Less Mouth, More Ears

a writing prompt for you + a john roedel poem

Welcome to Writing in Company. This is a community for you, whatever your experience with writing. It’s an invitation to write about what matters—grief, gratitude, grace, and more. In an off-kilter world, using our words can help us stay centered and move toward healing and wholeness. Writing in company with others saved me once. Let’s keep writing now, alone and together, and trust our words to help us see and say what matters.

During a busy week, I scan my drafts folder to see what resonates for this Wednesday post. Most entries are just snippets, meant to be filled out later. Read all at once, they say something about me, and where my brain goes looking for generative ideas to share with you, as—alone and together—we write about what matters.

• There are plenty of poems—always good for a writing prompt. I gravitate towards more modern, plain-spoken poems. Is there a poetry term for that genre? Maybe.

• A couple drafts include links to news stories, like the one about the grieving orca mother, and another about singing at funerals.

• There are some seasonal ideas, with temporary titles like “for next January” or “Annie Dillard on a solar eclipse.”

• Some are quotes from smart thoughtful people like Barbara Brown Taylor, David Whyte, and Parker Palmer.

• Some are now nearly indecipherable, like the one that says “Barbenheimer sound, portmanteau” (although I did plug that into my search engine and found a NY Times article, so maybe I can get back to that thought someday.)

• Others are just titles: “My dad does not delete.” I wish I had made more notes about that idea, but even the title is a starting place.

• Then there is this note to myself: “Belonging, community, listening, the epidemic of loneliness. Where are the spaces you belong?”

That feels like something for this week, but I’m out of time to really develop it. I’ll just say this, which you likely already know: Despite being more technologically connected than ever, with more information available to us non-stop, we are living in a time of an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation. According to the former surgeon general of the United States, more than half of U.S. adults meet the criteria for loneliness.¹ Young adults are more than twice as likely as senior adults to describe themselves as lonely.² Spaces of belonging and real community, where people see you and know you, matter more than ever.

Where are the spaces where you belong?

Where do you know you belong?

What makes you feel like you belong?

I still feel new in my town, so I’ve been shopping around for a book club. I’ve tried two so far. One is hosted by our local bookstore, and the group reads novels. I was the oldest person there. Another is working their way through classics and cocktails inspired by the book Tequila Mockingbird. Last month we tried a “Gin Eyre” so you can guess which book we read. I felt very new-to-town at both meetings, and didn’t know anyone in either space. I wasn’t sure about going back to either one. Then last week I was in the bookstore again and ran into three people I knew, one after the other. One was the cocktail maker and host of the second club and she remembered and called me by my name. It mattered that she was listening. I’ll go back.

In a time when so many have opinions about so much and plenty to say, listening—really listening to those around us—makes a difference. It’s an invitation to belonging.

a writing prompt

One of the poems I had saved in my drafts folder connects with this idea of listening and making room for the people around us to belong.

This one is from John Roedel. You can find him on Substack here and also here. He was generous to respond positively to my inquiry about sharing his poems. Enjoy!

Read the poem. Notice a word, a line, a question, or an image that jumps out at you, and start writing there.

Or, begin with “life became less exhausting once I stopped…”

Or try a repeating “less of my ______, more of my ______.”

Keep your pen moving, and see where your words take you. Listen to your own inner wisdom.

Also, I am glad you are here….

—from john roedel

life became less exhausting once I stopped trying to be the smartest person in the room  
 
now I just try being  
the most human person  
 
I’ve found that 
nobody in the room  
really ever misses 
my shallow insights on 
geopolitics or economics  
 
the biggest thing people need 
from me is the space to  
tell some of their story  
 
and then after a bit  
   ~ I tell a little of mine  
 
and then after some  
more storytelling  
turn taking  
     
~ we see the soul light  
in each other peeking 
out the corners of our eyes  
 
dear ego,  
 
less of my mouth 
~ more of my ears  
 
less of my mouth 
~ more of my ears  
 
less of my mouth 
~ more of my ears  
 
it’s not about impressing 
people in the room 
 
it’s about giving room  
for people to be heard  
 
less of my mouth 
~ more of my ears  
 
less of my mouth 
~ more of my ears  
 
less of my mouth 
~ more of my ears 
 
  

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Each week I share some ideas and a writing prompt, meant to be jumping-off points. Use the prompts however you like—to journal, to draft a writing project, as prayer ideas, or for another creative endeavor. If this one doesn’t resonate, look back through the archive for more. Clicking the heart to like this post helps keep my writing prompts visible and my own writer’s heart grateful.

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1. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf

2. https://newsroom.thecignagroup.com/loneliness-epidemic-persists-post-pandemic-look