiration evolves and revolves

but does not devolve and peter out 

into a colourless nothingness that

makes no sense, or sound, 

but paints my heart’s wishes 

in pastel shades or brilliant hues.

Inspiration evolves when

I put my back into 

an idea or a plan and

with elbow grease and

writer’s cramp I develop

a plan, an idea and have a project

that projects my self into the world.

Inspiration evolves in 

one more piece of writing, 

one more mark on the page

some that I crumple up

and toss into the trash,

others released into the sky.

“Do one thing everyday that scares you.”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Scattered

Quickly

she scattered words

across the page like

pale spring flowers

from high branches 

set adrift 

by a late evening breeze

caught

in the balance

‘tween day and night.

“Write when you least feel like it,

Because that’s when you write best.”

~ Nema Al-Araby

At A Loss for Words

Staring at the page
At a loss for words
Wondering what words will come forth
Fingers patiently hover over keys
Waiting for inspiring impulses
Aware only of the plastic presence below
Waiting…..and waiting….and waiting…..

“Because all the words in the world won’t do much

 good if they’re just rattling around in your head.”

~ Kristin Levine, The Lions of Little Rock

Self-Talk

Self-talk has power ~
Left inside the mind
to spin, bounce and echo
words, ideas, questions run amok,
tangled and confused

Spoken out loud
  ~ in the privacy of home ~ 
Such words resound and ring true.
When heard as a message or a question
possibilities bubble up in surprising clarity

Written and journaled
 ~ grammar and spelling unimportant ~ 
Words flow across the page
Questions, ideas seen for what they could be
Feelings scribbled across the page shift and settle.

“Your self-talk creates your reality.”

~ Abhishek Kumar, Stardust Family - We Are One

Between Covers of Diaries

So many words

Scattered across pages 

Between covers of diaries

Travels and homes

Far away cities

Feeling energetic and hopeful

Then lost and definitely not brave

Just young of mind

Naive of feeling

Between covers of diaries.

Scattered across pages

So many words

“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without geting lost.”

~ Erol Ozan

Another Blank Page

Another blank page
crept up
settled quietly
without vision or design.

Another blank page
like a blue sky 
waiting for puffs of white
stood still and waited
for words that wished to remain hidden

Another blank page
is all that is left tonight
patient and knowing
that in the morrow, the blank page will be filled.

“Writing is a struggle against silence.”

~ Carlos Fuentes

Blinded

Story fragments cut from newsprint Word piles too damp to flame and burn.
Sentences broken in half, stacked haphazardly,
flung against a blank page
like a flutter of starlings up in the clouds.
Vision blinded by starlight, black night ~ or maybe clouds.

“We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details….”
~ Jeff Bezos

Drawing a Blank ~ 1

Words stirred in my mind
rousing sluggishly, as though disturbed from deep slumber.

Word by word by word
Drawn slowly onto the page where all had been blank.

Purpose behind the need for writing out of my thoughts ~
no profound meaning, zero spin to stories and undeveloped change for status quo.

Blank mind, blank page and ready pen
Brilliant ideas lost in the maelstrom of chatter and talk.

“all of us have a place in history. Mine is in the clouds.”

~ Richard Brautigan

In the Stacks

Pages once white, clean and blank 

Words strung carefully across each page

Review - again.

Edit - again

Thoughts so clear when first put down

Still organized but

…..not quite right

Where they should be

Too much

Too little

One page at a time

One sentence at a time

Stack up the pages

Divide them in doable time spaces

Coloured paper clips for each ‘reading’

Don’t think about good or bad

How much or how many

Just do the work.

Done…….for today.

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

~ Jack Kerouac,  The Dharma Bums