Daily Nourishment for June 20, 2024: Feel Alive to Yourself and Your Art with Help from a Poem by Hanif Abdurraqib
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 45 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
If you want to feel alive to yourself and your art, climb inside a poem overflowing with the things of life, love, and memory.
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale then listen to “When We Were 13, Jeff’s Father Left The Needle Down On A Journey Record Before Leaving The House One Morning And Never Coming Back” by Hanif Abdurraqib (I love this poem so much.)
Prompt.
“Music in this poem is music that’s used for comfort, but also music that’s turned up loud to blare from a car radio on a highway, to listen to when alone, to listen to with memories, and to listen to in order to come back to the emotional landscape that we still carry in us.”
–Pádraig Ó Tuama, Poetry Unbound podcast
What’s a significant memory that you’ve been carrying around most of your life? Write about a song that offers comfort while helping you explore the emotional landscape tied to that significant memory. Set a timer and write for five minutes.
Practice.
Now pick a favorite song that helps you connect with your current emotions and circumstances. Listen to it twice. Take notes and see if you have any insights or ideas for a new essay, story, poem, or letter to a friend.
—Buy and Read all of Hanif Abdurraqib’s books.
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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