Volume VIII, Issue 48
December 4, 2019
Dear ,
You probably know by now how much I love music. I get my appreciation for it naturally. My parents loved music, too. In fact, they met in a Catholic social club for university students shortly after the end of World War II when my mother was taking a music appreciation class. Mother and Dad had a large collection of records, which spun on our Hi-Fi's turntable often. Show tunes and Perry Como were, I believe, my
mother's favorites.
Many years after I moved down to North Carolina, my mother was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. Here's a photo of my parents in their apartment at a facility that offered the managed care my mother would soon need.
Mother's love of music continued throughout her illness. I often sang or played her show tunes from musicals we'd seen together. And on one of my many visits to see her, the local PBS station was broadcasting a rerun of the
Lawrence Welk show. Mother paid it no attention until a familiar tune caught her attention . . . “Oh, it’s a jolly holiday with Mary…” She looked up and smiled straight at me with recognition, an unexpected gift.
No wonder that, when I was working with WordPlayer Phyllis Hartsell on her collection of poetry, She Calls Me Ruby, about her mother's journey through memory loss, a poem called "Music for Memory
Care" caught my attention. I'm grateful to Phyllis—who delights me and her classmates every month with her wit and warmth—for giving me
permission to share it with you as this week's featured writing.
Music has so many therapeutic applications, as well as providing sheer pleasure. It's also a great tool for writers. Want to write about a time in your past, in memoir, fiction, or poetry? Play a few songs that were popular at the time (and/or songs you listened to a lot) while closing your eyes and you'll likely be transported back there through a flood of other sensory details: familiar faces, food,
furniture, and more.
You can also try a trick of mine: taking dance breaks during your longer writing sessions! What songs could make your writing sing?
Love and light,
WordPlay
TAG, I'M IT!
Both the year-long TAG, I'M IT! AND
three-month TAG, I'M IT! journals until this Friday, December 6th.
After making the year-long version (find out more about it and purchase here), I got great feedback from readers
that it would be nice to have a smaller, more portable version for traveling, and it also occurred to me that people might want to try the process out before investing in a journal that lasts a whole year Plus, it's less expensive, always a nice option. (Find out more about this version and purchase
here.) The year-length TAG, I'M IT!, which sells for $17, is on sale for $15.30, and the three-month TAG, I'M IT!, which sells for $9.99, is on sale for $7.99.
POETRY ROCKS!
Would you like your writing — prose and/or poetry — to be more graceful, powerful, beautiful? Do you sometimes find poetry confusing or intimidating and wish you could “crack the code”? Or do you enjoy writing and reading poems, but want a more thorough understanding of what makes a poem good? Then this poetry extravaganza is for you.
Expect a good time exploring what makes a poem a poem, gaining the knowledge you need to confidently create and revise poetry, and strengthening your writing skills in all genres.
It would be a joy and an honor to share what rocks about poetry with you!
HERE’S WHAT YOU GET:
- 23 poetry creation tools, delivered one per day (Monday through Friday) to your inbox — in honor of National Poetry month. Use them as you get them, use them when you can, use them over and over to create poems. Each tool zeroes in on one aspect of poetry and provides an innovative method to approach writing a poem. Many of them are great for creating prose,
too. The tools include:
* a purpose, so you’re clear what you will learn
* background information when helpful
* “how-to” directions to create a poem
* an example that illustrates the poetry tool in action
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
* “Hone Your Craft” suggestions for further exploration
* a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
- A PDF document of each tool that you can print or save on your computer
- An audio recording of each tool, so you can learn by listening and/or reading
- Instruction on the role of audience, reading like a writer, and the process of revision, including a handy Revision Checkpoint Chart — this information can be applied to strengthen your prose as well as poetry
- Additional poetry resources
- An e-book that contains the information and resources covered, as well as your 23 poetry creation tools for ongoing use
WHERE: From the comfort of your own home, via the web.
WHEN: Any time you want! And once you receive all 23 tools, they’re yours to keep, which means that you can keep using them for years to come.
COST: $45
TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To register for Poetry Rocks online, click here.
More WordPlay opportunities coming soon. Stay posted!
Featured Writer
Phyllis Hartsell
Phyllis's Self-Portrait
Living in rural Lancaster County, S.C., I have a sometimes quiet and often peaceful existence with my sweet and salty husband, Joe. We are happily retired and actively pursue multiple hobbies. Joe plays pickleball four times a week and races on road tracks every chance he gets. In his spare time he rebuilds classic cars. He always keeps me guessing about what he will do next.
We adopted two shelter dogs last spring and they are my daily entertainment as I shovel poop or pull tortured moles out of their mouths.
Also the two youngest grandchildren still enjoy spending time with their Granny and Papa Joe. Our grandson and I love to fish in the pond, baiting the hook with something smelly to tempt the giant catfish that our grandson named "Walter", and our granddaughter loves to experiment with messy art projects as much as I do.
After retirement, I thought writing would be fun and it is a great playtime, and it is much more. Writing is great brain calisthenics plus an outlet for social and emotional reckoning. I have connected consciously and poignantly with friends, family, and myself.
Tutored and encouraged by Maureen in a WordPlay memoir class, I interviewed my 12 cousins and complied a book of their biographies for the family. It is titled A Dozen Cousins. Then Maureen's course, "Poetry Rocks", gave me a lifeline to cope with my mother's struggles with dementia. The result is a book of poems, She Calls Me Ruby. In a Wordplay Under Construction class, I wrote a high
school story that was published in Sun Magazine's "Readers Write". Currently, I am part of a diverse group that Maureen is guiding through writing memoirs and I am telling tales that I think my family will enjoy.
What Phyllis says about WordPlay
In the beginning, retirement looked like an abyss, a dark fat hole where I might get lost in bittersweet caregiving and mindless routines. Then my friend Linda Matney invited me to join Maureen's class, "How to Think Like Leonardo." We colored, we listened to music, and we wrote. It was so much fun that I accepted Maureen's offer to play, WordPlay that is, with some writers of
memoir...oh, the stories we shared!
Another spring, the mystery of poetry was revealed as Maureen taught me to build a compost of emotion, senses, and sound. This pile of rich, black soil filled my abyss and left fertile ground for a memoir, A Dozen Cousins, that I wrote for my dear family.
Then, remembering how Maureen planted seeds with the sound of Springsteen and germinated thoughts with the nourishment of Gandhi, I felt she could tend my garden of weeds in a class called "Under Construction." And she did, teaching me to hoe and prune. The bounty was harvested. I have a book of poetry, She Calls Me Ruby, dedicated to my sweet Mama to prove
it.
It's a new season now, and Maureen is preparing to propagate something fresh. I can't wait.
Featured Writing
a poem from
She Calls Me Ruby
by
Phyllis Hartsell
Music for Memory Care
Oldie Goldies, Easy Listening, Southern Gospel
brought to you by a $20 player of discs.
Sound to submerge the quiet
solitude of lost
words.
Where do they go?
A scratch on the memory recorder,
or skip-hopping the hippocampus,
snapping synapses and still-born
words
until a tune wraps around
the cerebral cortex where
speech fires up
a whole stack of sounds,
sending smoking syntax,
rocking the amygdala, emotions
firing into a song so sweet.
Remembering
the sound waves, Hello
words!
Notes of feeling. Seeing it now.
Hands sweat with a young love
sitting in the balcony above, teaching
the heart to croon.
Then remember the song,
echoing wall to wall,
when Daddy passed,
music masked the pain,
breaking a mourner's fall.
And there it is again the lyric
learned singing lullabies.
No infant cries. All
words
abide in life's holograms,
floating in a song
where the words hide.
~ This beautiful poem, and many others, can be found
in Phyllis Hartsell's book She Calls Me Ruby.
Click the book's title to learn more or purchase.
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 "tune."
PROMPT: This week, start a running list of songs you love. One good way to do this is to divide your life into periods: Early Childhood, Elementary School, High School, College or Early Work Life, your 20's, and so on, by decade or other milestones. Try playing a song or two to start off a writing session, if you like.
Then, choose one song and play it. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and let the words and tune lead your writing. What emerges? And what could you make of it?
You may also want to incorporate songs into your writing by title, to add an auditory detail and give authenticity. Don't, however, use lyrics without getting permission.
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!
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