This idea started a few days ago with an offhanded comment as I shared a link on Facebook. My friends, of course, responded in kind with their own quippy remarks. “Nachos for Two… for One, Please,” said one, replied to by another with “Nachos for Four…One Fork, Please.” (And so on, and so on…) The thing is, these…
Read MoreThe weaving of a tale
There is a spider who lives in the window over my bed. Her web is strung like a safety net, woven horizontally between screen and glass so that she’s able to perch herself in the joint of the window frame. At the point in the morning when I open the blinds, the sun is at…
Read MoreThe dawn is a blinking cursor
One day last week, I woke up with a line of verse in my head. It didn’t go anywhere, but it also didn’t go away. For days, any time my mind was at a lull, the line would float back up to the surface. I wrote it down, stared at it, willed it to continue…
Read MoreLost and found
I’m not just a hoarder of books – I’m a hoarder of words. A very well organized hoarder, but a hoarder nonetheless. I have files and boxes full of papers, all with a certain meaning to me. There are reading packets from college courses I found particularly interesting, quotes written on post-its, notes passed back…
Read MoreOn poetry and purpose
A few days ago, I read an article on The Atlantic that struck a chord. In it, author Sherman Alexie reveals that a single line of poetry inspired him to dedicate himself to the arts. Bang. It was right there. It was waiting for me. People talk about “that moment when you just know”—I don’t think…
Read MoreRepetitive motion
Beijing is perpetually under construction. This isn’t some sort of grand metaphor or anything like that. Spend enough time here and you’ll be able to distinguish the make and model of a drill within three floors of it being used. It’s so prevalent that it took six years of constant noise before neighbors realized that…
Read MoreWaking the dead
As a lifetime insomniac (a fact I’m sure I’ve mentioned here on more than one occasion) I’ve tried just about everything to coax myself to sleep. When I was a teenager, what seemed to soothe my mind was memorizing poetry. Reading aloud, the repetition of lines was my version of counting sheep. Now that I…
Read MoreAn Autumn Affirmation
Admiring the light on the trees in the early evening a passing breeze caressed my cheek. As I looked up to face the cool embrace one yellow leaf rode the wind to fall at my fingers along the splintered wooden rail. In that brief moment I felt connected to everything. I felt an energy radiating…
Read MoreIn My Craft Or Sullen Art
In my craft or sullen artExercised in the still nightWhen only the moon ragesAnd the lovers lie abedWith all their griefs in their arms,I labour by singing lightNot for ambition or breadOr the strut and trade of charmsOn the ivory stagesBut for the common wagesOf their most secret heart.Not for the proud man apartFrom the…
Read Morearise, my soul; and sing
This is the time of year when I inevitably find myself awash in cliches of fitness and organization and self-discovery. I’m sure that for some people it is reassuring to embrace the “new me” fresh start that a new year can offer, but I see things just a little differently. This year my resolution (for…
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Positively Natalie 