A good friend has lent me Natalie Goldberg's "Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life." I have read her in the past because my mother has a copy of "Writing Down the Bones." Today, when I was supposed to have taken time out to write I actually ended up reading some of this book and was so taken with one of the excercises that I thought I'd do it here. Although it is not technically a poem, I really don't care. The point is I am supposed to be writing and I think this one will open me up, particularly as a poet. It is a try this excercise after a chapter called Orchestra in which she discusses how teaching reading helped her see the music, sounds and wild breathing in each word and syllable we read and say out loud. Here it is:"Make a list of words you really like. It doesn't matter if you know the meaning of the word or not. It also doesn't matter if you like what the word means..Feel the dignity and integrity of each word you write down...The writing doesn't have to be about the list. It is a way to become present to words, to recognize their value and to slow you down...Really that is what a poet is: someone who loves words for themselves and sees their magic" - pg. 195
okay here we go:
Extrapolate, gilded, chiaroscuro, babble, glow, smolder, audacity, life, summer, midnight, feast, plum, fire, fabric, murmur, lithe, think, voluptuous, hearth, juxtaposition, speak, skinny, gargantuan, orangutan, feather, wild, petals, sanctum, salvation, cocoon, noose, vigilance, rosewood, glisten, cashmere, impression, muscle, obscure, ligament, demon, heaven, cloud, meat, bone, stitch, obsidian, xenophobia, lemon, pucker, pendant, peer, prince, bile, centimeter, beseech, queen, altruism, quiver, question, hem, what, cholera, paradise, leaves, downtrodden, gingerly, brush, glacier, mass, luscious, incense, jubilant, pastel, passive, patent, organ, cerulean, echo, glass, bruise, shoot, upswing, junction, veil, lace, brook, vixen, sing, soothing, prints, retina, vivacious, tickle, wiggle, woman, yearn, vascular, balance, tooth, tether, gnarled, knobby, strand, puppet, water, waves, ocean, cradle, hyacinths, azaleas, rasp, elaborate
