Rhythm is something we share in common, you and I, with all the plants and animals and people in the world, and with the stars and moon and sun, and all the whole vast wonderful universe beyond this wonderful earth which is our home.
-Langston Hughes, The Book of Rhythms
Daily Prompt: We are rhythmic beings, sleeping and waking, falling ill and being well, vacationing and working, exerting and resting. For a week, identify rhythms around you. Waiting for a bus, watch how people walk. Sitting in traffic, notice the surge and pause of cars. Reading, listen to your breath. Notice a bird in a particular tree at a particular time of day. Nod to the office worker who lunches at the same cafe as you.
In a 2004 workshop at Inner Bodyworks in Bakersfield, California, we used the studio space to explore rhythms of breath and writing. I remember we also played catch! Thank you to Rose Lester for sharing her poem.
The Yoga of Writing
Step,
breathe,
Step,
breathe,
Each word that flows
from the tip of your pencil
is given life
through movement and breath.
Breathe on the words
like a fire starter
trying to get the smoke to burn brightly.
Step forward again with the next
Thought or idea.
Stretch to let the life blood of feelings flow
Into the space between words.
Quake with newly discovered insights
as words take on weight and wisdom.
Lower yourself down to
rest in the field of revelation.
- Rose Lester
Daily Prompt: You can think of writing a poem as taking a walk. Start out with a word or phrase and follow it, see where it goes. Take a walk today and compose a poem in your head as you go. If you're unable to walk, follow your breath instead--the inhale, exhale and brief pause are similar to the lifting, reaching, setting down of walking feet. Borrow from Rose's poem. Experiment with writing in the second person ("you") to yourself.
Also visit Yoga Stanza.
