Volume VI, Issue 22 May 29, 2017 Word of the Week: goodbye Dear ,
I hope you've had a great holiday weekend, and that you had a chance to hug
and thank a veteran (and/or be hugged and thanked for being a veteran).
Goodbyes and
hellos? Well, they are a part of life, right? And they have sure been a part of my life this past week, as I flew to and back from LA for my sister's son's wedding, and then, a few days later, drove on up to the John Campbell Folk School to teach for the week. (I'm writing you now from our lovely writing studio here.)
Thanks again to my dear friend Wendy H.
Gill for contributing her beautiful photos, including this cover image, that capture the essence of each step of the journey of grieving, healing, and gratitude.
If you're wondering what the difference is between these two grief
rituals, it's simple. Each stage of the process in Praying You Goodbye is accompanied by a corresponding Old and New Testament Scriptural passage, while the stages of the process in How Do I Say
Goodbye? are illustrated with carefully chosen quotations from a wide range of sources.
These books came into being because of requests from people I loved who knew I had created a ritual to say goodbye to my mother and
celebrate her life, and asked me to make it into a book. I'm very grateful for their encouragement, and to have these new books to share.
Speaking of gratitude, as well as hellos and goodbyes,
here's a photo of me in LA with what I'm most grateful to my mother and father for: Mike, Tim, Mary, and John, my four siblings. They make my life richer in so many ways.
This week's featured writing is a poem from How Do I Say
Goodbye? and Praying You Goodbye. (There's an appendix in the back with writings about my mom.) It speaks to the power of love and memory, for, as Helen Keller said, "All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."
May you find
sweetness in every hello and in every goodbye. Upcoming WordPlay
WRITE YOURSELF!
Reap writing’s
benefits—physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Give yourself the gift of exploring how creative writing (journaling, memoir, poetry, fiction) can enrich your life, and what your writing can provide for others. You will learn and practice a number of fun, easy tools and methods to help your words flow, whatever your particular interest. Whether you have published widely, sometimes write in a journal, or haven’t written anything since your senior year of high school, you will enjoy
this lively, informative workshop.
WHERE: Matthews Branch Library. 230 Matthews Station St. Matthews, NC 28105
WHEN: Saturday, June 10, from 10:30 a.m. –
noon
COST: Free! TO REGISTER: To register, visit the Matthews Branch Library registration page here.
WRITE YOURSELF! (for teens)
WHERE: Scaleybark Library. 101 Scaleybark Road. Charlotte,
NC 28209
WHEN: Tuesday, June 20, from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
COST: Free! TO REGISTER: To register, visit the Scaleybark Library registration page here.
-----------------------------------------------
CLASSES AT CHAUTAUQUA
INSTITUTION
WRITE YOURSELF (Week 1)
Reap the benefits writing can provide – physically, mentally, emotionally,
and spiritually – in this class in which you’ll learn and practice whole brain methods for using writing as a transformative process as well as a creative one. These techniques can be used to create essays, poems, memoir, fiction and/or nonfiction. For beginners and seasoned writers.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Hall of Ed. (Sheldon) Room 204
WHEN: Monday, June 26th – Thursday, June 29th, 2017. 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
COST: $82
TO REGISTER: Please visit the Chautauqua Institution registration page here.
MEMOIR: TELLING THE TIMES
OF YOUR
LIFE (Week 2)
Our life stories are a precious legacy. Writing them is a gift, not only to ourselves, but to those who love us – they’ll be treasured for generations to come. Come learn engaging, easy-to-use tools and techniques to retrieve and record your adventures, loves, losses, successes, and more with ease and enjoyment, no matter where you
are in the process, and whether you are writing for yourself, your family, or to publish for a wide audience.
WHERE: Chautauqua Institution. 1 Ames Ave, Chautauqua, NY 14722. Turner 105
WHEN: Monday, July 3rd – Friday, July 7th, 2017. 2:00 to
4:00 p.m.
COST: $82
TO REGISTER: Please visit the Chautauqua Institution registration page here.
More WordPlay opportunities here.
Featured Writing When We Parted, All That Was Really Left…
all that was really left the tremor of your hands
all that was really real: the oxygen tank, the nurse who brushed your hair, that broken-handled
pink plastic hairbrush, nylon bristles half-gone—why did you never
buy yourself a new hairbrush, why did I never notice, right there on your vanity, each year of my childhood,
dwindling
all that was to say how grateful I am for that last night, sleeping there on two pushed-together chairs next to your bed, hearing your labored breath, that you held on until all five of your children arrived
all that and how I told you Perry Como would sing for you in heaven—my last words
Now that you’re gone all that is really left
is everything I remember
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 "goodbye."
PROMPT: Write about a goodbye, in any genre. Include specific details, such as objects, sounds, and word spoken.
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! |
|
|
|
