FROM WOMENS INK
OCTOBER WORKSHOP
Finding the Poetic to make your writing shimmer
COLLEEN KEATING
Lots of inspired sharing and laughter filled the room as a passionate group of writers
explored ways of using the poetic to make their writing shimmer.
One of our learnings was that when our writing is lucid and perceptive it shines with meaning, something all of us wish for our work.
Together we reflected on the power of awareness, bringing us always back to the present moment. We discussed how our mind is being colonised all the time and came up with constructive ways of decolonising our mind to become listeners to the breath of the universe.
We looked at the maxim: Lessons from a Tree
1. Stand tall and strong 2. Go out on a limb. 3. Remember your roots
4. Drink plenty of water 5. Be content with your natural beauty 6. Enjoy the view.
Together we collaborated to listen and hear the advice from the tree for our writing.
Our exercise on Active Seeing brought our room in the State Library alive with new insights to energise writing.
We listened to the words of poets for their poetic sense that shines the light. Mary Oliver ’s poetry, the exquisite metaphorical writing of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Emily Dickinson , the sustained metaphor in ‘Surender’ by the Blue Mountains poet Vanessa Kirkpatrick, the felt sound in Robert Frost and Adrienne Rich with her powerful poem ‘Diving into the Wreck,’
in which we mused over her words, “I want the wreck itself not the story of the wreck, the thing itself and not the myth.’
We talked about a writer always cultivating a sense of wonder, as Alice says in Alice in Wonderland “curiouser and curiouser!” We discussed the magic of language and closed with a writing exercise To create fresh metaphors. Our sharing had us marvelling at how metaphors strike unexpectedly and how they work to help our writing shimmer .