Ella's Edge

Ripples by *opticnerver

Hi everyone! Today I am going to share another exercise from the book, "Writing Poetry from the Inside Out"  . We are going to try an exercise involving our inner and outer worlds. The author  Sandford Lyne shares more than his own experiences and prompts. He shares other poets views.  He mentions Ralph Waldo Emerson and his essay, "Circles".  Emerson writes that the beauty of a circle is that another greater circle can always be drawn on envisioned around it, and that adding circle upon circle can go on infinitely and perhaps forever.  You can see a stone being thrown in a pond and how the ripples expand outward.  "Emerson saw all this as symbolic of our consciousness and its growth; inevitably, there is no shore, no limit to our knowing."  Bottom line it is all about expanding our awareness.  Writing helps our circles grow, reading and sharing does, too. 

 

The Phantoms of the Brain by ~richworks

Here is our exercise:
On a piece of paper draw a line down the middle. On the left side write the word INNER and on the right side write OUTER. Now we are going to gather words and phrases.  Write something inner that is going on with you on the left side. It can be simple, I'm angry, sad, stressed...Write any feelings it can be today or yesterday, or last week.  On the right side jot down and describe what captures your attention in the outer word.  If you can go outside or look at a window. Observe the weather, the trees, the sky, do you see a bird?  Collect ideas, thoughts from what you "see" in your inner and outer worlds.
Only write down what captures your interest.  Here is the author's paper:


INNER:                                                                                         OUTER:

judge lies                                                                                      fields of flowers
Senate hearings                                                                            autumn sun   blue sky
panel power                                                                                 the forms and shapes of things
sexual harassment                                                              

                                                                                                      I walk a hill between woods

Whom to believe, both
prominent and
accomplished jurists                                                                     each perfect thing I see

how to know what
really happened                                                                            self-blazing flowers

 

sun sets daily.. love never by ~sinanTR

The day the author jotted these notes down was when the hearing of Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill was being televised.   It was a case of alleged sexual harassment of Hill by Thomas.  A difficult case to witness.  The author was thinking about this case when he went for a walk and collected his thoughts.  He thought about these two being the only people on earth that knew the truth.  How the Senate hearings were simply another mirror or projection.   Here is his poem:

WALKING DOWN A FIELD, October 1991

I walk

till elevation comes.

The field of flowers

tell no lies,

nor harasses one bloom another

with its incumbent power.

None hold an office;

none are impaneled to judge.

Each is en-sunned

with its own mysterious angel

of color and form

to make a field of flowers,

harmonious, far-flung,

and free. 

The author explains he didn't see a conclusion about this case, but that he needed altitude. He was disturbed by the case, but this was his disturbance that lead to this poem. He collected his inner and outer thoughts to regain his balance.  

"Your job is to find and express how you see things...  This exercise helps you capture a moment in time. Yes, you can embellish, but it is about following the thread that connects your inner world to your outer and see what you can create."  He mentions his favorite inner, outer poem by poet Mary Oliver.   

Where Does the Temple Begin, Where Does It End?

There are things you can't reach. But

you can reach out to them, and all day long.

The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of God.

And it can keep you busy as anything else, and

happier.                                                              

                                                     

The snake slides away; the fish jumps, like a little

lily,                                                                        

out of the water and back in; the gold finches sing

from the unreachable top of the tree.                       

I look; morning to night I am never done with

looking.                                                            

Looking I mean not just standing around, but

standing around as though with your arms open.

And thinking; maybe something will come, some

shining coil of wind,                                              

 or a few leaves from any old tree-                           

they are all in this too.                                             

And now I will tell you the truth.

Everything in the world              

comes.                                         

At least, closer.                             

And, cordially.                              

Like the nibbling, tinsel-eyed fish; the unlooping

snake.                                                                    

Like goldfinches, little dolls of gold                     

fluttering around the corner of the sky                  

        

    of God, the blue air.                                                    

              ~Mary Oliver