Welcome to Writing in Company. Each week I share some words and a writing prompt, meant to be jumping-off points for you to write about what matters. Use the prompts however you like—to journal, to draft thoughts for your own writing project, as meditation or prayer ideas, or for another creative endeavor. If this one doesn’t resonate, take a look back through the archive for one that does. Grab your pen and paper, and let your words loose on the page.
I’m fresh off a trip where I walked for miles and marveled at my body’s ability to ache, creak, and still go on. I wasn’t at a remote natural location—one day included a sign language conversation with a Mouse about our shared fondness for dogs—but it was a good escape. I caught up with family, and after a deluge of rain and wind, enjoyed our tiny camper (and her mighty air-conditioner.) I came home with a renewed appreciation for indoor plumbing, and gratitude for my physical therapist. Now I’m scheduling an ophthalmology appointment because I squinted unsuccessfully at every menu board.1
Pondering my aging gift of a body reminds me of this beauty of a poem from Danusha Laméris. You can find her on Substack at Fleeting Temples. 2
a writing prompt
Improvement —by Danusha Laméris The optometrist says my eyes are getting better each year. Soon he’ll have to lower my prescription. What’s next? The light step I had at six? All the gray hairs back to brown? Skin taut as a drum? My improved eyes and I walked around town and celebrated. We took in the letters of the marquee, the individual leaves filling out the branches of the sycamore, an early moon. So much goes downhill: our joints wearing out with every mile, the delicate folds of the eardrum exhausted from years of listening. I’m grateful for small victories. The way the heart still beats time in the cathedral of the ribs. And the mind, watching its parade of thoughts enter and leave, begins to see them for what they are: jugglers, fire swallowers, acrobats tossing their batons in the air. —from Bonfire Opera © 2020
What does the poem spark in you about your own achy, creaky, grateful self?
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Let me know what you think about the prompt, or come back and add some of what you write in the comments.
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I recognize the privilege underneath that whole paragraph.
Here’s a post and prompt from her about writing from the body. Prompt: Start with the Body
I love her so much. She’s hosting a poetry workshop this fall with James Crews. I can’t wait. Here’s the info in case anyone is interested. https://www.thepoetryofresilience.com/
I hope your creaky body feels better soon. I love all the gratitude in this post for our beautiful aging bodies.
Julie, I LOVED this introduction to some of Snow White's friends, now that they've grown up and been camping! Achy, Creaky and Squinty are folks my own body is acquainted with - will we get to meet Snoozy, Pottering and One-Day-I'll in a future post? Grateful always comes on all of our trips - he tells me he sure enjoys yours, too! 😊
Such a gorgeous post. And thank you for the link to your tiny camper post - it was lovely to have another look - she's absolutely beautiful! We were working away yesterday so took the van (a VW T5 conversion - which we use both for work and pleasure) and camped overnight. There's nothing like it, is there?
You've given me some lovely ideas to write around - I thoroughly enjoy Writing in Company with you. 😘