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

Grace

Speak now what has never been spoken
because this year will soon turn to dust
and the bridge we walk across into tomorrow
already burns under our feet. 

What we celebrate with fireworks
at the stroke of midnight,
with our glasses raised and a lover’s kiss,
with snapshots of joy we send across the world
is smoke and mirrors in the magic act
of our appearance and disappearance. 

Let us thank our lucky stars
for the miracle of being here at all,
and for the astonishing beauty
that you and I should have
the good fortune to share this moment. 

Whatever effort we put into our arrival here
is nothing compared to Grace, which
pours over us like an endless rain
until we are soaked to the bone,
until we drop to our knees, humbled
by our origin and how far we have fallen;
until we speak what has never been spoken
casting our magic dust across
the bridge into tomorrow,
praying for rain. 

—Nick Leforce: written New Year’s Eve 2017 and published in The Undiscovered Country: How To Live In Your Own Heart Land

Please join in for Round 9 of Writing From The Inside Out by attending the January 2021 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 January 8, 2021
at 4:00 PM PST

My Thoughts

Every culture has a marker for the end of one annual cycle of the sun and the beginning of another. For most of us in the western world, the year ends on December 31 and the new year begins on January 1. This year, New Year’s Day falls on Friday, the day we would normally hold our read-around. Even though we will not meet that day, I invite you to use the occasion to inspire your own creativity in whatever way it might manifest. I offer my own poem, Grace, written on New Year’s eve 2017 as a prompt for your creativity. In 2017, we weren’t in the throes of a pandemic as we are now, unable to gather in celebration. The poem refers to some common moments typical to ringing in the new year. The loss of those moments may serve as a stark reminder of the many losses from Covid this year while also highlighting the preciousness of our own continuity. We are among the fortunate, spared both by our own careful effort as well as by luck, or what you might call Grace.

Prompts:

  1. Write a farewell letter to 2020. To what would you say you goodbye? What lessons learned or gifts did you get from the troubles and trials of the year?

  2. Despite all the terrible things that happened this year, what are you grateful for? What would you say Grace has bestowed on you?

  3. Write an ode to endings and beginnings

  4. Let your pen guide you in speaking what has never been spoken; what needs to be said at this point in time or in your life