After The Storm, Holding My Breath Series, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
snow on the blue porch
quiet, listening to silence
in a pregnant pause
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, February 4th, 2008
-related to post, haiku (one-a-day)
Thank you so much QM this is beautiful in sight, in words, and in spirit!!
It is like spring here today..gorgeous and 75 degrees.
Ringo and I stepped outside for a while this afternoon, and we discovered that the wild black berry bushes have flowers on them. To think I could have missed that!
“pausing” is a good thing.
Good energy to all!
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no blackberry bush
no seventy-five degrees–
Wyoming winter
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QM, beautiful photo! Hope you had a good relaxing day! D
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This photo is so evocative. Beautiful.
Snow flurries here all day, coming and going. Right now, coming.
delicate snow dance
drifting swirling piroute
kiss the ground and go
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Absolutely BRILLIANT!
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qm & yb, both haikus are beautiful, as well as the photo, which reminds me of a walk I took through Cornell’s bird sanctuary one winter. They also had a room with a glass wall that overlooked a pond, where you could sit and watch the ducks and other water fowl. You could also hear them, softly communicating with each other, as there were mikes outside and speakers in the room…so peaceful and beautiful.
breathepeace, I live in Cody, where in WY do you live?
Yes, we’re still shiverin’, aren’t we?
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Beautiful.
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Wow, QM, just beautiful. it snowed today here, but a wet snow that just doesn’t have that quiet crispness of your photo. G
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Thanks, everyone. It’s a new day. Gray with a few inches of new snow covering the ground. I’m drinking French Roast, getting ready to do a writing practice. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to take a break from the media yesterday.
I didn’t listen to the news at all. I have no idea what happened in the world. I only paid attention to what’s going on in my own backyard. I walked the ground in my own body. I worked on a writing deadline I have with one of my projects – working with a woman who raises money to build schools and promote literacy in South Africa. I spent time with my family. That’s all.
It sounds lovely to walk through a bird sanctuary or notice the wild blackberry bushes flowering or walk through a park with wet snow sticking to the bottom of my boots. The photo is from a park right behind our house. There is a circular path around the park and a large pond. It’s been a while since I took a walk there. And I think I am due. I hope everyone has a peaceful day. 8)
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Heading out for the day. Here are a few wise words about deep listening, writing, and life:
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🙂
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Hi QM, that photo took my breath. Beautiful, serene. I just saw your photo “from Ga to Pa”. you state you are thinking of vacation. if you are interested, go to VRBO.com , number 2868. Name, the sandroom, consider it if you wish, The place is 3rd floor, on the sand, mine, and overlooks ocean to right and saltwater marsh to left. great view on dead end street, quiet, but very close to sights. Peace
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QM, sorry, I probably just broke the rules. You can edit out that last post if you wish, and this one too for that matter. Peace
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Hmmm. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That’s tempting. We used to go there once in a while as a kid. I remember the times we went to the ocean with fondness. Great Southern picnics. That ocean and white sand looks so peaceful. Like a great place to write a book. 8) Looking forward to more haiku, freespirit.
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answering your call,
composed this one on lunch hour
while eating my sub
I only wish I had more time to write. Maybe when I retire. Your writing and photos bring me peace, as well as the ones YB posts. What I have read of your life closely parallels some points in my life. Will touch on this more later. Back to work.
BTW, I just received the Goldberg book in the mail yesterday.. read selected items, drinking coffee this morning, I am thinking of writing something I started this morning. I have the first line.
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I can’t believe that Natalie’s new book is already out. Gosh, we are soon deep in February.
So wonderful to see so many writers fired up, inspired.
The first line is important. From there you can just keep going.
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That is a killer image, QuoinMonkey. The lines, curves, perspective, and tones make this something memorable.
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freespirit, you’ll have to let us know what you think of the book. And if it’s helpful to your writing. You mention time – I think that’s one of the number one things that people mention when they talk about doing their art or writing – making time.
I’m listening to an old Anne Lamott tape in my car this week, Word By Word. She says that we have to make a pact with ourselves to carve out the time to write. It’s a debt of honor we pay to our writing. Same way with painting, photography, or whatever art form we choose to engage with.
She talks about making a list of how you spend your time every week – then choose something off the list, let it drop away, and grab that time for writing instead. If you go to the gym 3 times, only go 2 times and use those hours for writing. She also mentions, we probably aren’t going to be on our deathbeds going – geez, I wish I had watched more TV, exercised more, stayed thinner – it’s probably going to be, I wish I had written more, followed my dreams.
Anyway, Anne Lamott’s non-fiction books on writing are also very good to listen to or read. Little reminders.
The way I make time, is through the Practice of writing. The practice includes Writing Practice. But it also includes silence, meditation, slowing down, walking, breathing, red Ravine, my memoir, my writing work, workshops, my photography, haiku, reading other writers – all of it, to me, is part of the practice of writing.
It’s so great that you have been inspired to write! Keep going. You are worth it.
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Stevo, thanks so much for your comment on the photograph. It means a lot – you have some great images at your blog. I almost didn’t post this image. It seemed dark to me. But then I realized the camera had captured the light exactly as it was that day. The tone of the photograph is exactly what it was at dusk and after the snowstorm.
The thing that I love about photography is that each image takes me back to what I was doing when I took the shot. Who was I with, what were we doing, was I alone, with friends, was it hot, cold. This was a walk with Liz last year in the simple park behind our house and it was magical. I like that memory.
Thanks to everyone else who commented on the photograph as well. It’s another of my practices and you all are reminding me I need to get out and shoot!
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This put in my head ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by Frost.
Frost is such a good name for the poet who wrote that poem.
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amuirin – It took me to the same place but then when Frost entered the picture I went where he always takes me . . .
. . . “The Road Not Taken”
QM – Excellent photo. I tend to be drawn to places where trees seem to join hands over the road. They remind me of a section of the drive to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house.
I also like the thought of “listening to silence in a pregnant pause”.
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amuirin, I love Frost, a classic. You’ve inspired me to read him again.
R3, thank you. I like how you phrase that “places where trees seem to join hands over the road.” Beautiful.
Hey, which part of the drive was that? I remember taking that drive well, everyone packed into the car, visiting with Grandma & Grandpa. Fond memories. I was talking to someone at dinner last week about what it was like to live with them in the farmhouse for a few months after we moved from Georgia to Pennsylvania. The cultures were so different. Let’s take the drive again next time I’m home.
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[…] I was reminded of another Frost poem by amuirin from Stop & Wander, in her comment on Listening to Silence. It led me to go back and read Frost again, to revisit his life. So it is Stopping By Woods on a […]
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