GETTING LOST

"Part of the finding is getting lost."

I'm not sure but if I remember right the author said the above and I agree. I can follow this path right into the maze where I will certainly get lost. Hopefully, I will also find myself. I read this in my second, or is it third, rereading of Sue Bender's "Everyday Sacred." If you haven't read it, I encourage you to do so.

When writing, I feel I must research, read, listen to others, and keep an open mind to find the answers. To my amazement, I often find those answers just as often when I get away from the screen or the page, and wander, stroll, even seem lost.

Maybe because I am a woman of an era when women were expected to stay home, have babies and keep their mouths shut (that certainly wasn't me, at the encouragement of my mother who was one of them, except for the mouth part). Though I had much more freedom that the prior generation, those old teachings aren't far from the surface. I strive to be an independent woman but I also feel driven to be a good wife, mother, a proper housekeeper, and caregiver to everyone who needs me. I need to get lost.

I need to lose myself in my writing, in a good book, in association with other creative people. I must allow myself time to dedicate myself to this love for words when I need to. I should stomp my feet and demand that I be given the time.

As you might know, it's not so easy to lose yourself.

POETS, INC. / SUMMATIONS

Today at the Escondido Municipal Art Gallery in Escondido, CA, Summations III, the third annual chapbook filled with the interpretation of art through poetry was unvailed with a rousing reading/feasting and emotional four-hour book release.

Many of the artists of the work we wrote to were in attendance; it was inspiring to hear how they came up with the idea for their painting, wall piece, photograph, or sculptor. It was more amazing to see how "right-on" many of the poets were in the word picture they painted without ever having met the artist of their chosen work.

For more years than I care to admit, I have taught classes and workshops for beginning writers. In advance, I request that they show up for the first session with a photograph. It doesn't have to be a personal photograph and, if it is, it doesn't mean you have to know everyone in the photo or the story that goes with it. I ask my students to write the story they see there. That's the same thing we poets did with our chosen works of art; we wrote the story we saw there.

I challenge writers to do this as a prompt, or when you are stuck and can't seem to move forward with your latest project. It will stretch your imagaination and create personal pieces you never knew you had in you.