DAY 26 (January 31st, 2018)

LIFE AND DEATH

There is life and death in life—
in every verdant hillside
in every fallen bridge
in every caught fish
in wine red skies and foaming seas
in skiffs and carriages
in every crying calf and butchered ox
in wind-filled sails and creaking watermills
in every unfurrowed brow—
over eyes open, unseated—
that reach toward God’s horizon,
in every moment—
breath—
from one thought to the next.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 25 (January 30th, 2018)

LABORERS

One day, you’ll walk like her—
like a broken marionette.

God made us to labor—
our limbs creep like worms in arid soil—
our backs cripple under the noonday sun,
as we fight against nature and the inexorable crush of time.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 24 (January 29th, 2018)

NATURE

What is nature now?
Fenced into tiny plots like unseemly monsters—
starved prisoners—
All of it belongs to man now—
defiled, contained, and no longer wild.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 23 (January 28th, 2018)

VESTIGE

I am left only with your vestige
to roll you on my tongue
to taste your balmy vapor
to conjure you from subterranean
scapes of shades turning in opaque circles.

This is my smithy, my lectern.
I forge my story, my crossing-over.
I’ll pen what words I wish—
my adulterated heart
will bleed what it pleases.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 22 (January 27th, 2018)

ADRIFT

He finally sees,
When all that’s left is blindness,
when all hope’s lost for land or shore—
only squalls or deadly tempest,
or maelstrom’s eye and heady vertigo—
or placid waters lapping
on the rotting timbers of his only home—
the marrow of a sinking raft
upon the empty ocean—
. . . adrift.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 21 (January 26th, 2018)

SHAMELESS GESTURES

You come
only when I call with this solitary voice–
you listen–
only when these bare-toothed baubles,
brimming with promise
both primitive and grotesque,
are with shameless gestures swept away,
and to pieces fall and break.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 20 (January 25th, 2018)

WHAT’S REAL

We make with our minds
the things we wish to see.

There’s God …
but as many minds in the world there are
are there Gods envisioned.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 19 (January 24th, 2018)

YOURS AND MINE

I’m not yours–
You’re not mine–
There’s no object in ownership, anyway.

And what joy is this
to listen, watch, and wonder–
the stories that made you,
the words lilting in your voice,
the pictures on your skin
the turning of your wrist–
an illustrated, disclosing gesture.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 18 (January 23rd, 2018)

HALF THOUGHTS

They march, unkempt and disjointed,
grim-faced soldiers—
a dreary, funereal procession of half-hearted thoughts—
that bud, wither, but never bloom.
They seem so inconsequential—
outrageous and artless.

I often forget, under a moth-eaten quilt,
in a cold, stone-wet room—
freight cars clatter like iron chains on dusky tracks—
the train head bellows—
the echo measures miles—tens of miles—hundreds, perhaps.
I wake, stark-faced, and remember—
I slept too long.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!

DAY 17 (January 22nd, 2018)

You are a gift, my friend.

UNDESERVING

What am I but undeserving
and you a trove of delightful turns—
a guiding star—
for both veins of gold and sorrow
run deep into arterial darkness—
into this—my suffering heart.

The 100 Day Project

The 100 Day Project is a creativity excavation. It’s about unearthing dormant or unrealized creativity by committing to a daily practice everyday for 100 days.
Creativity is a skill. The more we practice, the more skilled we become. Practice takes time. Practice takes commitment. Practice is a radical act in this speeded up world. Through practice, we develop a creative habit. Through habit, we reconnect with and know ourselves again as a creative being.

I started this, my third, 100 Day Project on January 6th. My project is to write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by a poem, a quote, an idea, a painting—anything really. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project-number-three/

Enjoy!