Guided Writing Session Directory
Below, you will find recordings for each Guided Writing Session dating back to August 2021 when the sessions began.
Take a moment to review the Usage and Guidelines Folder below for information on how to post work and use the directory.
Use the Independent Entries Folder for submissions not specific to a monthly program or Guided Writing Session.
More About Guided Writing Sessions
Hope
This poem grew out of my grief. I think it’s hope, now.
Home
Is home just a feeling that once was?
I long for that feeling of containment.
That sense of “this is the place for me”.
I remember it from childhood.
Can it be in present tense?
I would like it, living, warm.
And yes, even smelly
with the odors of others
who have passed this way before.
I’m past the need for newness
In fact I’d like someplace
long-built, long settled.
I want it with a circularity,
the way an animal spins a little
Before the calm.
The curling of one thing into itself
while resting with another.
Able to sleep, unguarded.
I pause here, in honor of those fears.
They are what remains in me,
still seeking peace.
They had their reasons.
Now I’d like to give them rest.
Let them drift into deep-bellyed sleep.
Not erase them, mind you.
Simply offer slumber,
as my attention’s bliss,
Relieved of demand’s of logic.
Relaxed. Purring. Cuddled
In the confines of “Whatever comes”
Can this home be carried
within oneself
for portability?
It has both insides and outsides,
Each is there
to comfort me.
—Devon Burris
Devon, my reading of your beautiful poem is like a story. It tells the process and describes a path through which you have undergone to heal the grief. The descriptions of your feelings are powerful. Thank you for sharing this part of yourself. Madeline
Hello Devon - I enjoyed this piece. The opening question really grabbed me and stayed with me as I read on and then landed on the line, "the way an animal spins a little Before the calm." That gave me such relief that I could feel bodily. A knowing of that feeling of home. I agree with you that there is an inner sensation that feels like home, just as much as, if not more than, a physicality or structure. I like how you have used both words; home and hope. It has got me thinking about what are the differences and similarities of those two ideas. You might have given me a writing prompt here!
Hi, Emma-
So good to hear from you! I am glad you found a sense of what home is for you, through the question, I asked. You have taken it to the next level, with the question you posit. I look forward to playing with the query, and hope you do too. I’d love to read your answer. Smiles, Devon.