Naomi Shihab Nye – findingtimetowrite

The Nurturing Power of Inspiring Women

I’m fully aware that I’ve had wonderfully supportive men in my professional and personal life as well, but at this particular point in my life, I am thirsting for that generous nurturing that can come from the women you aspire to become some day.

With thanks to L’Atelier Writers for the image.

I have been fortunate to have great female role models encourage and inspire me at just the right inflection points in my life. The meetings were brief and I doubt that any of them will remember me, but for me they were life-changing. Naomi Shihab Nye encouraged me to start writing poetry (again). Laura Kasischke and Kathleen Jamie engaged with my poetry and made me feel I had something to say after all. Sarah Savitt (then at Faber, now at Virago) loved the beginning of my novel and encouraged me to finish it prestissimo – sorry, Sarah, life intervened, but I WILL finish! Michele Roberts gave me feminist support and solidarity when my marriage was breaking down. Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books is just the most caring and passionate individual I’ve ever met in publishing, she envelopes you like a warm hug and is an absolute tonic when you are down. My triad of charmed and charming women writers who organise the most wholesome, funny and productive writing retreat in the world, L’Atelier Writers (namely, Michelle Bailat Jones, Laura McCune-Poplin and Sara Johnson Allen)… and the participants I met there, who have become my creative sisters.

The three most recent examples are Nicola Barker and Ali Smith, as well as my poetry mentor Rebecca Goss. Here are some of their thoughts that particularly stuck with me.

I admire Nicola Barker’s commitment to remaining ‘ferociously innocent’ (instead of jaded or cynical) and her ability to find joy and playfulness in writing. She is aware that her writing has been described as difficult, and that not a lot of people read her, but she believes that experimental writers are ‘bottom feeders, virtually unseen in the depths of the ocean, but somehow something percolates up towards the top.

Meanwhile, Ali Smith is aware that her ‘Brexit novel series’ will be out of date in just a couple of years, but she feels compelled to witness the times in something other than journalism, and hopes it will give us a snapshot of what it felt like to be at this particular point in history. She described writing these books as ‘being in the middle of a powerful storm, trying to capture the roar’.

Last but not least, it is such a privilege to work with a mentor for poetry. Someone who reads your work very closely, who asks you about your intention and really listens, doesn’t impose her point of view but tries to work with you to make your poem as good as it can possibly be. I came home last night after a busy and difficult day at work, tired from the commute, doubled up in pain from yet another over-abundant period, mentally exhausted with all the back to school prep. Rebecca was generous with her time, praise and thoughts and I left the session with little wings attached Hermes-like to my swollen ankles…

Every Single One of Us Has the Devil Inside

When the devil came out of the bathroom
they sunk a little deeper in
and thought to state truth
but lied and lied.

Jerky transitions in a city of shades
lullabies where you can find them
being forgotten like snot-filled tissue
what do I hate about
being found? They grow and change
live and love like us
yet not like us – puzzles never solved
jewels in our crowns bent heavy with regret.

Tedious telephone voices
harp at you like the common cold
and the world loves nothing more
than beating you up in a cloud of smoke.
What refuge can you find bubbling
up enough random junk to float to the surface
for our stories to want more?
Strum-drum
Tick-tock
Too late
Jock-schok
You can’t, you won’t, you want
to keep a good woman
down, boy!

All palpable, the fingers groan
as they caress the fat downy tummy of a cat
with a puff of thistles in its fur.
We see the pastoral in a sleight of hand
how mind thinks its way into and out of this boxed world
but I’m not there to cry forgiveness.

Only the things I didn’t do
crackle after the blazing dies.

Drawing by Jodi Harvey-Brown: Inner Demons. From fineartamerica.com

For dVerse Poets, Mary is encouraging us to use a line from Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem Burning the Old Year as an homage to the poet. I couldn’t resist using the lines in italics, since it was Naomi who inspired me to start writing poetry once more (and start this blog in the process). For all your wonderful poems and kind words, here’s a very special thank you, Naomi!

Showcase Sunday: Book Haul

Showcase Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by omnivorous book blogger Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. The aim of this event is to showcase the latest precious hoard of books we received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders this week. It’s fun to see what others are reading (or adding to their TBR pile) as well.

While I’ve been away on business (and am about to set off again, after just 24 hours spent at home), I’ve not had the pleasure of following many of the recommended reads, nor have I ordered anything online. Good for my wallet, less good for my morale. Luckily, when I came home, a few postal deliveries were waiting for me. I can’t wait to get back home and start reading them properly!

Summer Piere: The Artist in the Office

How to creatively survive and thrive seven days a week – no need to tell you why I might need this book, particularly this month!

This is a humorous approach to a serious problem – and apparently also includes some serious tips, as well as fun suggestions and illustrations.

Naomi Shihab Nye: Tender Spot (Selected Poems)

The poet who inspired me to start poetry again after a 20 year hiatus. Her poems are witty, tender, fiesty and truly global. And just look at the gorgeous blue cover!

Adam Wyeth: Silent Music – the debut poetry collection by an English-language poet who has settled in West Cork, in Ireland. A strong, original, quirky voice that I am curious to find out more about, especially since Adam is my tutor on my long-distance poetry course (which I have sadly neglected for the past 2-3 weeks).

Poems to Celebrate New Beginnings

Here are a few quotes which describe my start in the New Year, courtesy of The Poetry Foundation, The Poetry Archive and my own bookshelves.

So much of any year is flammable,

lists of vegetables, partial poems.

Orange swirling flame of days,

so little is a stone.

Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,

only the things I didn’t do

crackle after the blazing dies. (Naomi Shihab Nye)

The problem

of time. Of there not being

enough of it.

My girl came to the study

and said Help me;

I told her I had a time problem

which meant:

I would die for you but I don’t have ten minutes.

Hawking says

there are little folds in time

(actually he calls them wormholes)

but I say:

there’s a universe beyond

where they’re hammering the brass cut-outs .. .

Push us out in the boat and leave time here—

(because: where in the plan was it written,

You’ll be too busy to close parentheses,

the snapdragon’s bunchy mouth needs water,

even the caterpillar will hurry past you? (Brenda Hillman)

How far is far?

And how many ways to get there?

We walk

and walk towards meaning

and don’t arrive (Mahmoud Darwish)

The trees are coming into leaf,

like something almost being said. […]

Last year is dead, they seem to say,

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh. (Philip Larkin)

much against everyone’s advice

I have decided to live the life

I want to read about and write it

not by visiting the graves of authors (Sam Riviere)

Random But Inspirational Writerly Thoughts

Here are some quotes which keep me refreshed, from the well of clear water produced by inspirational writers.

A writer’s job is to get outside one’s self, to pry, listen and eavesdrop, to find out what you don’t yet know. (Bret Lott)

There is nothing new in literature, there is no new way to tell a story, no more breakthroughs to be made. It’s all about the details. (Bret Lott)

You don’t have to have a long track record to become interesting to an agent or publisher.

In creative writing you are always a beginner. Once you feel you are an expert, you can’t write anymore. (J.L. Borges)

If poets are genuine, they must keep on repeating: ‘I don’t know.’ All they can do is keep on trying. (Naomi Shihab Nye)

If you can’t take the first step, take the second. (James Richardson)

After this life, we need a second life to apply the lessons we have learnt. (Dunya Mikhail)

Another fantastic source of inspiration is the tiny but perfect study of the architect Sir John Soane at his quirky and lovingly renovated house/museum in London.

Writerly Advice & Laughs (writingbytheseatofmypants.com)

Poems That Mean the World to Me

There are two poems that I would keep under my pillow if I were in the habit of doing that. As it is, I have them pinned to the noticeboard in my study and below are my favourite fragments from them. They seem to speak my words, my thoughts, my heart (but so much better than I ever could). The first one I discovered a long time ago, as a teenager; the second one I came across only a few months ago, but it sparked my creative renaissance. The sentiments seem to lie at opposite ends of the spectrum. Yet, we all have contradictions within ourselves, don’t we?

You said: ‘I’ll go to another country, go to another shore,

find another city better than this one’.

[…]

You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore.

This city will always pursue you.

You’ll walk the same streets, grow old

int he same neighbourhoods, turn grey in these same houses.

You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere:

there’s no ship for you, there’s no road.

Now that you’ve wasted your life here, in this small corner,

you’ve destroyed it everywhere in the world.

(C.P. Cavafy)

When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.

When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
If they say we should get together.
say why?

It’s not that you don’t love them any more.
You’re trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

(Naomi Shihab Nye)

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