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words for wellbeing

It would be hard to overestimate how writing poetry has helped my own journey. The secret for me was the realization that publication is not the point, with all the scrutiny and judgment that the publishing process invites. In my poetry, it is not about what anyone else thinks.

It is simply, for me, more like a practice, a discipline whose outputs I can choose to share with other people. I was about to say that it's an extension of journalling, but in fact it's just as likely to either come before journalling or to come after it. They are a rich and swirling mix, when they are flowing. And when they are not flowing, it's important to remember that there is no deadline, no accountability, no contract except with myself.

I'd be happy to mentor you in such a process, if you feel drawn towards it. Writing with honesty and intensity is immensely healing. You can find either the soaring heights of your ideals or the bottom of your swamp, work with your angel and your shadow, and all in a safe space of your own imagining. 

Once you let go of the need to get things right, magic can start to happen...

10-minute poems

Take a pen,
set your minute timer to ten
and catch your words like fleeing dreams,
new butterflies in this child's gentle net
meeting for the first time friend to friend,
already beautifully grown
but not quite finished yet,
still awkward,
still a little wet,
summoned to your party unprepared;
even you don't know what you intend.
And when the clock runs down
stop
ignore
distract
play darts or walk the dog.
Come back tomorrow to redact.
Let today's words
dry in warming sun,
the introductions over,
the hardest part now done. 

From My Mother is an Old Elephant.