Writing Prompt #11
summer's arrival + loving the unloved animals
We have launched into summer. While I am excited for a break in the rain and a string of warmer days, I can’t help but feel some level of anxiety—even in the so-called mild climate of the Pacific Northwest.
How hot will be be? Will there be fires close to home? Is “smoke” our newest season, wedged somewhere in between summer and fall?
Writing Warm-up: Summer’s Arrival
Write out your feelings about summer. Are you excited or nervous? Will you be hard at work or are you planning for some time off? Document in short prose or a poem how you are feeling in this transition from spring to summer, June to July.
I have been reading The Comfort of Crow: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl. It’s a gorgeous book, illustrated by artist, Billy Renkl (who is also her brother). I have been a fan of her NYT columns and read her previous book, Late Migrations a few years ago. The Comfort of Crows is slow and methodical and compiles a year noticing her backyard and thinking about her relationships with the natural world, close to home. Tonally, it reminds me a bit of Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, and I appreciate the wise observations that both author’s offer.
Being tethered to a temporal structure, like daily or weekly writing, is a useful practice. Especially, if it is devoted to focus or cause, like delight or conservation. I have not been able to do this practice myself for longer than a month, but I strive to get to that level of time and attention. Even the great novelist. Amy Tan, started bird watching in the pandemic and I am eager to read her new book, The Backyard Chronicles, and see her original illustrations.
I offer this idea to you as something to take on this summer. Can you write daily? Is there a local place you want to visit and write about weekly?
Writing Prompt: How do you love the unloved animal?
Here is a passage from Renkl’s book that I particularly like. It is based in Week 3 of summer and focused on the often misunderstood opossum. “Let us send them off with our blessings as they blunder back into the night.”
What unloved animals can you think of in your life? Is it a specific creature or a murder of crows? How do you relate to this animal? Does it scare you, do you scare it? Is this animal misunderstood? Write for twenty minutes in prose or poetry. Feel free to borrow Renkl’s first line to get started:
Sing, O muse, of the lumbering______.
This summer I have been listening to the podcast Animal. “In a broken world, what can we gain by looking another animal in the eye? Join the writer Sam Anderson on a six-part, round-the-world journey in search of an answer.” So far, it has been a very interesting listen and I offer it to you as you consider both the loved and unloved animals you may encounter.
Our Environmentalists Anonymous Writing Group meets every 2nd and 4th at 10:30 am Wednesday at Village Books in Bellingham. Drop-ins welcome. These writing prompts are created for that generative group. You can always follow along at home.
**New Writing Group** I will be facilitating a workshop+generative writing group this fall for ZOOM. If you are interested in doing that, please let me know.
More information to come in July.