Prompt # 16

I dreamed so much I am tired on waking. I don't have any specific memories, just the sense of tension, conflict and hungry ghosts. It's one of those mornings I was relieved to have my eyes fly open; glad to put my feet on solid ground. It's raining and wet outside and the sky is grey and I like how that makes me feel ready to write. I've had an aversion to my pen since I came back from the training. I came back feeling over-tired, over-exposed and wanting to pull back from the page. 

Today I want to write. I want my mother's ashes to finally arrive so that we can scatter them at Ocean Beach where she used to walk with a little bit of peace and hold a young girl's hand as if she liked her some and collect sand dollars. Today I want to have soup simmering on the stove and filling the house with the smell of garlic and roasted vegetables and bitter greens. Today I want to day dream the night dreams away, and listen to what comes forward to the page. I want to write. 

Today, just for today, imagine a space for wanting. For some of us wanting is something we've never been allowed to do. It can be a revolutionary act to want something. Wanting belongs to us. We get to want, we get to imagine, even if it makes us, or the world, uncomfortable. 

In this moment,or your imaginings past or future- what do you want? What does she want? 

I want to... She wants to....

or 

I never wanted that

or 

She never thought she could 

or 

This is what the soup smells like. This is what the soup tastes like. 

****

I Want To Write

    - Margaret Walker  

Listen.

I want to write
I want to write the songs of my people.
I want to hear them singing melodies in the dark.
I want to catch the last floating strains from their sob-torn
        throats.
I want to frame their dreams into words; their souls into
        notes.
I want to catch their sunshine laughter in a bowl;
fling dark hands to a darker sky
and fill them full of stars
then crush and mix such lights till they become
a mirrored pool of brilliance in the dawn. 

   Link to listen from Internet Poetry Archive 

*** if you didn't listen to the poem hit the link- you won't be sorry you got to hear Walker read it. 

Write for ten minutes or five- or take little moments in your day to scribble for a little bit. If you are at work, type a little while in an email to yourself on a break. Writing like exercise doesn't care if you do it all at once or break it up. It still counts if it's short or in spurts. 

And if  you can't write- day dream a little today. Imagine something that makes you smile or wince or frown. Let it simmer awhile. 

If this prompt didn't do it for you use another. Open a book and randomly point to a word and write from there. 

I hope this day is good to you and your writing/dreaming self.