A Blessing for Writers
Tonight I had the chance to speak with a group of writers in Colorado. The glories of Zoom!
(There are some glories. Truly. Because, without Zoom, there is no way I could have made it to Colorado by 9 pm ET after putting in a full workday here in my tiny Tudor on the east coast. Thanks to virtual travel, I was able to share a little about how to move forward in your writing life when you’re feeling stuck, uninspired, or unsure. That was a blessing to me.)
At the end of our time together, I invited the group to write a “blessing for writers” — a prose poem — and to share it with their larger association at some point. I also invited the group to share their “blessing for writers” prose poems with us here. And now I’m inviting you.
I’ll start, with the poem I read to the group…
A Blessing for Writers
For you: a string, silken, sometimes. Sometimes narrow, twined, sometimes wide. A ribbon, if you will, midnight velvet when you need it. Crimson. Turquoise as a southwest sky. Occasionally ivory. The line of it, slipping through the open palm of your hand. In the box where you keep what no one ever thought was yours, look for opal, tiger-eye, sapphire. Quartz of common hue. Jade, beryl, topaz. Ruby tucked in gold. Whatever your fingers want to bead and turn. Make a string of all white stones on a day when you are feeling endless and pure. Choose a single ebony when you mourn, or feel alone, or want nothing more than the unadorned strength of it. For you: the will to keep it all right where you can easily find it. Pull it out. The string, the ribbon, the gems, the stones. Make something. Know that it is yours. Put it on. Somewhere on this side of the world, I will be holding up a mirror for beautiful you, wearing your beautiful string of words.
— L.L. Barkat
Compose Your Own Blessing for Writers
I’m inviting you to compose your own poetic blessing for writers, too.
Try using language that holds together image-wise — sights, sounds, textures, fragrances, tastes from specific categories like food & drink, clothing, a craft, a geographic region, architecture, or something else.
Alternately, try using a form like cataloging and let that be the thread that holds your poem together.
(Cataloging is repeating opening and or closing phrases of your poem lines. Just when it starts to feel too repetitive, you can stop the catalog for a line or two before beginning again.)
BUY ‘HOW TO WRITE A FORM POEM’ NOW!
- Bookstore Tour: Transom is a Tarrytown Delight! - August 31, 2023
- Poetry Prompt: Into the Cave - August 14, 2023
- Where Poetry Lives—Interview with Beekeeper & Poet Sara Eddy - August 16, 2022
Cheryl Velk says
Thank you for spending the evening with us! Inspiring ideas and fun time together. Looking forward to exploring your site. Loving the form poems section.
L.L. Barkat says
Cheryl, it was my absolute pleasure. 🙂
I hope to read some poems from you sometime! (Almost every Monday there is a poetry prompt. That’s a great place to dip your toes in: https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/category/poetry-prompt/ )
Welcome to Tweetspeak.
Bethany R. says
Yes, welcome to the Tweetspeak community! 🙂
L.L. Barkat says
(I love the way you welcome, Bethany. And? I’d love to see the way you bless, too. Maybe a “writers blessing” poem is stirring on the quiet porch? 🙂 )
bethany says
Thank you, L.L. 🙂
JoyAnne O'Donnell says
Holy Water
Bless our poems
with the halo’s light
glowing with words just right
filling us with warm bread
reading and seeing butter spread
as we read listening to the beauty
of a blessed poem.
Bethany R. says
Thanks for sharing your poem with the community. I particularly enjoyed your line, “filling us with warm bread”
Katie Brewster says
Writers are Blessed:
just imagine it
we get to play with tame and wild words
sculpt powerful paragraphs
invent varied verses
paint pretty poems
design dramatic drafts
shape silly sentences
build big ideas
posit thoughts and theories
wield pens and pencils
tap on keyboards
dictate to apps
mull memories into memoir
forge fantasy from dreams
conjure mysteries
share short stories
auto biography
fictionalize history
create pieces we’ve mastered
. . .and others that need more revision;)
This ended up as more of an ode.
Bethany says
I enjoy the fun I feel behind and throughout this, Katie. Thank you for sharing it with the Tweetspeak community!
Katie Brewster says
Thanks, Bethany. Was fun to write:)
Jenna B. says
For your weighted mind, a walk in springtime;
rotund blossoms on the Redbud tree
drooping across your nose;
purple tulips opening like bowls
of golden dust.
To help you listen, a birdsong
you do not yet recognize, calling out
over the neighbor’s weed trimmer;
a ripening breeze scattering
mulch down the alley.
For your hope, kind strangers
who smile your direction; quiet blocks
of broken sidewalks and heart-shaped
leaves, green foliage to fill your fingertips,
then lose inside your pockets.
Bethany Rohde says
Thank you for sharing this beautifully crafted poem. All the details sensory elements. The overall calm — the blessing
“for your weighted mind, a walk in springtime”
“birdsong/ you do not yet recognize”
“quiet blocks/ of broken sidewalks” and that whole last stanza <3
Katie says
So lyrical, lovely:)