Volume V, Issue 31 August 1, 2016 Word of the Week: growing Dear ,
This time of year always makes me think of going off to college, a "growing" time of life
if there ever was one. If you had this experience, do you remember just how it felt, like I do?
So much is still vivid in my mind—how I sang Carly Simon's "Anticipation" to myself in the back seat of my parents' green station wagon on the way there, barely able to stand my own anticipation, mingled as it was with fear; how I saw (and heard) a coed with long, dark,
curly, unruly hair berating the man lining up the cars to unload in front of the dorm and said to my mom and dad, "I sure hope she's not my roommate," only to discover she indeed was. (She dropped out in October, and I admit I was thrilled to have the dorm room to myself.)
I also
remember, self-absorbed seventeen-year-old I was, humming and singing non-stop for days beforehand (I have always been a hummer and a singer), and how my mother asked me one evening, as I was standing by the sink grating carrots, “Aren’t you sad at all about leaving?” I didn’t understand the question. Why in the world would I be?
By the time I graduated, I had begun to understand that question of my mother's, as well as a bit about what my parents had done for me; by the time I shepherded my own kids off to college, I appreciated them more than I could ever say.
And in those four years between, I was growing, in large part because of the wonderful teachers and friends I had, including my friend Kris Caldwell, who also lived on sixth floor Wallace and included me in her plans when my roommate went home every weekend to be with her boyfriend. Perhaps the greatest gift Kris gave me was showing me her little black book of gathered quotes,
each neatly printed in her art-worthy hand. And while the book I created in emulation, incorporating many of Kris's selections, did not look as beautiful, I still love it, low-tech as it is.
Here's an excerpt from the first page:
I am still (like you!) doing all I can to grow, to, when needed, feed "the painful eagerness of unfed hope," to "be teachable" and "laugh at good
stories and learn to tell them" and to stretch my mind with new ideas. I don't plan to ever stop "growing into it," whatever form of experience or skill that "it" happens to be.
That's something this week's featured writer, Charles Coe, and I clearly share. (We also share having a mother who told us, in response to our objections about items of clothing, "you'll grow into it.") I met Charles at a poetry reading he gave at Chautauqua Institution last month, which I thoroughly
enjoyed—and I enjoyed even more the talk he gave several days later about his love of libraries, as I too spent many splendid hours in my hometown library when I was growing up. As you'll see from his poem "A Symphony of Crickets," Charles is also a great
lover of music. I'm so proud to share him, and his fine work, with you.
One last thing—if you're looking for writing inspiration, there are still spots in this Saturday's summer writing retreat and the week-long "Write Like a Genius" class at the John Campbell Folk School. I'd love to have you jump in. Details below.
Long may you grow!
Maureen
Upcoming WordPlay SUMMER WRITING RETREAT
Coming this Saturday!
(Writing as Renewal / Creating New Writing / Tools for a Writing Life)
Renew and delight yourself. The Summer Writing Retreat is an opportunity to create new pieces of writing and/or new possibilities for our lives. Enjoy various seasonal prompts; they elicit beautiful
material that can be shaped into essays, poems, stories, or articles. After a communal lunch, you’ll have private time which can be used to collage, work with a piece of writing from the morning, or play with a number of other writing prompts and methods. You’ll take home new ideas, new drafts, and new possibilities. $97 includes lunch and supplies.
WHERE: South Charlotte area. Details will be provided upon registration.
WHEN: Saturday, August 6th, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To pay online, please click this link to check out using PayPal.
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WRITE LIKE A GENIUS
(Expanding Our Creativity; Learning New Tools for Our Writing and Our Lives; Creating New Writing)
Discover your own genius as you learn to apply seven fascinating approaches of Leonardo da Vinci to your writing. These techniques enliven non-fiction, poetry and fiction. Expect fun, inspiration and writing galore in your preferred genre, with opportunities to share your work.
$630 for one week-long session (lodging and meals are additional – options can be found on the Folk School website). WHERE: John Campbell Folk School, 1 Folk School Road, Brasstown, NC 28902
WHEN: Sunday, August 7 – Saturday August 13, 2016.
TO REGISTER: To register,
please click this John Campbell Folk School link to register directly from them.
More WordPlay opportunities here. Featured Writer Charles Coe
Charles Coe and I on the Literary Arts Center's Porch at Chautauqua Institution
Charles Coe is the author of the poetry
collections Picnic on the Moon and All Sins Forgiven: Poems for My Parents. His poetry and prose have appeared in numerous newspapers and literary reviews and magazines, and his poems have been set to music by composers Julia Carey,
Beth Denisch and Robert Moran. Charles also writes feature articles, book reviews and interviews for publications such as Harvard Magazine, Northeastern University Law Review and the Boston Phoenix. In addition to his work as a writer, Charles has an extensive background as a jazz vocalist and has performed and recorded with numerous musicians in the Boston area and throughout New England. Featured Writing A Symphony of Crickets by Charles Coe I owned one suit as a child—a reddish-brown, wide-wale corduroy number with red and gold paisley fake silk lining—that
one Christmas, Mother intentionally purchased two sizes too big. ("You'll grow into it" she replied to my whined objections.) It was made of cheap, heavy fabric that bent only grudgingly at elbows and knees; I
was Frankenstein's monster, stomping stiff-legged through the forest, chased by torch-wielding villagers and their determined bloodhounds. And the pants rubbed with humiliating ferocity; I was a walking symphony of crickets. I wore my
suit the day in eighth grade I took two buses, alone, to hear Isaac Stern perform with the Indianapolis Symphony. I was studying violin, and would spend hours in the library, headphones on, listening to his records. I'd saved enough from my paper route to buy a ticket, and when I got to the hall I climbed to my seat high in the back of the balcony, one brown face awash in a sea of white, in my little cheap suit, listening to the maestro, my crickets
and I, transfixed and silent. ~ from Charles Coe's All Sins Forgiven: Poems for My Parents To read more, or purchase this book,
WordPlay Now! Writing
Prompt This is WordPlay—so why not revel in the power and
potential of one good word after another? This week, it's "growing."
PROMPT:
Write about a "growing" time in your life, or the life of one of your characters. Be sure to include, as Charles Coe does, details of time and place, as well as specific sensory details, and the thoughts and
feelings that accompanied this growth.
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. One of her long-held dreams came true in July of 2015 when Garrison Keillor read one of her poems on The Writer's Almanac. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another."
Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with
intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours! |
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