Notions of Gratitude
and a writing prompt for you
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. Each week I share some words and a writing prompt, meant to be jumping-off points. 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. You can always look back through the archive for more ideas. Grab your pen and paper, and let your words loose on the page.
If you are in the US (or even if you are not) I hope you have moments of gratitude and thanksgiving this week. Whether you are cooking for yourself or a crowd, or eating food that others prepared, may you have a multi-colored plate of deliciousness, some kind of pie, and the company of friends, family, or a good book.
Here’s a poem for your week from one of James Crews’ anthologies: How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. I picked this copy up at a used bookstore. It’s a little warped and water-damaged. Inside the book is inscribed I love you! Mom Easter 2021
I hope Mom and whoever first owned the book are still able to exchange words of love, and pass each other something yummy on a platter this week. Maybe Mom purchased a second copy after the first dropped into the tub. If you want your own copy you can find one here, or subscribe to James’ excellent poetry newsletter here. He’s also on Substack.
The poet for this beauty is Paula Gordon Lepp. You can find her on Facebook.
Notions
—by Paula Gordon Lepp
Look at the silver lining, they say.
But what if, instead,
I pluck it off
and use that tensile strand to bind
myself to those things I do not
want to lose sight of.
Families knit together by evening walks,
board games, laughter.
The filament fixing us to friends
no matter the distance apart.
A braid of gratitude for small kindnesses.
The thin gauge wire of loss.
Let me twist that lining
around my finger,
it's silvery glint a reminder
of just how quickly life can change.
I will remember to love more.
I will remember to give more.
I will remember to be still.
I will knot the string tightly.
So it won't slip away.
So I won't forget.a writing prompt
Take a line, an image, or an idea from the poem, and use it to start your writing. Keep your pen moving, and see what your words have to tell you.
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