[WordPlay Word-zine] On Pianos, Brokenness, and Song

Published: Mon, 12/17/18

The WordPlay Word-zine

Volume VII, Issue 50

December 17, 2018

Word of the Week: piano

Dear ,

When I was a kid, I wanted a piano desperately, perhaps in part because they featured prominently in some of my favorite books, like the beloved-by-many Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace.

an illustration by Vera Neville in Maud Heart Lovelace's Heaven to Betsy of Betsy's sister Julia playing the piano

There was also a piano at my Girl Scout camp, and learning how to pick out one part of "Heart and Soul" when I was ten so I could play a duet with a friend was pretty heady stuff, bringing a song to life.

I learned how to appreciate the piano more and more the older I got, and it was quite the happy day when we brought home our very own Baldwin upright when our daughter was eight years old. There's Christmas sheet music on it right now, in fact, from when she, now 32!, was over helping to trim the tree a few weeks ago. She's rusty, and I'm even rustier, having largely taught myself to play a little through various beginner books. Still, there's a joy in making even ragged music, not unlike the joy of stringing together words into a story, even if it's never going to win a prize.

This week's prompt is about, as I'm sure you expect, a piano. What you might not expect is that it's a broken one that makes a different kind of music. I fell in love with this poem by Patrick Phillips when I first encountered it back in 2008, and thought I would share it with you in this season in which we are so often touched by the goodness of others, and how much difference that can make when we are feeling "broken or abandoned, or unloved." Sometimes, when I'm at my most broken, the humblest of songs or stories is a step toward healing, an exercise in hope.

May you always have a song to sing, a story to tell,

Maureen

Upcoming WordPlay

THE GIFT OF MEMOIR:

How to Get Your Most Meaningful Life Stories
on Paper with Ease

Still Spots Left for This Thursday, December 20th

(Preserving Family History; Writing for and about Your Family; The Art of Memoir)

Just for you, a Gift of Memoir class to help you get your most meaningful life stories written. As best-selling author Rachel Naomi Remen says in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom, facts bring us to knowledge, but stories bring us to wisdom. If you are interested in writing family and/or personal life stories—those significant tales of adventure, transition, love, loss, and triumph, as well as lovely everyday moments from times past or the present, come learn specific tools and techniques to retrieve and record them.

You will learn and practice the fundamental tools and steps needed to both capture individual events that have been important to you, reflecting on the impact and meaning as well as what happened, and the process of collecting events together into a full-length memoir or book of essays—whether this is for personal reflection, to share with family and friends, or to publish to reach a larger audience.

And you'll have the opportunity to share one of your stories (up to 1,200 words) with the class to receive feedback and guidance in moving forward.

Our stories are a precious legacy. Putting them in writing is a gift to all who know and love us—they can be treasured and enjoyed for generations to come. It is also a gift to ourselves.

* For the benefit of participants, an audio recording of the class will be made each week so that participants are able to listen to classes they miss and/or review material covered at any convenient time and place. These recordings are available throughout the class session, along with all handouts, in a shared Dropbox folder.

WHERE: The WordPlay studio, Ballantyne area. Directions will be sent upon registration.
WHEN: Thursday morning, December 20th, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
COST: $65/three hours.

Or save by taking the remaining series of six for $287. (Only one spot left for the series!) The dates are:
December 20
January 31
February 28
March 28
April 25
May 23

Feel free to try out the first class before committing to the series. If you'd like to continue, the cost of the first class will be deducted from the total.

TO REGISTER: Please send an email with your contact information to info@wordplaynow.com and the subject line: “Gift of Memoir” and we’ll reply with more information. Hope to have you there! CLASS SIZE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS.

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WRITING WITH HEART, MIND, BODY, AND SOUL

Do you wish you knew the secret to creating writing that readers love? And when and how to show versus tell? Then this workshop is perfect for you, whether you write fiction or nonfiction, memoir, essays, short stories, or novels. You will learn to identify and practice the use of showing and telling through the lens of the four “elements” of human being: heart, mind, body, and soul. Whether you’re a new, rusty, or accomplished writer, you’re sure to learn something new about the art and craft of writing prose that will leave you—and your readers—more satisfied with your work.

WHERE: Morrison Regional Library, 7015 Morrison Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28211
WHEN: Wednesday, January 9th, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
COST: Free!

TO REGISTER: To register online, please visit the Morrison Regional Library website here.

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COASTAL WRITING RETREAT

AT THE SUNSET INN

Connect with Your Creativity at the Sunset Inn (Writing—and more—as Renewal and Inspiration)

Renew yourself and reconnect with your own creativity, whether you are a practicing writer, closet writer, or as-yet-to-pick-up-the-pen writer! The techniques and prompts we’ll use will spur your imagination, and can be used to create nonfiction, fiction, and/or poetry—the choice is yours. $418 + room tax for the weekend beginning Friday, February 22nd through Sunday, February 24th. The Coastal Writing Retreat includes writing sessions, two nights’ lodging, two breakfasts and Saturday lunch (hotel tax and Saturday dinner at a local restaurant not included).

Want to extend your retreat? If you’d like to stay another day to write, or to just enjoy the beach, the Inn is offering Coastal Writing Retreat participants the opportunity to stay Sunday night at half price.

(Extra writing retreat sessions are a possibility too. Email info@wordplaynow.com if you’re interested.)

WHERE: The Sunset Inn, 9 North Shore Dr., Sunset Beach, NC 28468
WHEN: Friday, February 22nd – Sunday, February 24th, 2019
COST: $458 + room tax for the weekend

TO REGISTER: Please contact the Sunset Inn directly at 888.575.1001 or 910.575.1000. If you would like to handpick your room, view your choices here first, then call.

More WordPlay opportunities here.

Featured Writing

"Piano"

Patrick Phillips

Touched by your goodness, I am like

that grand piano we found one night on Willoughby

that someone had smashed and somehow

heaved through an open window.

And you might think by this I mean I’m broken

or abandoned, or unloved. Truth is, I don’t

know exactly what I am, any more

than the wreckage in the alley knows

it’s a piano, filling with trash and yellow leaves.

Maybe I’m all that’s left of what I was.

But touching me, I know, you are the good

breeze blowing across its rusted strings.

What would you call that feeling when the wood,

even with its cracked harp, starts to sing?

Learn more about Patrick Phillips here.

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 "piano."

PROMPT: Write a poem, scene, story, essay, or personal remembrance that has a piano in it, broken or otherwise.

It's fun to play with prompts in community with fellow writers, and to be able to share the results when you're done. You can find out about WordPlay classes, workshops, and retreats here.

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.

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!

WordPlay
Maureen Ryan Griffin
Email: info@wordplaynow.com
Website: www.wordplaynow.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/wordplaynow