Thank you for the honor of sharing this prompt with us, Hussain. The most noble thing a person can do, in my opinion, is to keep holding onto hope and looking for (and creating!) little bits of beauty even in the midst of years of long, hard struggle. I love your line about how writing doesn’t just take courage; it also *adds* courage: the act of expressing ourselves makes us braver. Your prompt helps us see how no matter our circumstances, we can each draw on even the difficult experiences to find inspiration for our work.
We’ll be watching with admiration from around the world as you embark on the next stage of your journey! Cheering you on and wishing you well from Durham, North Carolina, USA. 🙏
Thanks Margy for the thoughtful comment. It is possible to find things where we lost them - like happiness in our struggle - freedom in our imprisonment.
Oh, this prompt is beautiful! Thank you, Hussain! Poetry is also my form of finding strength. Many times I find myself sobbing and writing silly poetry. The words pour out of me and with them pain and fear is lessened within my body. This is a piece of one I wrote last week after a challenging day, called Messy:
Thanks Edith for sharing your poem here. I like how you kept it raw and authentic. That's what makes it beautiful. My favorite line is "I fall to my knees -- But it's never long".
This is such a meaningful prompt – thank you so much, Hussain. I will keep your wise and comforting verses and words close as I try to navigate my own path. Your advice to ‘walk our difficulties on the page’ is something that started happening to me over the last year without me realising it, as I set myself the challenge of writing one haiku poem a month about what I was noticing in nature around me. After the third one, I noticed that my emotional state was making its way subconsciously into my descriptions of the weather, trees, plants, etc. and I seemed to be drawing some kind of comfort from this process. A year later, haiku writing has become such an important part of my life that I can’t imagine not doing it. Here’s my December one from last year - I write in both Irish (Gaelic) and English…
Thanks Anne, I really like your haiku. I totally related how acknowledging your emotions by giving them shape, form, and name can be soothing. Once you make your relationship with it you don't see yourself not doing it.
Thank you Xin, I am happy you found the words in this prompt beautiful. I wouldn't lie if I say I intentionally try to bring beauty in my writing just to balance the difficulty of topic.
Thank you for a prompt that makes us plunge deeper, Hussain (the photo you attached sort of provides a backdrop for that, as well). Your invitation to walk our difficulties on the page and to “let them take form under [our] pen. Give them a garment of poetry” made me think of a tool used in sewing machines called a “walking foot”. It’s a gadget that works with the needle in the machine, to help thick (deep?) fabrics move along a bit easier, so each stitch can be placed one-next-to-the-other. Words, like sewing stitches – we place them one beside the other and, in no time, we have beauty in color or in meaning. Thank your for the prompt and the connections it allowed my mind to make…!
Thank you for the honor of sharing this prompt with us, Hussain. The most noble thing a person can do, in my opinion, is to keep holding onto hope and looking for (and creating!) little bits of beauty even in the midst of years of long, hard struggle. I love your line about how writing doesn’t just take courage; it also *adds* courage: the act of expressing ourselves makes us braver. Your prompt helps us see how no matter our circumstances, we can each draw on even the difficult experiences to find inspiration for our work.
We’ll be watching with admiration from around the world as you embark on the next stage of your journey! Cheering you on and wishing you well from Durham, North Carolina, USA. 🙏
Thanks Margy for the thoughtful comment. It is possible to find things where we lost them - like happiness in our struggle - freedom in our imprisonment.
Such a beautiful post and prompt, Hussain. Follow the path of the rising moon!
Thanks Helen, I am gland people are finding the prompt beautiful and that was partly my intention.
Oh, this prompt is beautiful! Thank you, Hussain! Poetry is also my form of finding strength. Many times I find myself sobbing and writing silly poetry. The words pour out of me and with them pain and fear is lessened within my body. This is a piece of one I wrote last week after a challenging day, called Messy:
Write it out,
Put on the playlists,
Write the research,
Do the readings,
Attend the workshops,
I get to be here!
I’ve worked so hard to be here!
It really has nothing to do with you,
I’m projecting,
I’m scared,
I’m petrified that I’m not fit for this,
But then again, I’m SO ready for ALL of this!!
I don’t get overwhelmed,
But I’m completely out of sorts!
My professor said, be ready to be uncomfortable,
Is this what he meant?
I’m unsteady,
The smoldering ashes under me are eager,
I feel the fire,
I WANT the fire!
Coursing through me,
Igniting every cell in my body,
Exhausting my entire being.
I stand,
I fall to my knees,
But it’s never long,
It’s not who I am!
I’m already broken,
The pieces I’ve fused together burn with passion!
It’s the process,
It’s messy,
It’s not you!
Thanks Edith for sharing your poem here. I like how you kept it raw and authentic. That's what makes it beautiful. My favorite line is "I fall to my knees -- But it's never long".
Awe, thank you for your kind words, Hussain! I really loved your prompt, thank you for opening the space for vulnerability!
This is such a meaningful prompt – thank you so much, Hussain. I will keep your wise and comforting verses and words close as I try to navigate my own path. Your advice to ‘walk our difficulties on the page’ is something that started happening to me over the last year without me realising it, as I set myself the challenge of writing one haiku poem a month about what I was noticing in nature around me. After the third one, I noticed that my emotional state was making its way subconsciously into my descriptions of the weather, trees, plants, etc. and I seemed to be drawing some kind of comfort from this process. A year later, haiku writing has become such an important part of my life that I can’t imagine not doing it. Here’s my December one from last year - I write in both Irish (Gaelic) and English…
"Mí na Nollaig"
Solas is giorrra.
Súil an earraigh ag fanacht
síos i mo chroí.
.....
"December"
Time of shortest light.
A dream of spring abiding
deeply in my heart.
Thanks Anne, I really like your haiku. I totally related how acknowledging your emotions by giving them shape, form, and name can be soothing. Once you make your relationship with it you don't see yourself not doing it.
Beautifully put, Hussain - thanks!
Love this prompt. Thank you. Wishing you the best life in your new home.
Thanks Hilary, I am glad you are liking the prompt!
Beautiful post, Hussain. Thank you for the inspiration!
Thank you Maggie for your own beautiful comment:)
Thank you for such beautiful words 🙏
Thank you Xin, I am happy you found the words in this prompt beautiful. I wouldn't lie if I say I intentionally try to bring beauty in my writing just to balance the difficulty of topic.
Thank you for a prompt that makes us plunge deeper, Hussain (the photo you attached sort of provides a backdrop for that, as well). Your invitation to walk our difficulties on the page and to “let them take form under [our] pen. Give them a garment of poetry” made me think of a tool used in sewing machines called a “walking foot”. It’s a gadget that works with the needle in the machine, to help thick (deep?) fabrics move along a bit easier, so each stitch can be placed one-next-to-the-other. Words, like sewing stitches – we place them one beside the other and, in no time, we have beauty in color or in meaning. Thank your for the prompt and the connections it allowed my mind to make…!