Daily Nourishment for March 18, 2024: Bring a Poem Alive with Robert Haas, Maura Stanton, and More
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 13 minutes
“Sometimes the simplest way to bring a poem alive is to utter it.”
—Robert Haas
Pause.
Do a few rounds of box breathing.
“Box breathing refers to the fact that a box has four sides, a concept represented here by breathing while you slowly count to four for a total of four times — four counts of breathing in, four counts of holding your breath, four counts of exhaling, and four more counts of holding after your exhale.”
Prompt.
Read the poem “Spring” by Maura Stanton aloud three times.
Practice.
Using the poem above as a guide, set a timer for 10 minutes and explore an abstraction by asking questions, making observations, and giving commands that incorporate elements of the natural world.
Want More?
Here’s a quote from Maura Stanton:
“I think reading and writing are both creative acts. I’ve always loved the description in the opening of Jane Eyre when Jane pulls the red curtains shut and settles into the window-seat. She’s hidden away with her romantic book about birds. She can read the words or look at the mysterious pictures, or she can raise her eyes and look out at “a scene of wet lawn and storm beat shrub.” The exterior and the interior are perfectly meshed in that hidden place. But note that it’s a hidden place with a window as well as a book. And of course the narrative can’t begin until Jane steps out of that space.”
*
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
*Please help us protect our intellectual property, our creative process, and the integrity of our work. Spiritual Direction for Writers® Daily Nourishment is covered under the Spiritual Direction for Writers® trademark. You are welcome to share this link with others, but any other use (written or spoken) is prohibited without written permission from Charlotte Donlon.