Here is a reading of Ted Berrigan's 16th Sonnet.
My first reaction:
Then I was like: "I think I like this..."
I'm still unsure. I'll re-re-re-read it later...
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On the coldest night of the year, I decide to take a hot bath. I have many friends who criticize me for taking baths. They say it's unhygienic and wasteful. I say that it's therapeutic and that's all that matters. When I'm stressed, I'm unproductive and unmotivated to do anything besides press play on Netflix. The real waste is apathy, and if swimming in a pool of my own germs can temporarily cure that, I don't really see the point in arguing about it.
As I get everything ready for "tubby time", I spot the book, Writing Down the Bones sitting innocently on my desk. With a towel tucked under one arm and a portable boom box tucked under the other, I grab the book and take it with me into my lair.
After putting everything in its' place, I lower myself into the hot water. My freezing toes cringe at the heat and send a painful response to my brain as punishment for not warning them in advance. I ignore the piggies' dislike for the warm intensity and continue my descent until I'm almost completely submerged. Ahhh..yes. Perfection. Damon Albarn's voice sings melancholic melodies in the background that tempts me to drift into the world of music. Instead, a world of writing beckons me.
I lean partially out of the tub to dry off my hands on the towel I threw earlier on the floor and wrap my fingers around the book. I crack open the spine of Writing Down the Bones and look inside to see the revealed bones of Natalie Goldberg. I dig my teeth into them and mercilessly gnaw on the bones until I am satisfied.
"First, consider the pen you write with. It should be a fast-writing pen because your thoughts are always much faster than your hand. You don't want to slow up your hand even more with a slow pen." pgs. 10-11
"Inspiration means 'breathing in.' Breathing in God. You actually become larger than yourself, and first thoughts are present." pg.19
"In writing, when you are truly on, there's no writer, no paper, no pen, no thoughts. Only writing does writing- everything else is gone." pg. 22
"The process teaches about sanity. We are trying to become sane along with our poems and stories." pg. 23
Who is this woman...? How is she reading my mind and how does she know my life? Just earlier this week I wrote a tweet saying, "Was up till 3am last night because stories were vividly running through
my head with detailed descriptions/dialouge. Creativity is madness." For me, writing is a way to cure that madness. It is a form to retain sanity in the midst of stories flashing through my mind. Once I write it down, it's gone and I have peace.
I pull away from the book and realize that I'm sitting in cold water. My toes are pruning, and once again, scorning me for not paying them enough attention. I feel inspired to write- to hurry to the computer and write this very post in this very blog.
"If you are not afraid of the voices inside of you, you will not fear the critics outside you." pg. 33
Here's some bullets about stuff.
*Practice often.
*Writing a list of topics is a good idea.
*Ignore inner criticism.
*Ignore inner procrastinating demons.
*Use your perspective.
*Always find new insights.
*Writing has no limitations.
*Unicorns would be great in battle- I mean, they have a bayonet already equipped to their heads.
*Are you seriously still reading this?
Turns out I don't have much more to say. I really like this Natalie gal and look forward to finishing the book..possibly now in the warmth of my bed.
Oh shit! I forgot to talk about Shakespeare. Maybe next time.
"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, not no man ever loved."
~Sonnet 116, Shakespeare
Love of writing, that is.
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