A Little Slide Into The Unacceptable
And Some FREE Story Tending Writing Prompts for Women Who Are Tired of Faking It
If you opened this, if you are reading it, thank you. And to those of you who have given the gift of your patronage, wow. I’m honored beyond belief. I have a special invitation just for you at the end of this email from my heart.
Speaking of hearts, a little “❤️” or comment at the top or bottom of this email to let more people know about what we do here at Story Tending. 🙏🏻
I’m sending this out on my birthday week. I am 57 years old. I’ve waited my whole life to become who I am now. As I wrote in a longer piece recently, “I want to grow old in my own body, and my body lives here.” This is my commitment to a new groundedness born from sloughing off old expectations and getting real with myself. This means I want the real you, too. I want to live in a world where we can all be evolving and healing and expressing our truest, most delightful selves. So, a poem…
A Little Slide into the Unacceptable
I love myself a little snark, a little
snide, a little slide into the unacceptable,
not as a habit, that’d be too much but
the honest, “I need some chocolate,
something to spike my blood sugar,
the hormones are all screwed up,”
kind of real woman talk.
I love the hugger, too, the soft, featherdown
whisper-squeeze of a woman who
refuses to be hardened to this world.
I welcome the one who makes no
sense because sense is overrated
and seriousness, an epidemic.
Let’s cry-laugh and crack up and
let them all call us crazy.
Let’s waste some time, chronos time,
the time somebody made up and
measured out in stingy portions,
leaving everyone starving. I demand
to be full, whole, round and happy with life.
From now on, I will wonder and wander
through the woods of this world, greeting
the people I meet with the smile it took a
lifetime to uncover, the real smile,
the one that says, “You are welcome here
because–finally–I’m here now, too.”
Story Tending Prompts for your consideration…
Once again, these prompts are a free offering. I was given the gift of this singular life in December, which inspires me to continue the trend of offering questions that might help you see your own singular life as something worth writing about.
What I know about writing is that, when allowed rather than forced, it is both intuitive and embodied. When we write, we invite the story/the poem/the song to reveal a little truth about us, about the world. When we write (and, especially, when we share our writing in some form), we are Story Tending.
In that spirit, I invite you into this prompt…
Choose one line or snippet of words from the poem above as the launching point for your writing. For example, start with the simplicity of “I love…” and continue from there. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes (follow your intuition on this) and WRITE. Don’t stop to edit or cross out, don’t second-guess yourself. No faking! You might be amazed at what happens when you allow your words to roam freely rather than corralling them.
Me feeding and freeing my writing with one of my favorite people (Photo by B. Holt, UK 2022)
And a couple questions to explore…
Make a list of your favorite people–alive or dead, close or far away. What is it about them that you love? What fascinates you?
Have you arrived? Are you here? What parts of you are still waiting to be uncovered?
Speaking of Poetry…I’ve Been Published!
If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know that I’ve been caregiving with my parents for a couple years now. I say caregiving “with” because I do believe that my fully grown parents are humans capable of caring for many of their own needs. However, my part in their care has grown and will continue to grow.
Why am I telling you this? Because a poem of mine was recently published in the Caregiving issue of Peregrine, Amherst Writers & Artists literary journal. This is significant to me because I am a trained AWA Facilitator (and, sometimes, a trainer of new facilitators), AND the pieces I’ve submitted to this journal have been rejected in the past. Yes, this is your invitation to keep trying, friends, no matter what it is you want.
If you’d like to hear me read my poem, you’ll find me at around minute 32 on this recording. Watch the second half of the readings for the anthology here.
If hearing these pieces about caregiving inspires you, Peregrine is available for purchase here.
INVITATIONS TO GO DEEPER
My dear paid subscribers, I have a bonus PROMPT for you. I’m also inviting you to share their written work with me privately. Finally, I’m so excited to invite you to be part of my favorite thing in the world.
Read on…