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RSSShe runs to the woods. Removes her clothes. Drapes herself across the moss of old dreams. Spreads her legs for a sun. Counts clouds through the canopy. Mosquito-bitten thoughts. Swat, swat. This air she breathes, recycled from laughter and holocausts. Her lungs, two butterfly wings dripping with concrete.
All these words, like trees in a forest. How much rain can be cupped in their leaves? Why am I, as a writer, driven to saturate, to make the branches bend with weight?
Does it make me lighter?
Is that the goal?
Sometimes, when I read others’ work, I feel like a child.
Sometimes, when I work, I am a child.
Perhaps there’s not much value in questioning our writerly instincts and motives. Maybe this is the true self-indulgence. If we simply follow them—if we’re authentic to our voice—some new facet of truth will be integrated into the human kaleidoscope. I admire Cormac McCarthy for his cool, lean sentences. I admire Michael Ondaatje for his brilliant lyrical flights. In the past, I’ve tried to imitate such literary giants. When really, there are seeds still to plant between their mighty trunks.
I’m growing more comfortable with my strengths and limitations. My forest is mine.
Yours is a song the wind knows.
She lifts her voice with the birds, the cicadas, the heat waves of summer.
A world spins faster.
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Other stops on my Meet Me In Paris Blog Tour: Travis Erwin • Aniket's Plum Blossom Flash Fiction contest • 25 Questions for Author Sarah Hina • Author Spotlight 7SS with Aerin-Bender Stone • Jaye Wells • Poem at The Walking Man's • Poem Blossoms at Joaquin Carvel's
Plum Blossoms excerpt read aloud by Sarah.
Buy Plum Blossoms in Paris • Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Flipkart • Chapters • Borders • Your Local Independent Bookstore • Powell's Books • Books-A-Million
Posts
13 broke the Silence...wen wud U?: (+add yours?)
Thank You Sarah for being a part of my blog and posting your article.
This piece made me think it should never end and I should keep on reading... was this piece a part of your book?
For me writing from the heart makes it lighter and feel good..
When really, there are seeds still to plant between their mighty trunks.
And they'll need to make room for yours.
It is a STUNNING emotion which you carved out with so much precision that I admit I need to learn from you. Great work Sarah!
Abhi, it wasn't from the book. I was just trying to demonstrate, through a bit of fanciful prose, what kind of nakedness and freedom we all need to find in our voice and writing.
Thanks again for letting me put it up here. I agree that writing from the heart is the only way to go about it. :)
Steve, I hope to carve out a patch. Thanks, as always, for your belief in my work.
Pragya, wow, thank you! I'm honored you felt affected like that.
"Her lungs, two butterfly wings dripping with concrete." Seriously - How do you come up with these lines?
I've still not overcome the piece where you mentioned 'Carbon breath'.
And I know, how firm you've stood for your belief on finding and defining ones own voice in writing. Its been a tough ride, but the destination is most beautiful, right?
Sarah: you're welcome, as always.
Sarah, that was an excellent piece! Thanks again.
@Aniket: That was actually too good description and I was awed by those lines.
Simply said, stunning. And your little seedlings shall be mighty trees indeed...
hey sarah .. your writing has a deep meaning inculcated with every sentence ...Writing truly brings out the philosopher-cum writer which is within u.... eagerly waiting for ur book to be released in INDIA ... will def read it .. :)
Keep Guest-posting on Abhi 's Blog :)
All d best
Dipika
Aniket, didn't you know? The journey's the thing. ;)
Thank you. I happen to know exactly where that line came from--a dream! And that happens about...once in a blue moon. Probably because I never remember after I wake up.
Cat, thanks, my friend. Your support is precious to me.
Dipika, I did put up a link to Flipkart's page for my book...is that a convenient online retailer in India?
At any rate, I really appreciate your kind words here. And I'm happy to have made some new friends today. :)
Sarah
Beautiful....Dancing on words with an intensity I love
Linda
first - you don't mind if i title my next book "laughter and holocausts", do you? because there's a good chance i might.
second - this is brilliant. i love how you did this - not a lecture, but a lab - and a bullseye.
"Sometimes, when I read others’ work, I feel like a child." is, i think, universal. and if anyone ever totally gets past that, they are few and far between. but i think at some point, after we accept that we're standing on the shoulders of giants, we can begin to see that maybe they're not real giants - they're just standing on somebody's shoulders too.
and "My forest is mine. Yours is a song the wind knows." is a perfect description not just of writing, but of the act of creation. your voice doesn't determine what you say - what you say reveals your voice. i think.
Linda, thank you for those beautiful words! I always identify with the quotations you post on Facebook. That intensity shines from you. :)
Joaquin, from "blood and irony" to "laughter and holocausts" sounds like a bloody good progression to me. :)
I actually came up with that line by watching a story about how we've all breathed in the same molecules as everyone else in the world...in addition to everyone who's ever lived. Or something to that effect. Anyway, I love that idea.
Thank you. I like how you put that--a lab instead of a lecture. For me, that growing acceptance of my own voice and place in the forest is a walk in progress. But you're right--there's great comfort in knowing that others have walked there before me.
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