DAY 31 (June 10th, 2017)
The Shroud
Death, I say, my heart is bowed
Unto thine,—O mother!
This red gown will make a shroud
Good as any other!
(I, that would not wait to wear
My own bridal things,
In a dress dark as my hair
Made my answerings.
I, to-night, that till he came
Could not, could not wait,
In a gown as bright as flame
Held for them the gate.)
Death, I say, my heart is bowed
Unto thine,—O mother!
This red gown will make a shroud
Good as any other!
My Commentary
I AM THE LITTLE LIFE
I am the little life
My thoughts are sometimes long.
And on my skin and in my bones,
are quiet little reckonings.
I am the little life
And I am sometimes whole.
Today I was a cloud.
Tommorrow—an eternity.
DAY 32 (June 11th, 2017)
Beginning
The moon drops one or two feathers into the fields.
The dark wheat listens.
Be still.
Now.
There they are, the moon’s young, trying
Their wings.
Between trees, a slender woman lifts up the lovely shadow
Of her face, and now she steps into the air, now she is gone
Wholly, into the air.
I stand alone by an elder tree, I do not dare breathe
Or move.
I listen.
The wheat leans back toward its own darkness,
And I lean toward mine.
My Commentary
When my body moves, so does my soul.
My roots are legs,
birds are my thoughts,
my arms branch out
and all my creations—leaves,
now green and alive;
now brown and dying or dead.
And what are you, my soul?
Neither tree nor bird nor living thing.
quite unseen,
even unbidden,
and now I must make sense of you.
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 100 Day Project on May 11th. My project is to read a poem, and write at least one first-draft stanza inspired by that poem. I’ll post the results at www.bradseverance.com/category/100-day-project/
Enjoy!