Saturday, June 26, 2010

Julia Found Words for Me

sunset

Where do writing ideas come from?

If we are open to the world, we find they are around every corner, inside every ice cream cone (or Popsicle, as the case may be). Writing ideas are often in the words that other people say. Like these from Julia Cameron...

Wherever I am, wherever I can, I write.... Am I balanced? Overreacting? Happy? Sad? My hand moving across the page teaches me my emotional weather. (p.173)

I loved those words. The minute I read them I knew they contained a poem. If I only I would write it. Part of me wanted to move forward and finish her chapter, but I ignored that dutiful self. There had been the slightest beginning of a discovery, the tip of something, and I decided I'd rather spend my time uncovering what Julia had found for me...

Weather Report

My hand across the page
tells me this is a hot
June day— unbearably
hot— and I am not anymore
the kind of woman who
will sit back and take it
without finding a lime green
Popsicle or a lone shaded stone
on which to eat frozen sweetness
down to its round-edged stick.

What words are waiting for you today, maybe next to the lawn mower? You'd better bring a notebook along to catch and keep them.


Sunset photo by Sara. Used with permission.

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Glynn's Practice of Writing
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Cassandra's Like Water on a Stone
Lyla's On Coffee and Caves

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26 Comments:

Blogger Kathleen Overby said...

Sad ~ when
it arrives ~ makes others
want to wriggle me
away to another place
more comfortable for
them. It's not a blanket
to wrap up in, a tent to
set up, or cement to
scratch my name in
for forever. It's a river.
I let it scour me.
It moves on.
Sad scabs gone
No scars. I'm clean.

I loved this post and poem of yours, Laura. :)

11:06 AM  
Blogger Sandra Heska King said...

Clutter berry days
suck sweet juices from my spirit
leave me dry and fruitless
steal my soul blood
and I am not any more
the kind of woman
who will sit back and take it.
I grab a garbage bag.

11:28 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Nice post and poem. I liked Julia's words as well. I always bring a notebook. I like the other commenters poetry as well.

12:09 PM  
Blogger Maureen said...

Zigging light slashes clouds
swelled with run-away anger.
Angels wince once or twice
before rearranging the furniture
on heaven's floor.

12:27 PM  
Blogger Louise Gallagher said...

oooohhhhh -- I love your post and the poetry your words inspired.

this is connectivity in motion!

I'm thinking, catch and release -- capture the words and release them for all to read.

And... your books arrived in the mail this week! yippeee!!!

2:07 PM  
Blogger Linda said...

Your poem made me smile. It is just right!
You are the second one today to recommend taking along paper and pen when going anywhere. I must do it. I am often getting wonderful inspirational ideas while walking only to draw a complete blank when I get home!

9:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very nice poem. And I am glad that you are not the kind of woman any more who will just take it!

I have no shortage of ideas for writing. Usually. It seems there is a never-ending stream running through my sub-conscious, waiting for me to start putting it down on paper.

6:34 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

dust clouds rage
on the horizon
but inside water
floods. just a
drop, this
landscape
needed but now--
watershed. i pick
my way one step
at a time, careful
not to be washed
away.

8:03 AM  
Blogger Kelly Sauer said...

the photo is beautiful - you can see the light playing there, streaking beauty in the sky. beautiful capture, Sara.

and the poem. you wrote it in the moment, and your sharing of the moment here gives context and deepens the meaning. i love it. it's like the photos i take, telling more than the picture it paints. perfect!

8:16 AM  
Blogger SimplyDarlene said...

I found writing words at a gate this weekend and in the bathroom trash this morning. I reckon I found them there because that's where my heart was.

Indeed it is time for something dripping with summer's sweet love...how about homemade popsicles with hunks of real cherries frozen inside?

Blessings.

1:55 PM  
Blogger SimplyDarlene said...

I found writing words at a gate this weekend and in the bathroom trash this morning. I reckon I found them there because that's where my heart was.

Indeed it is time for something dripping with summer's sweet love...how about homemade popsicles with hunks of real cherries frozen inside?

Blessings.

1:55 PM  
Blogger Cassandra Frear said...

The thing about blogging is that it is raw and organic, crafted directly from the life spawning it. There is a flow from life to word and then from word back to life.

I love this. I could sense it here.

3:34 PM  
Blogger Cassandra Frear said...

The thing about blogging is that it is raw and organic, crafted directly from the life spawning it. There is a flow from life to word and then from word back to life.

I love this. I could sense it here.

3:34 PM  
Anonymous Lyla Lindquist said...

I appreciate the stopping -- something was speaking, and rather than pushing forward, you stopped and listened, let it speak.

Sometimes I think we're not allowed to do that. (At least I do.)

Who sets these schedules, anyway? :)

12:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure, but I am thinking I just sketched in a cave what is happening here... perhaps.

4:02 PM  
Blogger Dianna Woolley said...

Beautiful poem - inspiring - and deliciously satisfying, right down to the stick!

Julia Cameron is an inspiration and the fact that you preferred the pen over the author's prose shows how perfectly her words arouse your creative mind - great job of sharing your lesson with us. Julia would give you an A+ and so do I!

12:09 AM  
Blogger Sarah said...

Delighted to stop by today. I hope you don't mind if I splash around a bit to get to know you. THis looks like a nice place to slip off my shoes and soak in refreshing goodness.

Splashin,
Sara

1:36 PM  
Blogger Janis Van Keuren said...

Oooooh! I like the insight and the feel of the idea that you can find something to write in anything if you just look around you. My eyes will be more open.

Thank you for visiting and for leaving the thought that everywhere you look, Laura, you see the beauty, grace, and strength of the Lord.

Lovely. I like the faces of flowers, too.

Janis

12:12 AM  
Blogger Ted M. Gossard said...

Nice poem, L.L. I do that unconsciously as it were, I think. I mean somehow make other people's words my own. But as much as they're owned by the other, they have to become mine, in a way.

But I do get weary of words. While still loving them. Words are beautiful, but point to a greater beauty which they can't really express in so many things.

8:11 PM  
Anonymous dianne said...

Fun thoughts, beautiful picture. Captured in a moment. Glad I happened by to read. Actually I stopped to post a link as I was inspired by your poetry prompt this week. Is this the right place? http://takingdictation.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/dance-recital/

4:00 PM  
Anonymous HisFireFly said...

I responded to your Random Acts of Poetry post at High Callings -- prompted by a tablespoon of summer.

Find me here http://hisfirefly.blogspot.com/2010/07/spoonful-of-summer.html

6:24 PM  
Blogger Sandra Heska King said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

10:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

first-- I am all about that popsicle poem. It delights me.

second-- a little something for your RAP prompt-- http://tfgpoetry.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/recipe-for-a-boys-summer/

third-- have a delightful day!

10:58 PM  
Blogger Deidra said...

today
i sat on a hill
and watched
the prairie grasses
rolling in the wind
and butterflies
and dragonflies
and swallows flying
into nests
while sunlight
glimmered off the water
standing still
and from my perch up on
that hill i saw
shadows flow across
it all but looking
overhead it seemed
the clouds stood still
and there between earth
and sky i saw the
things only
seen when
sitting on
a perch on a hill

10:59 PM  
Blogger Sandra Heska King said...

Here's a link for your RAP.

http://thewritepursuit.blogspot.com/2010/07/playing-with-poetry.html

10:43 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

Here's my Tablespoon of Summer...or maybe a bowlful :)

http://lauraboggess.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-after-fourth-of-july.html

10:28 AM  

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