Wednesday, July 17, 2024—waxing gibbous moon (full on Sunday)
Hello from the deep heat of summer, here! And welcome (and thanks!) to everyone who has subscribed lately. I appreciate you.
Today, I’m offering up some thoughts on breathing space when there’s no breathing space and a wee update about what I’m up to lately which, yes, includes being published again!
breathing space that isn’t
In a video interview I saw two years ago, Lucille Clifton said, “…poetry is a way of living in the world.” “…a way of trying to come to peace with the world.” (I can’t find the original to cite, but I’ll circle back and add it here when/if I can.)
Lately, for me, this translates to thinking about, and in, fragments, because breathing space (both the experience and this publication) have been elusive.
Like tectonics, though, words won’t stop forming and breaking and re-forming. (You know that feeling, right?)
Even when I’m too tired or sad, or overwhelmed to write them down, they’re gathering in the back of my throat, clustering in my belly, stashing themselves in the long bones of my arms and legs, waiting.
But words, like water, will eventually find a way through or around any obstacle.
So words began moving, but refused to form full sentences. They eventually dripped out in fragments—splattering themselves along the pages of notebooks and landing on random scraps of paper. Eventually, I started transferring them to sticky notes and affixing them to a wall forming a multi-hued creek bed flowing across our worn bi-fold closet doors.
The process is fascinating and easing the weight of, well, (gestures at the world). It’s offering me some much needed breathing space.
that wee update I mentioned
So, yes, I had a poem called “Herons” accepted to Issue 5 of kerning | a space for words. (Huzzah!) They define themselves as “a biannual compendium of writing that includes poetry, fiction, short stories, flash fiction, personal essays and creative non-fiction from women and gender diverse people.” I love that. Their journals are beautiful, rich and delicious. (Get your own copy of Issue 5.)
I also have continued to work for the Transformative Language Arts Network, though my official title is now Managing Director (she says with wonder and a tiny bit of terror.)
I’ve also been teaching some classes for them. Two are running this fall: Seeding Change: Creating when life is hard is a 2-hour workshop happening on November 3rd and Changing the World With Words is a 6-week course that starts on October 30th.
Lastly, with incredible sadness, yet gratitude for the years they existed, I have stopped offering my bi-monthly writing circles. I loved them, and it was time.
I’ll leave you with this excerpt from John O’Donohue’s poem “For Equilibrium” from his book of blessings, To Bless the Space Between Us.
"As water takes whatever shape it is in, So free may you be about who you become."
I’m a poet and facilitator writing from under the wide reach of an old Sycamore tree. More about me at TracieNichols.com.