What Are These Feathered Times?
INTENTIONS | 5.1.2020
What Are These Feathered Times?
Oddity, in a sheltered, anxious month. I feel a bit feathered and untethered. My inbox flutters with emails that express support, sell me things, and provide temporary relief. Writing? It has not happened as much as I intend. Sometimes it’s okay to just keep on, lower goals, and feel sad—and feel okay with feeling sad. These are hard times. How do we stay lifted? Is there value in allowing sadness? I think so.
With these times, I do feel gratitude too, in waves. I’m grateful for our 10th issue here of The Herd—and our community of over a hundred people! I am grateful for my conversation with local Bay Area poet Brett Benson, our Creativity Crush for May. I am also grateful—and owe a big thank you—to writer Elizabeth Forsyth, who took time from her busy life to write our “Quick Lit Review” for this issue.
It’s also May, with Mother’s Day on the 10th. For this day, we bring you a piece called Mother’s Day that explores the role of our feathered friends, motherhood, and children. Scroll down to our Writing Responses and click here to open the story!
Herders, we have SIX HERDERS reading their work and/or offering a workshop during the Weekend of Words, occurring May 8th - May 10th. The readings and free workshops are brought to you by residents of the Shuffle Collective. Register here to listen to readings or take a writing workshop.
Shout out to Herders Katia Aoun Hage, Daniel Eugene, Iris Crawford, Brett Benson, Elizabeth Forsyth, and me, who will be there at Weekend of Words! We’d love to see you too, virtually. Click on the links above with their name, to register for their specific event! I will add additional links as events become posted & available.
I hope that the written & spoken word can provide medicinal relief—a re-shifting of the bones—for you during this time.
Take care, everyone. And hang in there.
Brett Benson reading at Sacred Grounds Cafe.
CREATIVITY CRUSH | 5.1.20
Brett Benson is one of the first people that invited me to an Open Mic and encouraged me to read my work. He’s since encouraged dozens of people to read their work in public spaces and experience the power of sharing their stories.
Brett is a kind soul with a big orange beard and a booming voice. When not writing, he’s a high school history teacher and poet-philosopher. He frequents Golden Gate Park with a typewriter tucked under his arm and spends occasional afternoons writing poems for folks. When safe to do so again, Brett is excited to set up his typewriter on the warm grassy lawn and write…
Enjoy Brett’s three poems and prose, below. Follow Brett on his poetic Facebook Page called The Essence of Existence or click here to find him on YouTube. He’s also on Instagram and Twitter.
“Compass”
For that which is true,
Imminent course to live,
Held amongst the vigilant few,
Time ticking, slow to give.
Prove thy worth in belief,
As by a code of rock,
Forgotten beside debated grief;
Day by Day, hours by the clock.
Whilst you stand in point,
Gazing at surrounding parts,
Look to previous obstacles,
Painted serenely lie the right charts.
“The Weathered Oak Bench”
I took a walk down the road a ways and found her sitting there.
Her vibrant, full hair blowing in the wind.
When I approached the brown weathered oak bench, she said, "I have nothing left to give."
"Good, " I said softly, "For I come not to take, but to give. And that gift is whatever you need it to be."
She looked up, tried to smile, but still quivered, "I cannot make anything right."
I, carefully, replied, "You don't have to. Sometimes, you have to deal with the pain in order to move forward. But I am here. Endlessly, with all support, I am here."
"I need a miracle."
"And so you will find one. But until then, find peace."
Her smile started to light up the forest once again. The air in her lungs filled the heartbeat to a steady, relaxed tone. The majesty in her essence vibrated through the Autumn brisk wind.
She wasn't perfect. But neither was I. And, we would say in a future moment later on, sometimes all one soul needs is another imperfect part to show them they are not alone in this mad, wild world...
“The Ritual at the End”
Drops of air sit at peace,
Where winds travel round,
Willows and reeds sing,
Turn the tides of note and sound.
Light crawls to the edge,
To life, creatures big and small,
A job to be done, to display the best;
Three spirits as a test,
Harmony in freedom of choice,
Think and believe as they may.
A land of conscience,
Sewn by love and war,
Bodies and souls drop as leaves,
To build city walls at the very core.
Hard rock fortresses amongst stones at ground level,
Digging into a catacomb maze of forgotten rituals and customs.
Art of power changing hands,
Dance of new tradition so habitual,
Every new deity a freshly built tower.
Idols today, idols of yesterday, gleaming under the light of reality;
No shadow cast is permanent; no ideas for all as one true establishment.
Masters of the greatest thought learn to tolerate,
Beginners from all corners to wonder and contemplate:
How does one keep such wide ends of the prism on parallel,
Nay equal, treatment under decided rule?
Living continually falter,
Divine guidance waiting at the altar,
Thoughts to be moved upon,
Middle ground to be agreed upon.
He who lives without wrong may lead without limit,
Yet none exist in such a mixed world;
To this, absolute power: may none achieve it; immortal to earth, to always prohibit.
For righteous sake, the equality of all, where persecution ceases to exist.
A Kingdom of Conscience; A Kingdom of Heaven.
MAY WRITING PROMPT | 5.1.2020
In her book The Yellow House, author Sarah M. Broom writers that “Remembering is a chair that is hard to sit still in.”
For this prompt, I want to acknowledge first, that it is to “sit still” and allow ourselves to remember. Sarah M. Broom says it beautifully. That said, take 20 minutes to keep writing the lines, “I remember…” and write whatever follows. If you get “stuck,” try writing variations of “I remember how…” or “I remember why” or “I remember when…”
As always, submit your favorite sentence or paragraph below if you’d like to share your response in our June Issue.
Monthly Creativity Crushes are featured on our main Herd page, always. Check them out and learn more about their work!
QUICK LIT REVIEW | 5.1.20
Aging in Pico Iyers Autumn Light, Reviewed by Elizabeth Forsyth.
Pico Iyer's Autumn Light:Season of Fire and Farewells is a tranquil memoir of how the season of autumn manifests in our lives. It features select moments; a tableau of ping-pong reveals the role and achievement of aging in Japan, a visit to view the changing autumn leaves leads to a bittersweet taste of young love.
"Hold this moment forever, I tell myself, it may never come again."
The book, like the author's life, contains unresolved stories; the reader must be content without answers.
"Autumn poses the question we all have to live with: How to hold on to the things we love even though we know that we and they are dying. How to see the world as it is, yet find light within that truth."
Elizabeth Forsyth is an author of short stories and essays. You can find her on Twitter here or email her at ForsythAuthor@gmail.com. Her workshop, “DIY Bookstore Events for Authors,” will be featured in Shuffle's Weekend of Words, and you can secure a spot in it here!
WRITING RESPONSES | 5.1.20
From Sarkık Kulaklı, debuting in The Herd, we offer two pieces. Sarkık Kulaklı is a pen name that means “lop-eared” in Turkish.
Meditation: From My Garden in the Midst of Pandemic.
“There are days when pandemic news is so grim that I have trouble dragging myself out of bed. I used to notice the sound of sirens only once in a while, but now I am aware of them every day. Taking my dog to romp with canine buddies at dog parks or beaches no longer qualifies as “essential activity with social distancing.”
After 23 years of living and traveling in Eurasia, my traditional escape from domestic realities would be catching up with friends on their lives in other parts of the world. Today, however, no matter which continent we liveon, the stories we share are extraordinarily similar: We exist in one level or another of indefinite lockdown, braced for the worst to come with COVID-19. Descriptions from friends in Northern Italy are like images in a crystal ball foretelling impending doom.
Matt McBee tweeted, “We are going to look back on each previous week as the good times for the foreseeable future.” I seek refuge in the garden of my wind-swept home on the Central Coast of California. A walled yard is a blessing, especially with a dog, after two decades of apartment dwelling […]
For the full story of Meditation, please click here. The story should open on a new page on your browser!
~
Mother’s Day, by Sarkık Kulaklı
When I was a California child, I asked my parents why there was a Mothers Day, a Fathers Day, but no Kids Day. “Every day is Kids Days,” they snorted simultaneously, an answer that was offensive to me. It suggested that every day of a child’s life is a bowl of cherries. It demonstrated their obliviousness to the stresses of mistakes, growing pains, deadlines, tests, grades, social pressures, violence, hunger and displacement that children face globally every day.
I vowed that moment not to mark the day when I grew up and had children of my own. When I lived overseas, I found that some version of the holiday existed in other cultures and participation was mandatory. Dark comedies have been staged to contrast the good intention of honoring mothers with the reality of their sometimes not-so-good relationships with their offspring.
Twenty years later in central Maine, my daughter came into the world the same year as our cat, Dingo. My labor began at 1:00 on a December morning during a full moon and the coldest snap in 100 years.
[…]
For the full short story Mother’s Day, please click here. The story should open on a new page on your browser!
RESOURCES AND HAPPENINGS | 5.1.20
Weekend of Words occurring May 8th – 10th. Choose your personalized selection of workshops, readings, etc.! To register for the overall event, click here. If you’re curious about the free workshops, check out this fine offering!
Comprehensive list for writer resources and financial support.
National Endowment for the Arts database of COVID-19 financial resources.
Online MFA Exhibition for “to-be grads” across US, featuring Herder Julia Edith Rigby!
Virtual Book Channel from LIT HUB connecting writers with readers.
Hang in there, world.
That’s it for Issue X of The Herd. Please comment below or share The Herd with anyone who needs the lift.