Hi friends, welcome back to Strange Doors!
I woke up this morning sleepily stumped at what to write so I made some found poetry from diary entries I wrote over the last week.
I hope you enjoy some of the odder choices with language and the recurring themes of my subconscious revealing themselves (hello extinction, my old friend).
Definitely have a go at doing this yourself — it’s super fun.
sunday 27 april
not sure how certainly I am
a sea or
a stroke on its periphery
writing along the shore
where another possibly gorgeous
no way of knowing
is
my breath corners
the day
a spot of sunlight
I need
recedes
into a botany
called
capitalism
—
monday 28 april
lunar turning
the newly
transformed past
into voicenote
shed my old I
liberation at least
for now
north of mindful
I got off
45 minutes late
at the place where
the hills
sitting in a circle
make collage
of normal things
found
the generative
otherwise
—
tuesday 29 april
song of the mountains
all day, a slight
urgency
which really just means
breakfast
invitation to trust
that showing up
slowly
one feeling at a time
is enough
lost in the body
in the plumbing
the world outside
sunny and quiet
embrace
the empty
always
—
thursday 1 may
oats and epic mountains
the usual beauty
peace and work
toolbox poems
and questions
this is
what I wanted
not an arrival,
a poetry
of shape
as finally as
broken
as devastating as
sharp
most definitely
for my grandmother
an extinction
retitled,
I want
more
love
—
saturday 2 may
birdwatching and waiting
too eager
how different
being watched
or seen by another
body
tilts this world
out of place
not just a loss of life
but a loss of
how
a chain reaction of loss
a raven, in the far reaches
never seen or heard
sits waiting
to exist
—
today, sunday 4 may
to write
like a productive
strange
imperfectionism
and save myself
my soul,
I wonder
what’s already
here to be
excavated
?
Thank you for reading Strange Doors, a whenever-inspiration-strikes and who-knows-what-you’re-going-to-get newsletter to spark your creative curiosity…
All the words in the poems above were excavated from my own journal entries written this past week. Which was your favourite? What subconscious associations can you find in your own “generative otherwise”?
Also: shout out to my poetry buddies Iain and Cam who shared the work of Tim Key, Danill Kharms, and Ivor Cutler with me this week and inspired a little more absurd writing than usual. Thanks guys :)
Check out Iain’s latest poem and dance/animations!
And go read Cam’s pamphlet, you won’t regret it.
If you do take the invitation to write your own found poems feel free to leave them in the comments, or send them my way by reply to this email— I’d love to read them!
Big feels, and hugs— till next week.
xo Mai