Volume IX, Issue 13
March 25, 2020
Dear ,
One of the silver linings in this time of social distancing is that we now—unlike our ancestors who lived through a pandemic—have the technology to talk to each other, and even see each other, no matter where we are sequestered. It's a marvel!
As I wrote a friend on Facebook, I think we are being given the opportunity to be even more closely connected with our hearts, minds, and spirits—only our bodies are
at a distance.
I have spent more time connecting with people in the last few weeks than I have in a long while. And I've noticed that just the sight of a loved one's name on my phone screen or my Facebook notification list can lift my spirits.
Like, say, my friend Nora's name. Nora and I met back in 1977 when we waitressed together at Elby's Big Boy Restaurant in Erie, Pennsylvania. We connected over our love of camping, among many other things, and despite the fact that we haven't lived in the same state for over 40 years, we've stayed fast friends.
Here we are at Yellowstone National Park back in 2013, on one of our few-and-far-between get-together's. (It's fun to do a bit of armchair traveling this evening since I sure am not going anywhere anytime soon!)
This dear friend of mine was the first Nora I ever met, and is still one of the few I know. Dale Carnegie once said, "The sweetest sound in the
world is the person's own name," but I believe the name of someone we love can be even sweeter.
In fact, sometimes I call my sweet granddaughter, Ellie, whose full name is Eleanor, Elea-nora just because it makes me smile to combine these names of two people I love. And my smiling makes her smile. (Yes, even over Google Duo, my go-to phone video app, since Ellie and I are social distancing too.)
How much a name can hold, whether we are far apart or right next to each other. And how important names are.
This week's featured writing is a chapter called "My Name" from Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, which I have been hearing about for years but only recently read, thanks to the interview with Cisneros, "A House of Her Own" on the podcast On
Being with Krista Tippett, which you can listen to, or read, in its entirety here: https://onbeing.org/programs/sandra-cisneros-a-house-of-her-own/.
I loved the podcast so much that I immediately picked up a copy of The House on Mango Street, which was first published in 1984. Better late than never!
If you're feeling blue, try listing the names of the people you love, starting as far back as you can remember. Pay attention to what happens in your heart as you do. And what experiences and stories bubble up that you can write about.
Enjoy the featured writing, and try out the prompt below too. And if you have extra time right now, check out other episodes of On Being with Krista Tippett. (When my own thoughts aren't very good company, I often
take "On Being" on a good, long walk, and I always feel better.)
Take good care of you and yours, body, heart, mind, and spirit,
Online WordPlay
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—especially in this challenging time.
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- 23 poetry creation tools, delivered one per day (Monday through Friday) to your inbox — in honor of National Poetry month, which is right around the corner. 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
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WHERE: From the comfort of your own home, via the internet.
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.
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TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To sign-up online for Poetry Rocks, click here.
Featured Writing
A Chapter from
The House on Mango Street
by
Sandra Cisneros
My Name
In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.
It was my great-grandmother's name and now it is mine. She was a horsewoman too, born like me in the Chinese year of the horse — which is supposed to be bad luck if you're born female — but I think this is a Chinese lie because the Chinese, like the Mexicans, don't like their women strong.
My great-grandmother. I would have liked to have known her, a wild horse of a woman, so wild she wouldn't marry. Until my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier. That's the way he did it.
And the story goes she never forgave him. She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn't be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window.
At school they say my name funny as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth. But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as my sister's name — Magdalena — which is uglier than mine. Magdalena who at least can come home and become Nenny. But I am always Esperanza.
I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees. Esperanza as Lisandra or Maritza or Zeze the X. Yes. Something like Zeze the X will do.
Learn more about Sandra Cisneros and her books here: https://www.sandracisneros.com/books
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 “name."
PROMPT:
Write about your own name, or someone else's, real or fictional. Consider these questions before you write:
- How did you, or the person you're writing about, come to have that particular name? Is there a story there?
- Has there been a time when hearing this name elicited a very strong feeling?
- Has there been a time when you, or the person you're writing about, wished to have a different name?
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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