Yet More Connected!

Free writing, or flow writing, is a good way to begin a new piece, or start off as a new writer. You just take a word or phrase as a starting point and see where it goes, not worrying about grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. These things can be edited later. It can work well if you set a time limit - just 3 or 5 mins to start, building up to longer writes. Or you could set a word or page limit. Artist Paul Klee famously described drawing as 'taking a line for a walk'. This is the linguistic equivalent! Take a line of words, prose or verse , and see where it gets you . . .

Here are Laura and Matt's three-minute free writes on the prompt 'I connect with . . . '

Matt writes a line-poem built around repetition of the original phrase, while Laura, on her first visit to the Erskine Building, explores different concepts of connection.

I connect with fear and I cannot shake it.

I connect with freedom that lets my feet fall.

I connect with the lost and the cold who carry an unused map.

I connect with food - spicy, warm, pudding bowls.

I connect to family despite the miles between.

I connect with desperation when the light is low.

I connect with life - it rolls along its sluice.

I connect with me - upon occasion.

I connect with those in need - give and take.

I connect with both light and dark as the heavens spin.

(Matt)

I connect with places that have a history, which are old and decaying but nevertheless majestic and stand proud of their past.

I connect with people as I sit on a bench, reading my book, and watch them go past, walking their dogs, taking a stroll or jogging in the mid-afternoon sun.

I connect with ideas as I read about them on the internet and try to decipher what is true and what is not. And I think about how we can connect everyone together.

(Laura)

Writing Prompt

Take the phrase 'I connect with . . . ' for a three-minute walk.

Then read over what you've produced - could this be shaped or re-arranged into a poem? (Or maybe it came out as a complete 'list poem' like Matt's, or prose paragraph like Laura's.)

Is there the start of a story, a character, a plot?

Is there a word or phrase that you particularly like that could be the opening of a new write?

Post your results in the Comments box below!

To be continued . . .

More Connected!

Writing from workshops on the 2019 Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival theme CONNECTED.

These poems, by Laura , Frances and Matt, are inspired by Wendell Berry's wonderful short poem 'The Plan', the text of which is on the link below. (if you just scroll down over the image below, but don't click on it, you can read the poem.)

Here Laura uses Berry's three-line verse form, and the tone or atmosphere he creates , to produce her own detailed observation of a morning walk and encounter:

Under the morning fog

I slip out from home

and walk under damp sky

up the steep hill, passing

a lone walker on the way.

It is too early for most,

still sleepily rising from

their beds and eating a comforting

breakfast of porridge

and toast. As I get closer

and closer to the stop

I keep an eye out for

the blue and silver Airport

Express. The morning fog

disguises it, bright headlights

reduced to dim orbs.

I don't notice it until

it is only seconds away.

I hear the muted screech

of breaks, the doors open

and there stands:

my old friend

Matt used free verse to create his own version of dis/connectedness, interwoven with a natural background / setting:

We may never get round to it

only flail amongst the packages of time

turn invitation to excuse

excuse to false promise.

Promises strewn and left behind.

Under the morning fog we watch grey wraithes swaying in the wind.

We make a pact that cannot be kept

all the while smiling widely.

Waves break and crash as yet unseen.

I want to promise.

I want to stay.

See the darkness burn away

under golden rays.

Watch the lies curl up and die.

Frances took Berry's line 'in honour of friendship' as her starting point:

In Honour of Friendship

Friendship needs love, trust and loyalty to grow like a fresh watered garden.

Fruits of pleasant memories and places.

Friendships take time to cultivate, in your giving, listening and participating together.

A shoulder in times of need.

Open and honest.

Writing Prompt

Read the Wendell Berry poem 'The Plan' (Google it if the link above isn't working) and write your own response - you could use the same poetic form (3 line stanzas), or take a line or phrase you particularly like as your starting point. Try using Berry's final line, 'under the morning fog', as your opening . . . or write something inspired by Laura's or Matt's words (please acknowledge this if you do so).

Or you could find your own way of writing about a relationship (doesn't have to be in verse - try prose too: write a short story). Who are the people involved? What is the nature of their connection or disconnection? How could you write about it?

How can you best use setting / location, using close observation of place, to enhance your story or poem?

Post the results below, along with any comments about the process, or how you felt about writing or the subject.

Connected!

Yesterday we ran workshops as part of Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival

(SMHAF), on this year's theme, CONNECTED.

I'll be posting some of the terrific writing that came out of the sessions on here in the following days - watch this space!