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 the poem

  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

Some Thing I’ve Not Done

Something I’ve not done 
is following me 
I haven’t done it again and again 
so it has many footsteps 
like a drumstick that’s grown old and never been used

In late afternoon I hear it come closer 
at times it climbs out of a sea 
onto my shoulders 
and I shrug it off 
losing one more chance

Every morning 
it’s drunk up a part of my breath for the day 
and knows which way 
I’m going 
and already it’s not done there

But once more I say I’ll lay hands on it 
tomorrow
and add its footsteps to my heart 
and its story to my regrets 
and it’s silence to my compass

By WS Merwin
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-s-merwin

Please join in for Round 9 of Writing From The Inside Out by attending the December 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:

Note: Next Read Around is December 18, 2020
at 4:00 PM PST

My Thoughts

Most of us in the modern era, an era that measures the worth of life by deeds and the bottom line on a spreadsheet, find ourselves wrestling with a long list of to-do’s. Although the time for our list to grow long is never ending, the Yuletide season, almost regardless of where you fall on the spectrum of faith, adds another layer, gifting its own nuance of nice and naughty to our pack of reminders. W.S. Merwyn’s poem, Some Thing I’ve Not Done, captures the haunting feeling of being stalked by the undone.

Many of us have had to face the holiday fallout, days weeding out the wild growth of invasive to-do’s that throttle the garden when we return from our break. Our time to enjoy life and cherish our moments together with fmily and friends is often tainted by the distant howl or in a moment when our eyes flutter over the hunter’s footstep. No wonder we so often live on the edge, biting our nails, on guard aganst some ghostly fear. No wonder we long for the day when the footsteps of that which we left behind arrive in our heart, when we can add its story of our regrets, its silence to our compass where it can direct us back to our own true north. If we are lucky, in this season of renewal, in this time of rebirth, we will remember our list is only a finger pointing elsewhere, that we are already standing in the place we wish to arrive, and there is nothing more we need do to celebrate life’s miracle.

Week 36 Prompt Menu

  1. Write “An Ode To My To-Do List.”

  2. Write a poem to one particular thing you have not done, not done again and again, and that has been doggedly pursuing you for years.

  3. Riddle yourself. Ask: What is it that comes closer in the afternoon? What climbs out of the sea onto my shoulders?

  4. Write a poem about what drinks up a part of your breath every morning.

  5. What do you already know is not done in the future?

  6. Compose An Ode to Tomorrow.

  7. Imagine you see the quiet footsteps of something left behind, some regret or lost chance, leading right up to your heart. What do you need to do to let it in? How can adding its silence help you recalibrate your compass and find your own true north?

  8. Use whatever else inpsires you from the poem or from anywhere else in in life.