A Prayer for the World

  • A Prayer for the World

    A Prayer for the World

    “Let the rain come and wash away
    the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds
    held and nurtured over generations.
    Let the rain wash away the memory
    of the hurt, the neglect.
    Then let the sun come out and
    fill the sky with rainbows.
    Let the warmth of the sun heal us
    wherever we are broken.
    Let it burn away the fog so that
    we can see each other clearly.
    So that we can see beyond labels,
    beyond accents, gender or skin color.
    Let the warmth and brightness
    of the sun melt our selfishness.
    So that we can share the joys and
    feel the sorrows of our neighbors.
    Let the earth, nourished by rain,
    bring forth flowers
    to surround us with beauty.
    And let the mountains teach our hearts
    to reach upward to heaven.”

    — Rabbi Harold Kushner

    Marlene C

  • Memory

    Guest Blogger Hospice Nurse Sharon Ziff writes:

    We acknowledge that aging, slowing down, and death are normal stages of life. We exercise, eat healthy, think positively, and bring love and playfulness into our lives. Still, eventually, death will walk in.  

    What if we make friends with death? Can understanding the last chapters of your life move you toward acceptance and peace? Acceptance and peace can be a gift you can give yourself and your loved ones.

    Sharon’s Story:
    I remember Mama. I wore a hat with a bee pin that was my Mother’s. I gave it to her for her birthday thirty years ago. Maybe for her 75th?  I don’t remember the year. But I remember the joy of purchasing it and her face when I gave it to her.  I can see it on her blouse. I think of Mother often. Every time I wear my hat with her bee pin.

    Sharon’s reflection on memory: Sometimes, my words come a little slower. I usually joke when the word or thought finally comes to me. Sometimes, it takes only 10 seconds to surface, but ten seconds is a
    noticeable pause in a conversation. I enjoy reading and listening to podcasts and often come across ideas I want to share. However, I may need to make notes to recall the clever idea! The ideas surface eventually, and as they do, I give myself positive reinforcement—like a high five to Sharon!

    As my mother aged, she would often ask me, “What do you think is worse, Sharon: losing your mind and being healthy, or being sick and having your mind?”

    Some memory loss is a normal part of aging.

    How do you react when you can’t recall a word, a friend’s name, a book, or a movie? Can you laugh gracefully at yourself and accept the effects of aging?

    Memories play a significant role in our lives. It’s common to reminisce and reflect on the past as we age. I’m excited that I remembered how to spell “reminisce” and wrote it without using spell check! Google makes it easy to recall facts or trivia that we may have forgotten, as long as you remember how to use your computer or search on your phone!

    I googled “Why do old people reminisce?” and got a list of answers. Reminiscing serves a good purpose. It is a way to remember a well-lived life and come to terms with past regrets or incomplete relationships.  

    Reasons why reminiscing can benefit seniors
    What can you do to improve your memory?

    Sharon researched how memories are formed: Understanding that the amygdala links a memory stimulated by an emotional connection, a memory with an emotional charge may remain for years, whether happy or sad.   

    The amygdala, hippocampus, and neocortex are the parts of the brain responsible for memory. Link to an article on How the brain stores memories.

    From Marlene: It’s important to practice self-care when writing about difficult subjects to prevent adding trauma.  

    Resources about how to take care of yourself while writing about difficult things:

    The Write Spot: Writing as a Path to Healing

    Posts on The Write Spot Blog about not adding trauma while writing about difficult things.

    Sharon Ziff‘s work as a Hospice Nurse taught her about end-of-life issues and the importance of preparations to die with dignity. After retirement, she was certified in the “Authentic Presence: Contemplative End of Life Care Training,” a specialized program committed to providing Let’s Speak About Death, a Community Education Project.

    Marlene C

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  • Know When to Quit

    I’m a fan of Brevity Blog. Here’s a favorite:

    “Quitting Time: Why You Need to Let Go of That Writing Project” by Allison K. Williams.

    “As writers, we’re sold on the value of perseverance. Just do another draft. Just keep working. Send another query, another submission. One day you’ll break through. Sit down and finish. Now. Today. This week. In fifteen-minute increments while waiting for carpool, or in one wild coffee-fueled weekend. I think I can, I think I can.

    I can get to the end of this sentence. This paragraph. This page. This essay. This book.

    But there’s value in quitting, too.

    Click “Quitting Time” to read the rest of Allison’s Blog Post.

    Marlene C

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  • Willow Springs

    Willow Springs publishes two issues per year: Spring and Fall.

    SUBMISSIONS through Submittable

    Nonfiction is open year-round.

    Fiction and poetry between September 1 and May 31.

    $3 reading fee.

    Marlene C

  • Winter’s Walk

    Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.

    Winter’s Walk

    By Cheryl Moore

    On these dark mornings

    I feel the fog’s kiss on my cheek

    As though waking me to a new day;

    So unlike a much drier place

    I once lived so many years ago

    Where dust storms were more likely.

     

    I walk to the river where

    The fragrance of wild fennel

       fills the air

    Reminding me of the black liquorish

    I loved as a child.

    On the muddy banks wild fowl

       often appear

    On their daily hunt, bringing to mind

    They too fill their senses.

    We are not so unlike in our goals.

    When Chery Moore came to California in the early 1960’s, she realized she’d found her home. Then moving to Petaluma in the 70’s, she was as close to paradise as she’d ever be. Travel has taken her to Europe and the Middle East. She has written on these memories as well as on the flora and fauna of the local river and her own garden.

    You can read more of Cheryl’s writing on The Write Spot Blog:

    A Memorable Day

    My Pen Tonight

    Identify With Trees

    River Walk

    September Light

    And more: Type “Cheryl Moore” in the Search Box on the Sparks page of The Write Spot Blog to access all of Cheryl’s writing on the blog.

    Cheryl’s writing is also featured in “The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Discoveries” and “The Write Spot: Musings and Ravings From a Pandemic Year.” Available from your local bookseller and at Amazon (both paperback and as an ereader).

    Marlene C

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  • I Know Now

     Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.

    I Know Now

    By Mary O’Brien

     I know now not to bet on a sure thing.

    Christmas caroling with Grandpa and the grandkids at a nursing home the Saturday before The Big Day?  Piece of cake…and there would be cake and treats for all participants afterwards. The perfect ending to a memory-making afternoon. This I had promised.

    I know now that my 86-year-old father, once blessed with a deep, rich and mellow bass voice now sings 1.75 pitches above the tone for which he aims. You know, the melody everyone else is singing a Capella because no musicians showed up.

    I leaned toward my oblivious and progressively hard of hearing dad, aiming what was left of my contralto towards his left ear. I had lost my voice the day before and at this point all I could do was honk out “six geese a-laying” in the key of G whiz.

    As we were at the tail end of the L-shaped line of carolers, no one could come to my rescue. My husband just grinned at me, Chesshire-like, and looked away.

    Away at the residents in chairs and wheelchairs, some of their brows knitted together, staring at Dad, who smiled and nodded, increasing his volume and pitch another tone northward at the presumed encouragement.

    My grandchildren, Harry 8 and Audrey 6, soldiered on, putting their little hearts into Away in a Manger while scanning the room for the promised treats, which I had already noticed included a paltry day-old heart-shaped cake on the small side and an even smaller bowl of fruit. For the entire company of residents, their guests, and singers. I imagined cookies and divinity accompanied by hot cocoa surely must be ready to roll out on a cart after our grand finale of O Holy Night, which was going to be a doozy if my dad had anything to say about belting out high notes as a former barbershopper.

    I avoided eye contact with the reluctant song leader and kept an eye on the kids at my hip in their Santa hats. We had all worn hot, fussy Santa hats that sweated itchily in the overheated facility.

    Joy to the World reminded me that I’d promised a special treat to the kids each time they made someone smile. I know now that was somewhat shortsighted as they had just completed piano recitals after which they would be given brownie points for the best post-performance bow. Leave it to my grandchildren to remember the roomfuls of smiles their deep, dramatic bows and humbly exaggerated curtsies had earned at recital.

    Yes, Harry started with the bowing at the end of Here Comes Santa Claus while Audrey, quickly catching on, not only bowed but fluttered her little hands in prayer-like folds under her chin…her smile not unlike that of my husband, cheesy and insincere.

    At least the residents were getting a show, which was the point. I guess.

    All that to say that I know now there is a mild curse word in the second verse of We Three Kings of Orient Are. The kids were at the perfect age to get a thrill from legally saying the word “ass” in public, in front of adults. I sensed shoulders below me raising up and down with barely contained giggles.

    I don’t know why my eyes get instinctively wide when I’m trying to pretend nothing is wrong, but there they went. Wide. Wide as my father’s mouth as he sung with gusto and bent knees, “OH, STAR of WONDER, STAR of NIGHT…”

    I know now what hysteria must feel like when it creeps up your sternum – you tighten your throat against it, bite the inside of your cheek. But here it comes, a bubble of absurdity in the solar plexus, rising up to escape the stiff chin trying to maintain decorum but losing ground.

    I search for a face, a pair of eyes to lock onto, to throw my serious intentions their way for their benefit. There! Little lady to the left eyeballing me and I think she might save me…when what does she have the nerve to do but wink.

    As Harry and Audrey grin widely and take their bows, I lose my grip and begin to giggle at the most solemn and hushed moment when O Holy Night begins with sacred words.

    Unfortunately for everyone, I snort when I laugh or cry, and at that moment I was involuntarily doing all three. The contagion of such behavior is widely documented. First the grandkids began to fall about the place like drunken musketeers while the carolers voices began to fall off one by one, hidden behind hands smothering grins.

    Except for Edwin, my father. Without the ability to hear the song had ended, he was suddenly thrust into a spotlight, belting out a solo that would curl the hair of a yak. He creshendo’d the ending in eye-watering sincerity if not grace, hushing to the final, “o night divine,” which should have faded to a thoughtful, peaceful tonic. Whatever hambone had been awakened in him suddenly came to life, as this was his moment to shine. He filled his lungs, dropped his folder, spread his arms wide channeling Jimmy Durante and gruffed a memorable, “hot cha cha!” to peals of unbounded glee and horror.

    And now I know.

    Mary O’Brien writes from the comfort of her Celebrated Art Cave (spare bedroom) near Boise, Idaho. She writes weekly with Jumpstart Writing Workshops, as well as a smattering of smaller groups. She revels in looking for opportunities to capture memories and imaginings via daily life, nature and her impossibly bright grandchildren.

    You can read more of Mary’s writing on The Write Spot Blog:

    Under The Tree

    Reality’s Ruse

    Marlene C

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  • Joy . . . Prompt #820

    grayscale photography of toddler playing bear toys
    Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

    Write about something you own that brings you joy.

    Or, write about something you own that does not bring you joy.

    Why do you keep it?

    #justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter

    Marlene C

  • Scent: Powerfully Evocative

    Rainy Day Chocolate

    “The seasonal ingredient that might be the most powerfully evocative is scent.

    Physiologically speaking, the central location for identifying aromas lives in the front of our brains in the olfactory bulb.

    This structure is closely tied to the limbic system, a command center for our emotions and long-term memory. That explains why scent is so closely allied with thought.” — Stephen Orr, Editor in Chief of Better Homes & Gardens magazine (December 2023).

    Choose a prompt related to sensory detail and Just Write!

    Smell, Taste, Hear, Touch   

    Imagery and Sensory Detail ala Adair Lara 

    Sensory Detail

    Marlene C

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  • Winter Sunrises

    Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.

    Winter Sunrises

    By Elizabeth Beechwood

    On the darkest days

    The glorious sunrise shouts

    And still we persist!

    Winter solstice marks the beginning of our journey around The Wheel together. It’s a mysterious dark time here in the Northern Hemisphere, when Nature challenges us to turn inward. Inward to our homes, inward to our bodies, inward to our minds and thoughts.

    In my part of the Pacific Northwest, winter is marked by long stretches of blustery rain punctuated with cold, clear breaks in the weather. Many people find comfort in starry winter skies, chunky knitted blankets, and twinkling lights. But it’s during these breaks that I find comfort in something different: the winter sunrise. The sunrise is especially glorious on these mornings; the sky is banded with robin’s egg blue, house finch blush, and warbler yellows and greens. The bare branches of the birches outside my window are strikingly dark against the fleeting colors in the sky.

    What is it that makes sunrise so special at this time of year? Besides the fact that more of us are awake to witness it? It has a magical quality not matched during the summer. The bright colors sweep steadily through the cold air. The chickadee’s morning greetings ring out like bells through this liminal moment. Our spirits are lifted as we witness Nature and all her features persisting, doing what they know to do during this cold time.
     
    As we head into this darkest turn of The Wheel, look for those glorious winter sunrises and remember to persist in all that is important to you. 

    Elizabeth Beechwood:

    When I write, I start with regular people with regular lives … but then something strange happens. Whether it’s fiction, fantasy, magical realism or genre-bending, you can count on something just a little peculiar from my stories. I’m also a certified Oregon Naturalist, so the natural world and its many aspects pop up in my writing frequently. Please join me on The Wheel, a quarterly newsletter, as we take another spin around the sun and explore the seasons. You can sign up on my website: elizabethbeechwood.com.

    Marlene C

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  • Courage . . . Prompt #818

    Today’s Writing Prompt: Courage

    Just Write!

    Marlene C