“Why I write” is a prompt Miriam offered us at a writing retreat recently. Ten minutes. Go. I wrote:
Why I write. Why, I write! Why?, I write. Why I write: because I access more of myself… my inner guide, my inner voice, my own knowledge that I didn’t know I knew, unfolding on the page, being discovered, discovering itself, uncovering itself, uncovering a Self, shedding obscurations? I hesitate to say uncovering truth but maybe, with a small t. Why I didn’t write, for all those many years, is a sad question. Not that there was no discovery during that time, there was… but somehow it feels like some obscuration has been removed, some schmutz on the lenses, some obstacle to… to what? To a path.
Writing as path. That idea first occurred to me sometime around this time last year. Why I write, now, is the same reason I meditate, or exercise, or buy and cook healthy food — because it seems essential to a clear life. Clear? Yes. I write to clear the path. Like sweeping. I write to see myself as maker, as author, co-author, co-creator of my world. Like sculpting — only somehow more all-encompassing, more engrossing. I write because its the only thing I ever do where I lose track of time.
I shared your last pair of writings with two friends, one who is 13 and has been writing for aLONG time. You may have heard from one or both of them? Irena is the 13 yr old— she ALSO writes about time. Hope two can meet someday. Her mother’s name is Iga. She came here some years ago from Poland.
This piece today seems almost like a poem— see if that idea has any resonance for you. I know you HAVE written other poems….
M
On Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 4:26 PM towardanakedheart wrote:
> towardanakedheart posted: “”Why I write” is a prompt Miriam offered us
Ah, I resonate with this one, as I have with many of your blogs! 🙂 One thing I’m intrigued about is writing clears a path and allows you to lose track of time. The word “track” also suggests following something (when it is a verb) or a path (as a noun). I wonder if this fits: Writing allows one to lose the culturally imposed path of “time” in order to follow the internally created (and creating) path of the Self. ???