Sunday, August 23, 2020

9th Session ~ Breath & Witness



Today's session hosted writers from

Oregon, California, Baltimore, Germany, South Africa, Zimbabwe

and of course England and all over Scotland (including the isles of Easdale & Cumbrae)


We returned to one of the simpler practices mindfulness with the support of breath that is one you might more easily be able to do on your own, even if you can't access the audio link. Adrienne led us in with the poem "Breath" by Peter Adams. You can read it here on a rather wonderful looking blog called Heart Mind.

Our writing process for today, the idea of relaxing into the idea that this magnificent world of ours needs little more than our witnessing ... and that is what we do with our writing. The concept was rather eerily predicted by Aileen Paterson in a Water Story session earlier in the day, so we started by reading her piece:


What Matters

by Aileen Paterson

What matters is the rain on my window, the grey dark sea rippling in to the shore, the streets deserted and the sound of cars swooshing through flooded streets.

What matters is the way the light in the sky still seeps through grey white clouds, even in the middle of a storm.

What matters is the pen in my hand, my words, what matters is to keep writing, to keep having a voice, to speak your truth.

What matters is this silence. This pause. A space for thought. What matters is stopping doing anything.

Be still. Create the space you need. Stop the onslaught of thoughts, your need to achieve. Your being here is enough. Breathe into this new way of being.


Our actual writing prompt your head to the wind was taken from:

Postscript

by Kay Carmichael (her book "It Takes a Lifetime to Become Yourself")

Thought you wrote some poems?
You were wrong.
Powered by pain,
half scream, half song,
they kept your head to the wind,
drove you through the storm.
The poems wrote you.



**********************************

And now for some of 

YOUR WRITING:

Under the Crescent Moon Blows the Wind
by Catrice Greer

Is it possible  
that in the frequency 
you found in me 
the grounded parts of yourself 
thundering 
whole, uncracked

open circuits, fuse broken
by distorted unsafe currents
back in safe mode
kundalini coiled 
waiting 

you found me awakened 
fluttered, atrial  
beating ohms
feeling for you
in this virtual space
pulses speaking
our ebbs, flows, synergies
blown through, amplified 
crested in our pixilated silences, 
we see better
we get 
closer 

you’ve written your ballad into me
call & response 
could it be 
me, lyrical, etched  
into this time again
entwined 
you sing the song 
my electrified marrow’s 
been waiting to hear
gather itself

And it is written 
on the inside of me
growled in an echo serenading 
deep in the night that sings me to sleep 
pulsating a lullaby
rocking me sound 

We can’t say our goodbyes
No, not this time
We’ve only just said our lifetime of hellos


I need you here
in the crests and troughs 
riding high, pinned low,
blown through 
boundless
in this digital hyperspace
shuttling past hurts

no night or day
no need for time or to keep 
pace with light
we ride this current 

Twin energies synched 
we recognize our hertz
combine altitudes, we go 
counterclockwise
higher 

And I hear the crackle of you 
astral traveling
feel you gust through me in the night 
your electric on my tongue 
I taste you 
and you touch me when you think
I cannot hear 
you thinking me 
there

3-dimensional seduction 
uncoiled 
elevated vibrating 
you find your way inside me 
willingly unbraced
ungrounded
where we
sing our songs 
electronic duets
time travelers 
across oceans 
time, space
channeled 
charged


PROMPT: TAKE YOUR THOUGHTS BEYOND….
by Mo Szulejewska

Take your thoughts beyond… 
But no, don’t do that, what’s the point, where’s the adventure in that?
Take your thoughts…… No. 
Let your thoughts take you. Beyond your limits, your world, your experience.
Embrace the journey, throw yourself into it, allow your thoughts to be both guide and companion.
What wonders might you see? There’s a whispery, grey feather shaped cloud that looks so insubstantial, hovering and moving slowly in the pale blue sky above – what would it be like inside that cloud? What would it feel like, what would it smell and taste like? Would the texture be soft and downy or cold and hard as steel? Would it be warm, heated by the sun’s rays or cold, cooled by the surrounding air? Or would it have its own unique temperature zone generated from its own existence?
And what would you see – looking down at the land below? But would you want to look down? Where’s the excitement in looking at where you have already been and already know?
Look above, look around – lands and shapes and worlds beyond imaginings.
Let your thoughts take you to those undiscovered, unimagined and otherwise inaccessible places where anything and everything is possible.
Let your thoughts take you…..


Ravine
by Hilaire (inspired by RAIN practice)

Down here, it is quiet.
The violent rush is over.
You may lie here
breathing
experiencing 
extremes of cold 
and heat
light and dark
listening to your body
slowly mending itself.
Hurry has vanished.
Ants busy themselves
around your stillness.

You will not climb 
from this place.
When feeling returns
test your steps
on the narrow path.
Keep steady ahead.
Hold the shrinking ravine
deep inside.




Your head to the wind

by Priscilla Webster

My head, receiver of knocks and blows
and sudden assaults from stairs, the
floor, the brother with the huge thumb,
the ground, the rounders bat.
My strong hardy head which recovers
each time and smiles again
with the help of the wind -
that knocks and blows and suddenly assaults
on mountain tops, on the biking road and on
the cliffs over the sea.
That strong hardy wind which cleanses
even as it never fails. My wind smiles.


Prompt: The kindness of memory

anonymous

She stretches as she clambers down from the car seat - waking up after dozing off during the two-hour journey. She turns into the wind so her hair lifts back from her face, and looks down the narrow path, high wall on one side, house on the other. The path is wet and she jumps over the puddles to reach the back of the house and the steps. Every second stair has a flower pot at one side - geraniums, she discovers, when old enough to be interested - and the familiar scent grows as she climbs towards the kitchen door. She is three steps from the top when it swings open to reveal arms outstretched and a beaming smile. Granneeeeeee!

*******************************


Thanks to you all ...

... for your heartening feedback as always:


Kath: Missed the awful loadshedding (power cut) today! Good to be back.

Annan: Hi everyone! I need to sign off in an hour due to work here…hope that’s ok?

Adrienne Hannah: of course annan

Kay: lovely   thankyou Adrienne  kx

Sheila: thank u Adrienne

Larky: My sister’s name has the stress on the first syllable:  ANN-an.

Giovanna: thank you Adrienne, I needed that!

Lapidus Scotland: your head to the wind

Hilaire: Beautiful imagery Anja

Catrice: Beautiful Anja!  <3

Sonja: So lovely! Thank you!

Anja: Thank you!

Catrice: @Susan, Wow!!

Giovanna: “caught out by the tempest” wonderful Susan

Anja: I could feel the storm coming, Susan!

Susan: Thank you

Anja: That ending, Catrice, wow!

Sonja: That was so fabulous!

Hilaire: Yes great ending!

Catrice: Thank you everyone.

Catrice: @Sandra ! Wowza. Powerful!  You have such a powerful voice in your work!

Catrice: Beautiful and peaceful poem.

Sandra: Thank you Catrice!

Anja: And the wind would batter at my burdens- that’s just wonderful!

Catrice: Lovely last line Giovanna.  Paired and sparkling!

Sandra: Beautiful images Giovanna. Thank you!

Anja: Yes! Catrice, you and I are a sucker for those last lines:-)

Giovanna: Pared! Thank you Catrice, I’d so love to be able to read your work

Giovanna: Thank you

Catrice: Thank you, Giovanna. I think Bev put a poem on the blog.  I’m working on publishing. So far, some work in the @afro.com.

Catrice: Oh pared!  Nice.

Giovanna: Brilliant, I will go looking for you

Anja: I loved that, Bev!

Sonja: I love the hot air reference to politicians LOL!

Catrice: Quite smart, Bev.  Love it!

Yvonne: What a beautiful session. Lovely to see you all. Love to all .... Bye from me xxx

Adrienne Hannah: bye Yvonne great that you were here

Britt: Brava, Priscilla!!

Catrice: Lovely !  From head wind to heart wind.

Sonja: I have to go to a meeting, Thank you so much for the invitation and the community! Looking forward to more time with you all! xo

Britt: Bye Sonja!!

Sandra: Me too. Headwind to heartwind is  beautiful image

Giovanna: CAn we organise a virtual Med/Write social at the end of this block? It would be lovely to chat with you all.

Britt: Here here, Giovanna. 

Sandra: Great idea!

Catrice: Great idea!

Sheila: 🍺

Anja: Lovely idea

Hilaire: Another enriching session - thank you Bev & Adrienne & everyone for sharing!

Britt: Your words fed my soul, thank you, everyone. 

Susan: Another great session! Thank you everyone

Sandra: Thank you so much Bev and Adrienne. I love these sessions!

Anja: Thank you to Adrienne and Bev for another lovely session and thank you to everyone for sharing your wonderful words here.

Louise's: a wind blowing session - I’m full of air and light on my feet... thank you all

Catrice: Thank YOU!  I love these sessions!

Kath: thank you, wonderful again

Larky: Thank you for changing the time so we could give this a try!  Thanks for all the shared encouragement.

Michele: So great to see you all. Thank you for all the inspiring writing.  Michele

Sheila: amazing quality of words from everyone no wind at all x

Jo: I missed your input, Kay.

Jo: Thanks, everybody else … humbling

Kay: a wonderful session    thankyou so much everyone   very special     thanks bev & Adrienne for making this happen    kx

Lesley: The mindfulness was wonderfully relaxing, much needed in these difficult times.  And thank you to everyone for sharing your meaty, thoughtful and inspiring words. x

Anja: And search of connections

Michele: I agree, lovely mindful practice, Adrienne.

Catrice: Good point Anja.

Michele: from Michele, Adrienne.

Susan: I need to leave now - thank you all. See you next week

Hilaire: Thanks again - see you all next week x

Catrice: Thank you, this has been quite lovely. Pleased to meet everyone.

Anja: Hoping to join next week, in case I can’t, here are my contact details, annickyerem@gmail.com

Jo: Thanks all