I am looking for Simplicity

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
..................................... Albert Einstein

Just a Moment

3 am
Sound of a Car
Gaping Wound
Immense Silence
But then again,
You were never here.

Shards of Glass
In your Underwear
That's what it feels like
To be betrayed
or Not??

Just one more!

Just wanted to have one last post before leaving. This is a tiny poem I wrote a little while back. I would like to use it as a jumping off point for something else:

The wolf
smelled my outstretched hand,
and I
without hesitation
rubbed the length of his nose.

I like this quote!

I like this quote by Einstein. It might even answer my previously posted question!

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
..................................... Albert Einstein

We can read it the other way: If one draws freely upon imagination, then one could be called an artist. If you are coming up with your own ideas using your own power of creativity, then you can then be called a writer.

Heading to the Shore

This will be my last post before writing group tomorrow and the start of our vacation, Wednesday. I know, it seems like I just started getting back into my blog, and I'm leaving already! Well, I hope to bring back many ideas for my writing, and I need the chance to relax and kick back for a while.

As I've been contemplating the idea of origins this week, I would like to end the week with this question, which I'm not sure has an answer:

When does one begin to call themselves a writer? Is it at the moment that the pen meets the paper for the first time? Does one have to wait until they are published so as not to be thought a fraud? I, myself, have always had trouble with this. Whenever I do introduce myself to someone as a writer, I immediately want to take it back. But, it's funny the reaction I get from people. I immediately am thought of as someone so cool (for the first time in my life, I might add.). People get so excited and immediately want to know what I write about and whether anything they do will appear somewhere in something that I create.

Still, within all this glory, I still feel it is too early. I guess it brings out my vulnerability, just like every time I press the "Publish Post" button on this blog!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderfully exciting spring break and is able to enjoy the sunshine for a little bit, at the very least. I'll be back to post again very soon.

Yet another!

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
..................................... Albert Einstein

Quote of the Day: E. M. Forster

"A man does not talk to himself quite truly -- not even to himself; the happiness or misery that he secretly feels proceed from causes that he cannot quite explain, because as soon as he raises them to the level of the explicable they lose their native quality."

Those Elusive Beginnings

I'm finding that having this week's theme of origins in the back of my mind has affected both my reading and writing this week (even as I look back on all of my posts!). I am exploring the origins of love right now. Where does it begin? How can we break it down into its essence, its bare essentials? I am also contemplating the origins of our world--watching Nova and its theories of the universe's origins, exploring the theories of theism, and revisiting ancient literature. Surprisingly, I just starting reading the novel Twilight, after seeing the movie and being astounded by, not necessarily the film itself, but its whole concept and philosophy. The book has drawn me in, surprisingly. It's considered a young adult novel, and I, at 41 years of age, seem to be an unlikely reader, so I hide the cover when I am in public. But, I will admit, I am loving it. Twilight follows our theme this week. How can love transcend all? Does love begin at all, or has it always existed without our being aware of it? Can there be an ultimate attraction between two beings, stronger than everything else, stronger than life itself?

This is By Susan Harris-Gamard

This is...just is
As it should be.
Hands clasped, north and south
Two worlds collide and collapse within
Far beyond constriction.

Don't be afraid
To dive in.
Within
that greatest sense,
Only to find
That which you lost, long ago.

The Life of a Clergyman

I’ve often thought it would be great to be a priest. What a wonderful existence, to be present at all of life’s greatest moments, to speak words of meaning to gatherings of people united for a common purpose. Some priests are lucky enough to run a school, and, if goodness is what is behind it, to experience the growth and learning of children and be there as they enter the world.

We seem to only remember priests at those important rites of passage: births, deaths, marriage, coming of age, and our unburdening of a sin that we are unable to forget. They are always there to observe us and help us through time’s transcendence, whenever we wish to reach for their help and guidance. They are at once passive, yet incredibly active in their passivity.

I find the lives of priests and writers to be very similar. We are both present at life’s greatest transcending moments. We don’t live conventional lives caught within the daily grind. We are somehow isolated and exempt from conventional existence. We are allowed to be unique and different. We live a monastic sort of existence. We observe people for who they are inside--our essence, our human foibles, sufferings, our love, our struggle to come to terms with the life we have been given. We are both searching for that ultimate spiritual experience, that moment of perfect transcendence.

I don’t dream of being a priest anymore. I don’t have to. After all, I couldn’t be one anyway. And being a nun is a whole different ballgame.

Thursday's Quote

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
..................................... Albert Einstein

Quote of the Day

To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it -- who can say this is not greatness?'' (William Makepeace Thackeray)

Emerge!

~to arise from or as if from an enveloping fluid: come out into view

~to become known or apparent

~to arise from an obscure or inferior position


I am ready to emerge....

A Birthing

Writing is like giving birth--excruciatingly painful to let go of those thoughts, yet liberating, glorious, and life-affirming at the same time, when you do. In the end, you meet someone or something you've never seen before, yet feel as though you've already met.


Great writing unfolds like a butterfly, stretching its wings for the first time.

The Origin of It All

The topic for next week's writing group will be "origins". Our assignment is to bring in an excerpt from something to do with this theme. Here is my take:

Origins~~~

roots, ancestry, parentage, birth, beginnings, emergence, rise, source, cause
the point at which something begins its course or existence
causes operating before the thing itself comes into being
naissance (french for 'birth')
a start
where something unique in itself begins
a beginning
a clean slate
jumping off point
Where does something really begin, be it an idea, a feeling, a person or being, a group, a creative process, or a product?

Next week's theme is very pertinent to my life right now as I consider my own origins and the origin of my own creative process. Where should my own jumping-off point be? How to begin a project or a piece of writing? How did my own beginnings, or childhood, affect me as a writer today? A piece may originate anywhere, be it in the middle, beginning, end or just as merely an essence or seed in the mind.

I thought I would share a glimpse inside my impressions of my own beginning, or "naissance":


My Red Velvet Cloak by Susan Harris-Gamard
~written in the Fall of 2003

Mother, Mother, where have you been?
I miss that red velvet cloak
You held within.
I miss its soft caress
full of smiles and warmth,
and the love of a kindred soul
long lost, but never forgotten.

Mother, Mother
please put it on...
It isn't worn, or full of dust,
not yet, if ever it was.
Ah, but you have given it to me, for keeps
and I have put it away in safety,
so that I too may unfurl
It's red river of comfort
to the next Bright Star, who waits, in the wings.

Raft of Medusa

Today, at our weekly writing group, the theme was non-traditional forms of writing. One form that was discussed was pictorial narrative. I thought of Gericault's painting "Raft of the Medusa". This is one of the best examples of French Romanticism, and it shows a traditional diagonal formation in order to express the emotion of the scene. More specifically, it consists of two pyramids of figures. I don't remember the name of the artist that was shown in group, but he also uses this figurative position in his paintings.

Absence makes the Heart grow Fonder

I hope this is true, and that you haven't given up on me. I want to go back to blogging on a daily basis so, at the risk of blabbering on, I am going to write something everyday, whatever my thoughts are revolving around at the time. If I can't think of anything to write, I will, at the very least, post a "word of the day". Please forgive me though, if i do blabber on. I'm hoping something good will come out eventually. Bear with me , please!! Tune in again tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a nice Monday!

Word of today:

twilight

1. the light from the sky from full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night

2.a state of indistinctness

3. a period of decline


....my favorite time of day....