FREE FORM

In my very first post I included a poem and I said I’d never do it again.  Hand on heart, I meant it. But I'm going to break my promise. This is why.

Last weekend I joined a group of very enthusiastic and creative Young Things at a writing workshop; a workshop the like of which I’d never encountered before.  I kid myself that I may have been invited in the capacity of elder statesman, to contribute words of wisdom re the writing process, perhaps to inspire them to heights I, myself, can only dream of.  The reality is I received much, much more than I contributed.

The format was simple. Following on from a time of free-form singing in praise of the One who is the Word from the beginning (and what a wild time that was!) there were to be several ten minute sessions during which we were invited to relax and listen, soaking in the live sounds of guitars, keyboard and a hand drum. As we listened, images and phrases came dancing into the mind like whispers from infinite space/heaven and soon we were jotting notes of the ideas that flowed. I could only describe it as prophetic writing.  It didn’t ignore the intellect so much as over-ran it, in the manner of a great river rushing to its outlet, sweeping along with it those things that had previously been deposited in its course.

What appeared in my head as the musicians played was a large W.  Not knowing what else to do I began by jotting random words beginning with that letter and because parts of the music sounded bubbly and fluid the first one was ‘water’.  This, not re-worked since, is what I wrote in that first 10 minute session using some of those ‘w’ words.

                                   

Vagrant wandering, wasteland waiting,

                                    Just breathing is war, like a wail from a distant train.

                                    Walked into a waterfall, found a well,

                                    Washed me light, like dust dancing.

I feel like I want to engage in the whole process again in order to develop this stanza into a longer piece, but I’m almost scared to try just in case I spoil what I have.  And then I remember something I saw on Face Book recently:  “The essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid”.  So there it is, I will have to give it a go. Dust has to dance.