#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Morning Swim
“There is something you find interesting, for a reason hard to explain. It is hard to explain because you have never read it on any page; there you begin. You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment. “The most demanding part of living a lifetime as an artist is the strict discipline of forcing oneself to work steadfastly along the nerve of one’s own most intimate sensitivity.” Anne Truitt, the sculptor, said this. Thoreau said it another way: know your own bone. “Pursue, keep up with, circle round and round your life…. Know your own bone: gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw at it still.” Write”
― Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
Another icon gone: Annie Dillard. It was a challenge to choose from all my favorite writing and quotes from her today. “You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment.” This morning, in Charles River Writes, our first fall writing session, we did this. We wrote into our own astonishment. This is what we, as humans, can do. Well, only humans can do it, in fact. Must keep doing it. That’s what Annie Dillard would certainly want us to do. Be original. Be fresh. Put our own words on the page. Nobody else and no other intelligence can do this for us. We can only do it for ourselves. It’s lovely being in a group, a small group, doing it together. Before group, I had a good swim. It’s kind of summery out again. The day stays a bit cool longer and only warms by afternoon. The grass is wet. Which is why I gave Wave a piggy back across the yard on the way to the driveway on the way to the bus. He is so eager to get to the bus stop these days and it’s fun to walk there together. A little community at the end of the driveway. Wave quizzed me. What’s faster, the speed of sound or the speed of light or just being here now? His mind is lit up lately in the best way. Israeli group today. Then a WWC board meeting. And we played pickle in early evening sunshine. It was hot. And Franci and Will were hot they killed us three games to none. No wins for us. But I had lots of fun. Got some swears out and laughed a lot. It was cathartic, actually. Got to talk over the passing of Aunt Dot a bit with my brother which helped. Her absence is felt. No way around that.