Go Outside to Write!

Or, How I am Getting Out of Recent Immobilizations

Image: Stacks of moleskine journals which I have fully used for writing, notes, poems.

Dear Poetry Acolytes,

If I may use the collective “we” to discuss how troubles come all at once?

In order, weekend-by-weekend:

1. My mother took a hard fall trying to rescue a lost dog. She went to the ER, stayed over that weekend, as she had a Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. (Yes, the etymology comes from the spider-web likeness of the neural brainwork underneath the skull.)

2. Easter. I am unable to move out of depression because of historical significances.

3. A car accident in KC, trying to park to visit a new bookstore. I totalled my most favorite car I ever owned.

4. Last weekend, we heard the gunshots, thinking they might be firecrackers, but no. They covered him with a blanket, trying to give CPR. He passed away, married just six days before.

5. This weekend, my mother continuing to heal, getting the help she needs, along with the pressures of the end of the semester.

I tend to stay a recluse, as a lot of the work I do requires a laptop. However, reading through my students’ self-reflections for Beginning Poetry Writing this semester reminded me of why I teach the way I do. I am also happy that the students could “get” what I was trying to say about writing.

Here are some of the comments:

“There’s a certain kind of freedom that comes with the writing process. The best thing about changing up where you write is that every place is different, and so the influence it has on you generally will be too (writing at home in your own space versus sitting in a coffee shop). With this being said, I really enjoyed that we were able to go outside and write!”

“My ideas at the beginning of the semester were that poetry just seemed like work, because I had only ever done it as assignments, and I had never done it “just for fun” in my free time. … I can be a bit of a perfectionist, but learning to be more carefree in my writing took the pressure off this as well. Overall, this class has shown me that it doesn’t really matter what you write about as long as you like it, and to always have a bit of fun with it. You showed me this especially when we had met for our one-on-one meeting, and after finding the perfect wording for one of my phrases, you were really excited about it! I think if I am going to continue writing about poetry after this semester ends, that is what I really want to try to achieve.

One of the most valuable lessons I will take from this class is the power of one’s voice. You do not have to change any bit of who you are to meet a standard or a goal. Everything that led up to you being in the position to write should be behind what you are putting on the paper.. . . Through my future educational endeavors, I will try to make my voice heard in all papers."

I have struggled with truly saying what I want to say and all these exercises of writing with music, the time we went outside to walk around trees, and the continual practice of letting the mind do the writing and not the hand has helped me make a connection with my work.. . . . Poetry is a playground where I can run rampant on.”

I hope to see you out there somewhere. Maybe we can circle the trees together, writing what we find there?

Dennis