Naomi White is a member of the Tuesday night writing practice class. She wrote this piece in response to the prompt, "Write about your childhood kitchen with as much concrete, sensory detail as possible." It was a sticky Sunday afternoon in July and we had had just come home from a prayer meeting: mom, dad, my younger sister Judith, a large handful of people in their early 20’s who lived with my family in what was called a Christian household, and I. We filled two units of a four-plex in northern Minneapolis, shared meals and prayed together regularly. Family friends lived in the third unit and a trio of aged Swedish sisters lived across the hall from us in the fourth. Ana, Inga and Regna Gulla were ... [Continue Reading]
Martin Sampad Kachuck: Turbulent Kitchen Memories
Martin Sampad Kachuck attended Laura's weekend retreat at Esalen in January and then joined the Wednesday morning writing practice group as part of his sabbatical from teaching. This was his response to an exercise to describe his childhood kitchen in vivid sensory detail.
During my adolescent years, the kitchen at our home in Tustin, California was a place of hurry. Not a lot of in depth cooking occurred there, nor was meal making given huge priority. The repeated routine consisted of my mother, a college English teacher, arriving home late, scurrying to “throw something together”, my father needing to be repeatedly called from his corner office fortress, my older brother shaken free from his space helmet ... [Continue Reading]
Sid Roth: Ode to an Ordinary Object
Sid Roth joined my Tuesday night writing class with his father on the "new student special." I loved his response to the prompt, "Ode to an Ordinary Object," and thought it was particularly fun when paired with his classmate's response (see below).
Mr. Pencil, your uses are many. I know your ancestry; perhaps your humble beginnings from tree and mountain deep reflect your strength and resilience, and the strength and resilience you lend to me. I know the other humans despise you; they say your glyphing is faint and your point is weak. It is, however, your inner integrity and inflexibility that makes you most valuable to me. Pens, they either work or they do not. I know your failure ... [Continue Reading]
Shannon LaGrandier: Ode to An Ordinary Object
Shannon LaGrandier is a committed member of the Wednesday morning writing group. She wrote this in response to the prompt: Write an Ode to an Ordinary Object. I loved it because we writers are often obsessive about our writing implements.
Oh how I love you, purple pen, let me count the ways. The way your cursive letters splatter all over this page makes my heart skip a beat. The way the ink flows out of your tip is like a gentle breeze grazing over my sheet. So many words long to leave my soul. As my heart opens to the world, you are the vehicle in which it escapes.
Each word begins to come together into sentences, paragraphs and pages. These beautiful purple ... [Continue Reading]
