The Stories of Beds

How do you feel about your bed? Have you ever thought of painting it, like Robert Rauschenberg,

Rauschenberg, 1955

or displaying it as a work of art as Tracy Emin chose to do.

 

            

Emin, My Bed 1998







Powers, Pictorial Quilt 1898







The quilt, left, was made in the 19th century by Harriet Powers, an African American slave and artist.

What story would you sow into a quilt? Who would be the main characters? Would there be a happy ending?

What do you keep at the side of your bed? If your bed could speak what would it say? About you, about the dreams you share with it?

Think about the beds you have slept it, from childhood to now. In houses, in tents, between trees, on boats...

Write a poem about one, or about many.

Write well.

L

x

I resolve not to...

New year, new page, new leaf, new look... we can't help but associate the beginning of the year with starting new projects, or resolving to change things, or give up things.

I'd like us to think about the things we resolve NOT to do:

I resolve not to make fun of my sister's dog
I resolve not to open the 2nd bottle of wine

But let's not be limited by reality or practicality:

I resolve not to invade Iraq
I resolve never to die without informing you of place, date and time

Have fun with free-listing over the next week. Then look back and see how parts of those lists could be shaped into a poem.

Write well.
L
x

Blog Visit: a hungry writing prompt

Hello everyone. I'll be back to AppleHouse properly this weekend, once I'm home again in France. In the meantime there are delayed flights and missed connections to negotiate out of Miami and London. The joys of travel : )

If you'd like a writing prompt you could visit The Hungry Writer blog and respond to the prompt at the end of my post, either in prose or poetry. There'll be more prompts as this project continues so please feel free to follow it too. It would be lovely to see you there.

Write well.
L
x

Welcome to 2011

I'm on holiday in Florida until the middle of January so it will be a little while until I get back properly to AppleHouse but in the meantime here's a poem by a poet whose words always speak to me very loudly:

Green-Striped Melons

They lie

under stars in a field.

They lie under rain in a field.

Under sun.

Some people
are like this as well—
like a painting
hidden beneath another painting.

An unexpected weight
the sign of their ripeness.


Jane Hirshfield



Perhaps her words will inspire you to write about something hidden, something that doesn't reveal itself easily but which rewards us when we do notice it.

Write well
L
x