More prompts ....

The poem below, Still I Rise, by Maya Angelou has such power. I thought it would be a great piece to respond to.

Here's the challenge:

1) Read and then write your response to the entire poem.
2) Take one word from any five lines and do a twenty minute write incorporating the five words.
3) Read the poem out loud and write about the reaction you have to hearing the poem as opposed to reading it.

I hope that it would be alright with Ms. Angelou for us to use this amazing piece of poetry to help us become better artists.

I listened to her on XM radio just the other day as I drove home from Safeway--watching the sun do its morning dance and feeling its penetrating warmth through the windshield.


STILL I RISE Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise?
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

She said what? Oh, no!

I'm taking an online dialogue class through Yosemite Romance Writers. Four weeks for $25. Can't beat it. Learning about beats and tags and all sorts of things! Very fun. Their classes through the end of 2009 are posted on their website at http://www.yosemiteromancewriters.com/

And, for those of you who might not have anything to do on Monday evenings in July I'm facilitating a yoga and writing class at the Danville Yoga Center, right in downtown Danville. (www.danvilleyogacenter.com)

The Center is awesome. When you walk down the meandering path, it's like you've walked into a slow-motion world. Lush greenery, sprawling old trees, chirping birds, and squirrels scampering by, compel you to sit and stay awhile, maybe relax on the bench at the front door, read a bit, journal, or just enjoy the view from the cozy porch.

The yoga classes are wonderful, too. They have beginning, levels 1,2,3, and meditation classes as well. Yoga is sooo good for the body, mind, and spirit.

Prompts

These days, I have a love hate relationship with writing prompts. Sometimes, I get so involved in a story, I don't want to stop. I write, I write, I write. I read it back and I think, this should really go in the trash or this should be on the back page of the New Yorker!

And then there are those days that I hop scotch from one prompt to another, totally unable to focus, unable to find direction down any rabbit hole to create something.

I talked with a friend of mine in San Diego yesterday. After I finished telling her my story she said, "I'm so glad you told me that, you make me feel normal."

So ... do you run into the same thing? Some days you're the next Jodi Picoult or Danielle Steele? Others, you've got the attention of a preschooler, but nearly the skill?

Here's a few prompts....

I almost forgot to tell you ...
I could see a shadow lurking outside the bedroom window and I...
When I turned sixteen I...
Life would be so much simpler if I could ...
They announced the name of the winner and I ...

Use these words in a 20 minute write:

physical, dictionary, action, east, collage
gab, despot, classic, prevent, burgers
include, teller, calendar, reinforce
gill, crouch, arrest, league, internal