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Poet Laura: Replenishing the Imagination

By Laura Boggess 3 Comments

roadside landscape replenishing the imagination

Replenishing the Imagination

This has been the season of the long drive—an escape from the news, from the home office, the Zoom meetings, the blank page. Most of the time it feels like running away, but today? Today the sky falls blue through the window and I grab the keys without thinking, pulled by an invitation of light.

If this is a running away then it’s a happy running away. More a running to. What better way to cure my writing ills?

Julia Cameron understands. In her book, The Right to Write, she says,

I am very aware that the art of writing devours images and that if I am going to write deeply, frequently, and well, I must keep my inner pond of images very well stocked. When I want to restock my images, I get behind the wheel of my car.”

I drive with the windows down and the air conditioning on. The sun burns through the windshield and the cooled air feels good but I need more than cool on my skin. I need the breeze to ripple my hair, feel the wildness of strands licking my face. I have the music loud—it fills the air around me, drifts out and spills onto the road I leave behind.

This is pure indulgence, wild abandon. I let this windblown reckless feeling take me, music soothing away everything but this moment. I am here. I am alive. The fragility of life and a world on fire cannot steal my eyes for this moment.

When I drive, the places I pass become mythical memories…vibrant colors, quaint villages, loquacious livestock. Everyday images lose their luster in the ho-hum drudgery of life. Sometimes beauty can be better seen from a few paces back…or through an open window, driving by. Loping hills and grassy meadows stir my appetite for words. Rich sunsets create a poetry all their own.

Tweetspeak Poet Laura Chicken

My imagination soars.

this gray
       ribbon
wraps around
       me; cradles
me close in her
       bands
of loops
   and bows. powder
blue heads
       of
  chicory
stand erect—
       intertwined
  with lacy faces
of queen
       Anne—sentinels
of this highway.
       a lonely
  cow peers
through
  doleful eyes,
       lows
softly in my wake.

       I drive on.

What is replenishing the imagination for you today?

Photo by Patrick Emerson, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Laura Boggess, Tweetspeak Poetry’s 2021 Poet Laura.

Browse more posts from our Poet Laura

__________________________

A Novella From Laura Boggess

Waiting for Neruda's Memoirs-OutlineLyrical and whimsical writer Laura Boggess brings us an inspiring story of one woman’s quest to put her life back together. Poetry plays a part. But not before a book gets delivered to the wrong house on a windy, impossible day.

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Laura Boggess
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Laura Boggess
Laura Boggess is happiest in a place with no walls. Give her a bed of grass and a blanket-sky and she will dream deep in wonder. But a good story takes her to that place too. And a poem? Even better. She's the author of Waiting for Neruda's Memoirs and Mildred's Garden, both titles in T. S. Poetry Press's Poetry Club Series.
Laura Boggess
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Latest posts by Laura Boggess (see all)
  • Year of the Monarch—A Visit to Craik-Patton House - September 18, 2024
  • Year of the Monarch: Butterfly Dreams - March 20, 2024
  • Year of the Monarch: Harvesting and Planting Milkweed Seeds - November 15, 2023

Filed Under: Creativity, Poet Laura, The Artist's Way

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About Laura Boggess

Laura Boggess is happiest in a place with no walls. Give her a bed of grass and a blanket-sky and she will dream deep in wonder. But a good story takes her to that place too. And a poem? Even better. She's the author of Waiting for Neruda's Memoirs and Mildred's Garden, both titles in T. S. Poetry Press's Poetry Club Series.

Comments

  1. Bethany Rohde says

    September 9, 2021 at 12:02 pm

    Thank you for this. I just love this, Laura: “If this is a running away then it’s a happy running away. More a running *to*.”

    This is a little how I feel when I postcard a friend. It gives me something beautiful to move into for a few moments. Like pushing open the door of some spare(d) room that’s beautifully cleaned and untouched by the rest of the busy house. Writing the card is a way to sit down in that space’s plush chair with a little window-view of the neighbor’s garden and watch the weight of a bluebird slightly wobble a maple branch as it lands.

    Reply
    • laura says

      September 15, 2021 at 9:02 am

      Your description of postcard writing gave me a little deep breath this morning, Bethany! What a gift your little notes must be to their recipients. Thank you for this little picture of “running to.”

      Reply
      • Bethany says

        September 15, 2021 at 9:58 am

        Thank you, Laura. And huge congrats again on your newly published book! 🙂 Delighted for you!

        Reply

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