Conversation with a Dog
Me:
Melancholy creature whose master is man,
we are none without our overlords.
Let us weep—you and I together—
for our inherited condition.
A Dog:
It is not the face of God
I see in my master,
but God himself.
And God sees in me my mortality,
and loves and pities me for it.
ice drops
remain
long after frozen rain fell
on an open umbrella
a bulwark
heavy
against all that is hurtful
the sun
may one day
melt them into water
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!
Well, I’ve been a bit remiss in taking photographs. I feel the cold weather is mostly responsible. I just haven’t had the gumption to go out in the cold. Maybe I’m getting old … well, there’s no ‘maybe’ about it … still, I could’ve gathered up my courage to face the arctic conditions, but I didn’t. At any rate, I’m playing catch-up, and to do that, I’ve been going through all my photographs and just picking some up and putting a few filters on them. They are not my best work … but you gotta do what you gotta do. These will close out the year! Enjoy!
Apparently, this is a thing. Consider it a challenge, a journal, or a journey (I prefer journey). Take a picture a day and post it to your blog. Here are some reasons why you should try it, too.
DO YOU HEAR THEM?
Do you hear them?
You spoke those words in your youth,
and still they are written,
penned in shadows on the dark hillside,
and still they are sung
by angels on the other side of the bright, blue sky.
What are you now?
A gutted fish?
What cruel fisherman wrenched
the bowels of your years
out of you?
Do you now beckon Death?
Will you not rise from your chamber
and sate yourself with your Master’s leavings?
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!
A KISS
I feel a kiss
flutter between us—
a timid butterfly
Our lips don’t touch
Not a kiss, as such—
just delightful curiosity
There is a chance
As am I entranced—
my lips are tender parting
To close the space
and kiss your dear face—
my lips my heart imparting
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!
Well, I’ve been a bit remiss in taking photographs. I feel the cold weather is mostly responsible. I just haven’t had the gumption to go out in the cold. Maybe I’m getting old … well, there’s no ‘maybe’ about it … still, I could’ve gathered up my courage to face the arctic conditions, but I didn’t. At any rate, I’m playing catch-up, and to do that, I’ve been going through all my photographs and just picking some up and putting a few filters on them. They are not my best work … but you gotta do what you gotta do. These will close out the year! Enjoy!
Apparently, this is a thing. Consider it a challenge, a journal, or a journey (I prefer journey). Take a picture a day and post it to your blog. Here are some reasons why you should try it, too.
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 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!
LABORERS
One day, you’ll walk like her—
like a broken marionette.
It is your pain she feels—
feel you her pain that’s yours you gave.
–these terrible bodies
at once so lovely and horrifying.
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 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!
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 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!
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.
Is that my hand? Outstretched?
Like a fishhook? Like a gold pan?
Are those my lips? Like a lonely matron?
At a boarder’s door, bending for the keyhole?
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 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!