Must admit, I’ve been working on this more than my writing:

So much in the world today needs changing and is worrisome, heartbreaking, traumatizing, even. It’s hard to know where to look or how to cope or, especially, how to concentrate.

In times like these, it’s very hard to have the concentration, the mental acuity, the hope, even, to write or create. At times like these, I often turn to poetry to keep my writing mind in shape.

Swimming, petting my dogs, and my flowers provide a little relief. Still, I know things are not right with the world and that it’s my job, as long as I draw breath, to try to leave better things behind me.
Also, I know that other writers have gone through horrible times and made a reason for writing out of those very issues that broke their world apart. One thinks of Walt Whitman, writing, walking, nursing troops during the Civil War. (Talk about partisanship!) Or the incredible June Jordan, who wrote us through the most extreme dangers of the Civil Rights era. And today there are folks trying to do the same, like the thought-provoking, productive, life-affirming Roxane Gay and Meg Pillow. Don’t know them? Please look them up.
My question for you, today, is what keeps you from writing, and what draws you back to it? I’d really love to know. Write me anything in the comments below and I will respond.
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Linda
/ June 9, 2022Short answer: almost anything: the dog needs lap time (or I do), the cat wants to be fed, my last writing missed the mark and I don’t want to risk getting 2 strikes because that would put me on the verge of being OUT. But maybe working in the arts is not like baseball. Maybe we come back to it as a way to imagine our way into a better future.
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Glenda Bailey-Mershon
/ June 9, 2022Never give up, never give in, is my motto. Just start again tomorrow. Who will write it if you don’t?
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Glenda Bailey-Mershon
/ June 9, 2022Thanks so much for reading, Everyone!
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