Saturday, July 5, 2014

Week # 17 - The Ten of Letterpress - We Are Not Alone

The Ten of Letterpress was actually drawn last weekend. I am just now getting around to post about it as well as the journey  that  has occurred this week as a result of it. I think this card is really a Gratitude Card.  It calls us to not only look inward about out growth as a poet/writer/artist but to look outward as well and consider the people that have been a part of the growth... people that make it possible.

In doing so, the first place I started was my family. From my wife, to each of my children they have over the years in various ways helped with this journey. From my wife who has allowed me the time to write in addition to the broader support by encouragement and sometimes allowing me to bounce ideas off her. An my children, who have each supported/encouraged me, sometimes in ways I don't even think they realize.

There are some local poets/writers that I added to my list. People who I have been in writing groups with, workshoped poems with, Taken classes with - several that have been especially helpful and supportive.

I have also been fortunate to benefit from a half-dozen or so people from long distance. Other  poets who have encouraged, counseled, shared and mentored me.  This particular Poet Tarot card has brought me to the realization that while it may often times seem otherwise, our growth and victories no matter how small or large do not  really  happen in a vacuum. We may at time lock ourselves up in a room and write and rewrite
pouring out heart and soul but there is a wider safety-net out there that we know we can and sometimes do count on.

When I was making my list, I went a bit further (as was suggested) and added some writer/poet/artists icons that have inspired me in the first place to my own creativity.  Here are some of those iconic persons, some living and some dead:

  • Sharon Olds
  • W.S. Merwin
  • Sylvia Plath
  • John Ashbery
  • Anne Sexton
  • Donald Hall
I have to say that in thinking about all this throughout the week, I realized how thankful I am too for being alive and being able to experience the creative process on a day to day basis.  Just as God has provided so many wonder experiences to unfold before our eyes, the human experience to take what is before us and go a step further and make something new based upon those experiences is quite imposing.  

No comments:

Post a Comment