Read the poem
Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you
Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…
Use the selection of prompts below the poem
Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…
Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes
Mind Wanting More
Only a beige slat of sun
above the horizon, like a shade
pulled not quite down. Otherwise,
clouds. Sea rippled here and
there. Birds reluctant to fly.
The mind wants a shaft of sun to
stir the gray porridge of clouds,
an osprey to stitch the sea to sky
with his barred wings, some dramatic
music: a symphony, perhaps
a Chinese Gong.
But the mind always
wants more than it has—
one more bright day of sun,
one more clear night in bed
with the moon; one more hour
to get the words right; one
more chance for the heart in hiding
to emerge from its thicket
in dried grasses – as if this quiet day
with its tentative light weren’t enough,
as if joy weren’t strewn all around.
by Holly J Hughes
http://hollyjhughes.com
Please join in for Round 4 of Writing From The Inside Out by attending the July 2020 read-around sessions on Friday afternoons (it’s free, fun, a great way to share, and reading a poem is optional). If you have not registered, click the button below; and if you have registered, you do not need to register again, simply use the link sent to you in your confirmation email.
Register Here:
Next Read Around is July 24, 2020 at 4:00 PM PST
My Thoughts
Last week’s theme was about flowering and joy. With this week’s poem from Holly Hughes, Mind Wanting More, we explore ambition and desire, which often peg joy on some distant horizon believing its treasures will only be ours at a future arrival. What drives us to want more; to want bigger, better; to want the next “best thing” or another thing? One factor is certainly the world of commerce that wants us perpetually dissatisfied, wants us to believe we are not enough, wants us hungry and eager to reach for what it has to offer. And this pattern is deeply ingrained in us from childhood. So we often end up grasping at fulfillment as if it were snowflakes that disappear in our hands.
But desire is life. And just because the world has twisted our desire does not make desire itself undesirable. So, fling open the door: What do you want? Be honest! Strip off your spiritual robes and step into your worldly heart: what things in the world do you want? For instance, I want an RV or camper van; wood flooring in my house; an electric bike. What experiences do you want? I want to take off (in that camper van) for months and find poetry workshops across the country. I want to trust that life will never give up on me, even in death. I want to sharpen the edges on the images that please me, bring up the colors to a dazzling pitch. I want to produce something that touches hearts and souls. What do you want?
Week 15 Prompt Menu
Make a list of things you want. Pick one item from the list and write about it. Why do you want it? How would it make a difference in your life? What does it contribute to you, your life, your growth? Or to others?
Write a “list poem” of the things on your list of wants.
Take the above and go a step further—what would having the desired thing do for you? What experience do you imagine it would create in you? What impact would your getting the desired item have on the world or on others? What do you really want?
Catch yourself in one of those moments when you might notice something in the world that would be perfect if only…. Write about what it is you notice, what you like about it, and what it lacks that would make it even better. Use the prompt, This (specific thing or specific moment) would be better if only…
The poem describes how the mind wants more and gives an example of adding some dramatic music to a moment. Pick a moment in life, describe it, and add appropriate background music that would fit the moment—what genre? What artist for performers? What specific song? (be careful about publishing a poem with song lyrics in it—which can lead to copyright infringement—song lyrics, especially famous song lyrics are sometime more aggressive copyright protected)
Free write using the stem sentence, My mind (or I) want one more…. Repeat the stem sentence several times.
Hughes’ poem describes the heart hiding in a thicket of dried grasses. Where does your heart hide? What metaphoric environment serves as your heart’s hiding place? What would coax it out of hiding?
Write an ode to desire. Or you can personify Desire and describe it or write a letter to Desire.
Write from whatever else in the poem inspires you or from elsewhere in your life.