Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Spirit Writing

"Back in the day," I had a technique of writing which Stephen will recall. I would sit down at my computer, or with pen to paper, and attempt to clear my mind completely. Then my hands would move as of their own accord, and strange pieces of poetry would come out. We called it "letting the spirits write," or "automatic writing." I have not tried this in a very long time--I didn't feel capable of it, or worthy of it-- but I was inspired to try a bit this morning. This is what I got.

How high, how high must I climb
before I can see where I should go?
How long, how long must I walk
before the path becomes clear?
Ever my way is shrouded in fog,
ever my view obscured by cloud.
A day will come without light,
without power humming in the lines,
without purple fluorescence,
when the only music is what we make.
Maybe on that day, I will see.

5 comments:

Tirithien said...

Very well done, my dear. :-) I promise, as foggy as you way seems, I have a flashlight and will walk with you. :-)

clew said...

Very nice! I used to try this method of automatic writing too, though it's been a long time. Maybe it's time to try again.

Hope you share more pieces like this :)

Michelle said...

We used to do these excersizes in Creative Writing. The teacher would turn on some music and the only rule was that you couldn't stop writing. Even if it didn't make sense, we had to write something. Not always, but often, the ground work for something awesome was laid in those excersizes.

It's clear you have a gift.

Bainwen Gilrana said...

Thank you all. :-)

Anonymous said...

A little late, I'm sorry! But this was a very nice bit of poetry. My girl is SO talented!