Give Sorrow Words
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak,
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.
(Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.1.50-1)
Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak,
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.
(Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5.1.50-1)
The world offers itself to your imagination. Offers to you. You offer back. You offer up. The world opens up to you. You open in return, to the world. The world is a gift if only you are there, present and open, waiting and willing, vulnerable and strong to catch and harvest what is offered….
My niece Janean (by way of my brother Gary) is such a good mother. She wrote this touching email to my father who shared it with me. Now Janean has agreed to share it with all of you. It’s a fine example, I think, of moral and spiritual education…of giving structure, but also, giving space….
In just a few days I’m making a huge move in my life and where I live. I’ll be moving from Lake County in Northern California to St. Louis, Missouri where I’ll just be an hour away from my father. Pop, 91, lives just across the river in SW Illinois, about 6 miles upriver from…
Since “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” came out (read more on sidebar), I’ve made friends I’ve never met. That, for me, has been one of the best parts of becoming an author. One of those friends-from-afar (but closer now that I’m in St. Louis and he’s only in Nashville) is Hal Manogue. Hal Manogue’s Trademark A.C.E….
Transition is a place all of its own. In between-ness. Being on the move, in motion. Sorting and packing. Yes this/not that. Clearing space, literally, for a new life cycle to follow, the unknown, fallow, yet fertile field yet to be plowed and sown. My studio has become a staging area for my move. The…
Beautiful multi-media presentation fully worthy of the topic “The End of Suffering.” Brooks Cole who hosts the Thich Nhat Hahn Room introduces it in this way: Very seldom as a media artist do I have the opportunity to be so moved by the material that I am composing with that tears are streaming down my…
I loved the quote you use for this thought. My current book is about unwitnessed grief. I said that grief has many siblings — guilt, anger, separation among others but of course, Shakespeare says it best.
Your course sounds wonderful. I’ve suggested the “I remember” exercise and also the “I don’t remember” exercise that Natalie Goldberg uses in her Writing the Bones workshop. But your expansion of it to include differing points of view and to make it a way for people to express ranges of sorrow is truly inspired. Thank you for telling us about it on the Women writing the West website and for having this site and blog. You are appreciated! Warmly, Jane
I have articls about grief and a journal called A Year and a Day which I kept after losing my wife. Idaho State Unvieristy is the publisher.
Michael Corrigan