The Journal

thinking, writing, learning

Archives for December 2012

A Word

·

Screenshot 12:31:12 7:27 AMFor the last few years, I’ve participated in the one little word project. It’s much easier than resolutions, and I like the idea of focusing on something that might carry me through the year.

My word came to me a few weeks ago in a writing prompt:

gathering

I love the idea of connecting, sharing, bringing together ideas, people, and goodness! So, there it is.

Tonight, David and I are finishing up the last of our holiday movies. I’ll be thinking of ways to gather and weave the threads of my life over the next few days. Happy 2013….

 

Rest

·

I am struggling to write these days. Snippets of lines as I walk to the studio, a fleeting thought while I make dinner. But nothing develops, no words fill the page (or screen).

Today is a good day to sit by the fire and read.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

 

The Intersection

·

I often think about the intersection of writing and art, art and writing. Danny Gregory has just published his memoir of loss, which I want to buy. The trailer, beautifully crafted, is well worth watching:

Cooking by the Book

·

when the sweet potato casserole works
and David goes for third helpings
or the salad tastes particularly tasty
even though it’s really the dressing
but everyone eats more
especially the bread I’ve kneaded
until my palms can’t push any longer
I forget how much I hate to cook
but sometimes I remember when
the table is set, the silver is out, the folks
gather to pour wine and tell stories
then I remember the goodness of the gathering