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A Book of Beginnings: Where

By L.L. Barkat 16 Comments

“How do you know where to begin?”

“I pick.”

“You pick?”

“I pick. Anything. The strawberries in our tea this morning. I could start with that. I could tell you how my Sara cuts all the questionable parts off her strawberries and too much off the top and how I have asked her to leave the castoffs in a bowl for me, because they are perfectly good.”

“You are not very fussy about food.”

“Yes and no. I try to buy organic. And fresh. I prefer homemade. One of my friends calls me a pioneer woman because I grind my own flour from wheat berries.”

“Wheat has berries?”

“Not like a strawberry, Silly. But, yes, it has berries that look like tiny brown boats. Another friend asked if maybe I would turn my back yard into a wheat field. She thought that was funny. I thought that was funny too, though it would be a very unfriendly thing to do to my currant bushes, my blueberries, and my new jostaberry. The kiwi is frustrating me with its needs for courtship. I’ve got a male who needs his female or he won’t give. So I could threaten him with the wheat I suppose.”

“Agricultural intrigue? The battle of the berries!”

“Anyway. You are getting us lost here. We were talking about how to begin. I found the strawberries on the counter, all dried up. I thought to toss them. Then I decided to put them in our tea instead.”

“You make me nervous.”

“You like the tea, don’t you?”

Your fingers play with the cover of the little white teapot now. Lift. Drop. Lift. Drop. Lift drop. And you are smiling a “yes.”

“You can get anywhere from anywhere. That’s what Verlyn says.”

“Verlyn? Seriously?”

“Verlyn.”

“Napoleon. Verlyn. Have you got a thing for guys with foreign names?”

“I assure you I do not. You are changing the subject again. Remind me never to hire you to start a war. We’d never win. If I was aiming for Iceland, you’d land me in Asia.”

“You want to start a war in Iceland? They’re very peaceful people, you know. One of the happiest places in the world.”

“Why don’t you pour me some more tea, and I will tell you how to begin. Not a war in Iceland. But a poem, an article, a book. You can get anywhere from anywhere. Once? I started with a cabbage.”

“Cabbage is Polish, isn’t it? Are you going to be bringing that with you to Iceland?”

I take a sip of my Monk’s tea, strawberry laced. “Another time I started with bees.”

“They probably have bees in Iceland. To pollinate the kiwis.” Your fingers start playing with the teapot lid again. Lift. Drop.

“You might be mixing Iceland up with New Zealand. You could start with New Zealand if you like. Heck, you could start with military pushups. I have even started with THE END.”

“You started with THE END? I never know what you are going to do. Should I be concerned about the muffins this morning?”

“You like your tea, right?” I put my fingers on top of yours to stop another lift-drop.

“I like my tea.”

“Don’t worry about the muffins then. A little tahini never hurt anybody.”

“Tahini? Is that in…”

“Asia? No.” I wink and lift my fingers off yours. “But it’s a great place to begin.”

Photo by TheDeliciousLife. Creative Commons, via Flickr. Story by L.L. Barkat, author of The Novelist: A Novella.

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L.L. Barkat
L.L. Barkat
L.L. Barkat is the Managing Editor of Tweetspeak Poetry and the author of six books for grown-ups and four for children, including the popular 'Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing.' Her poetry has appeared on the BBC and at NPR, VQR, and The Best American Poetry.
L.L. Barkat
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Filed Under: A Book of Beginnings, Blog, Fiction, writer's group resources

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About L.L. Barkat

L.L. Barkat is the Managing Editor of Tweetspeak Poetry and the author of six books for grown-ups and four for children, including the popular 'Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing.' Her poetry has appeared on the BBC and at NPR, VQR, and The Best American Poetry.

Comments

  1. Maureen Doallas says

    May 17, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    THE END

    is the subject I remind you
    never to begin. You can get

    anywhere if you can wink
    and turn back instead

    of smiling when you do
    military pushups or threaten

    to leave with the fresh, homemade
    muffins. I grind worry

    with my flour. Don’t you
    get nervous when I am laced

    with bees, aiming to make talking
    the thing that never hurt

    anybody but you this morning.
    You play war with the counter

    of castoffs (I never win, I know),
    get lost and get unfriendly,

    then drop me into Iceland. I
    toss tiny brown boats into bowls

    with perfectly good berries,
    finger-play with the kiwi,

    turn fussy and ask for tea
    with foreign names. Courtship,

    I suppose, is questionable.

    Reply
    • L. L. Barkat says

      May 17, 2013 at 7:35 pm

      Maureen, I think you might be proof that one can begin anywhere 😉

      Love this.

      i do get fussy for tea 😉

      Reply
    • Donna says

      May 18, 2013 at 6:12 am

      I love this… especially THIS:

      “I grind worry
      with my flour.”

      🙂 It’s very cool how you can do this!!!

      Reply
    • Elizabeth W. Marshall says

      May 20, 2013 at 12:59 pm

      Maureen you have some mad skills in this form of poetry. I nominate you to write the next poem or series of poems which will come from the next twitter party. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Donna says

    May 18, 2013 at 6:58 am

    Cabbage… bees…. push ups (military ones)… The End…

    Ah the secret to writing-in-place…. the secret to getting anything done (or at least started)…

    ….just begin.

    Reply
    • Donna says

      May 18, 2013 at 7:05 am

      P.S. I never EVER heard anyone ever call them Glumpkis. I was starting to think that was a fictional word crafted from a blending of English and Lithuanian fragments and sounds. Since childhood I’ve heard them called a million things, but never Glumpkis… until now.

      Reply
  3. Jody Lee Collins says

    May 19, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    “Just begin.” Best advice. Ever.

    Reply
  4. Elizabeth W. Marshall says

    May 20, 2013 at 12:57 pm

    Another reason I like “medias in res” / “in medias res”…it is my favorite beginning. And “Just start!!” or begin or stop talking about beginning and start somewhere for goodness sakes, even if it is at the end of the middle. 🙂

    Another reason I love this series…it makes the threads I follow feel at home, not so alone, makes a mind prone to follow tangents feel right at home.. Which makes me think of…. 🙂

    And it reminds me how beautiful cabbage are. Is the plural of cabbage cabbages. Feels wrong. I could go off on a tangent and check. 🙂 This looks downright floral in its composition but I have made enough cole slaw to know its a cabbage. Your photograph is stunning, as always.

    L.L. love this so much 🙂

    Reply
    • L. L. Barkat says

      May 22, 2013 at 9:05 am

      This totally made me smile, Elizabeth. I do believe that you have still to tap that sense of humor and channel it into your writing. You know you are amusing, yes? Do you know? You are.

      Reply
  5. Megan Willome says

    May 22, 2013 at 8:19 am

    When I was growing up, my best friend’s mom ground wheat berries and made her own bread. I thought she was so cool.

    Reply
    • L. L. Barkat says

      May 22, 2013 at 9:03 am

      so, like, are you saying I’m cool? 😉 I would accept that.

      Reply
  6. Megan Willome says

    May 22, 2013 at 8:36 am

    OK. Just wrote something about writing & wheat berries. There you go, dear L.L., inspiring me once again.

    Reply
    • L. L. Barkat says

      May 22, 2013 at 9:04 am

      oh? Do I want it for Tweetspeak? 😉

      Reply
      • Megan Willome says

        May 22, 2013 at 9:26 am

        No earthly idea!

        Reply

Trackbacks

  1. A Book of Beginnings: Currants | Tweetspeak PoetryTweetspeak Poetry says:
    May 24, 2013 at 8:01 am

    […] I appreciate that,” I say. Verlyn reminds that our readers want to trust us. They want to grant authority to a writer. But you have […]

    Reply
  2. Wheat Berries and Writing - says:
    June 2, 2016 at 8:28 am

    […] L.L. Barkat mentioned that she grinds her own wheat berries, too. I always wanted to be the kind of woman who did that sort of thing. I’m not. But, oh, there is nothing better than a loaf of warm wheat bread, fresh from the oven, like my aunt in Wyoming used to make. She didn’t grind her own wheat berries. She ran an advertising agency. […]

    Reply

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