If you wish to attend the read around (t’s free, fun, a great way to share, and reading a poem is optional). Note: If you registered already, you do not need to register again, simply use the link sent to you in your confirmation email. Register Here:

Next Read-Around is 12/7/23 at 5:00 PM PST

How It Works:

  1. Read the poem 

  2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

  3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

  4. Use the selection of prompts below

  5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

  6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

My Thoughts

I rank friendship alongside basic needs of air, water, food, and shelter. Friendship, often even more than family, creates a sense of belonging because friends are chosen, not mandated. Freya Manfred’s poem, Old Friends, touches the depth and beauty of friendship, especially with old friends: those who have lived in our heart for a long time, or whom we feel we knew even before we met. She anchors the power of friendship through the seasons of the year and, by extension, through the seasons of our lives. Friendship is the home in which we can be ourselves, where we can be seen and be known. It is a rock we stand on, a place to find our bearing, a source of nourishment. A true friend is one with whom we can say, Tell me anything and I will listen. Ask me anything, and I will answer. We may feel naked and helpless in that light. But when we are also grateful, standing on the rock of true friendship, we can give and recieve without reservation and, in so doing, we accept ourselves wholeheartedly.

Old Friends

Old friends are a steady spring rain,
or late summer sunshine edging in the fall,
or frosted leaves along a snowy path—
a voice for all seasons, saying, I know you.
The older I grow, the more I fear I’ll lose my old friends,
as if too many years of scrolled by
since the day we spring forth, seeking each other.

Old friend, I knew you before we met.
I saw you at the window of my soul—
I heard you in the steady millstone of my heart
grinding grain for our daily bread.
You are sedimentary, rock-solid cousin earth,
where I stand firmly, astonished by your Grace and truth.
And gratitude comes to me and says:

“Tell me anything and I will listen.
Ask me anything, and I will answer you.”

Freya Manfred
http://www.freyamanfredwriter.com

Prompt Ideas

  1. Journal or write a poem using the stem sentence: Old friends are….

  2. Describe how friends are like each of the seasons. Or pick a friend and describe that persons presence in your life across the seasons.

  3. How do your fears and desires about friends and friendships change as you grow older?

  4. Journal or write a poem about the sense of knowing someone before you met.

  5. How do you see friends through the window of the soul?

  6. Describe the first time you met an old friend using the cues, I saw you… and I heard you… and I felt you…

  7. Journal or write a poem to “The friend” from the prompt: I was astonished by your grace and truth when… or change it up: I was (insert feeling or state of mind) by your (insert the friends endearing qualties or traits)…

  8. Describe a time when you felt so totally open in a conversation is was as if you said: “Tell me anything and I will listen.
    Ask me anything, and I will answer you.”

  9. As usual, write about anything else in the poem or in life that inspires you.