Hi Friends:
Because writer’s block is the refusal to accept that, creatively, you are more than enough, this issue includes:
A sip…
Lucille is Thirsty, and the muse is simply indifferent…
A shout out…
(Thelma) Lucille (Sayles) Clifton was an educator and poet with an astonishing ability to ascribe love to the ordinary. Often called a mystic—someone who purposefully approached the unknown without a need for closure; given that her poetics are transformational, and as such, she likely was also the earthly representation of a spirit writer.
With a unique ability to balance the seriousness of living with humor, her words invite all to consider life, love, and humanity with the buoyancy of her lived experiences without fear because she is your wisest friend, the one who pulls from the deepest wells of compassion to deliver carefully chosen words which will serve as your floatation device.
Her succinct verses reveal the vastness of her life as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, and muse, project readers into her world, reflect the magnificence of the mind/body relationship (e.g., hommage to my hips, poem to my uterus, and testament), and suggest need to witness the miracle of becoming more in a world that offers “no model” (e.g., won’t you celebrate with me?).
A Cave Canem mentor and Community of Writers instructor known for generously pouring forward, her ability to inspire is summarized best by Remica Bingham-Risher, who said, “She wrote of the miraculous with such clarity that we thought she was miraculous.” — Soul Culture: Black Poets, Books and the Questions that Grew Me Up.
In an era where we are all making it up, we are wise to follow her suggestion to “kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love your back.”
A sentence…
Prompts inspired by Lucille Clifton:
On what poetry is:
On mirrors & windows:
On publishing/success: “I had been writing for 30 years before I was published. But that’s not the part that matters. What matters is a poem wants to come and I’m ready to receive it. Try to remain faithful to it.”
On what poetry is: “Poetry is a way of living in the world. I don’t produce text, I don’t do it to be studied…for me, poetry is a way of trying to express something that is very difficult to express. And it’s a way of trying to come to peace with the world.”
On children’s books: “I had to find books with characters that looked like my children, which is why I started writing children’s books….American (children’s) literature ought to mirror American children. I think all adults as well need mirrors and windows: mirrors in which they can see themselves and windows with which they can see the world.”
A few useful tips…
On writing as invitations to experience…
Everyday wonder: plan a trip to The Clifton House.
Weightlessness: Manipulate time, space, and periphery with words, like this:
Let the few carry the burden of the missing. —RJP
and/or
why people be mad at me sometimes they ask me to remember but they want me to remember their memories and i keep on remembering mine.
Hard-won joy: Consider how you invite others to celebrate you and your triumphant victories.
What the mirror reflects: What do you see in the mirror? What do the windows in your life reveal to you about the world?
The dark: Lucille (which translates to light and suggests a sense of casting illumination) often gave darkness a new name and a humanizing story. Tell a different story about the shadows you find.
A few contest opportunities…
Advance Gender Equity in the Arts Grants
Livingston Press Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse
A few freelance opportunities…
Business Insider seeks essays about how people plan, what they want to do, and how they are feeling.
Chicken Soup for the Soul seeks non-fiction prose and non-fiction poetry for various themed anthologies.
The Fuller Project seeks pitches on issues that impact women in the US, and globally.
Shooter Literary Magazine seeks submissions on the ‘Nightlife’ theme.
The Suburban Review seeks non-fiction, fiction, poetry, comics, art, and more on the ‘Meet Cute’ theme.
A few sessions & workshops…
May 8th
May 9th
May 10th
May 11th
Creative Writing Workshop: Where Am I?
May 13th
Ongoing
Dramatist Guild National Silent Writing
A Sip, A Shout Out & A Sentence, the Write-In
A few virtual book clubs…
Disability Dialogues Book Club
And a final thought…
This installment is a collaborative effort; the featured author, prompts, and tips are invitations to honor the subtle and ordinary and were written by
-the host of A Gentle Landing, the place where restless dreamers experience the transformational grace of Lucille Clifton weekly, subscribe here:It also contains an affiliate link; I earn commissions when you purchase books using that link, or you may please buy me a coffee.
Thanks for reading,
Thank you for reading, but please know that all thanks goes to Rose -and I agree, there’s a lot to hold close!
Earlier this morning, the thought struck me, as it sometimes does, that literature increasingly feels more true to me than anything "the media" is producing. Then this quote: "mirrors in which they can see themselves and windows with which they can see the world"... Beautiful.