Translate

Monday, September 6, 2010

Summer Reminiscences I


Fortunately, I had a very nice summer so I have much to share. In June, I started by attending the Cultural Circle Conference for writers. The topic chosen for their annual conference was finding ways to nurture both our families and our creative impulse. Finding balance is the quest for most parents so it was refreshing to see that the panel did not have one solution but addressed their own needs and struggles while talking about their ways of finding that “me” time. Entrepreneur and author, Kiki Somerville said she needs structure and quiet time to work and develop her relationship with her son. On the other hand filmmaker, Camille Holder-Brown found that with a large family, she had to wing it most of the time and grasp opportunities as they came. Children’s book author, Jwajiku Korantema and artist, Aleathia Brown both felt adversity had helped them set their priorities.

I think nurturing our creativity should be an important part of our lives whether we are creating art, writing a book or raising our children. This workshop helped me re-examine my priorities and remind me that our family relationships are forever changing.

How do you manage your family and still nurture your talents? How many of us are conflicted?


Haiku

One part of the conference included a poetry workshop. Everyone had to pick a word out of a jar and use this for inspiration in creating a haiku poem. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines with a ratio of 5, 7, 5 syllables. I picked the word “patience” something I used to have plenty of. After years of waiting to follow my dream “patience” was not the word I wanted to pick. After much angst, I came up with this poem…

Patience’s shadow covers

The playground of life until

The sun’s ray appears

Even though this was a little painful, the workshop has whetted my curiosity and I am ready to try again. So I have been doing a little research on Haiku poetry. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. The lines rarely rhyme. I think this could be a great end of summer project for the older kids…writing summer poems. I think we won’t worry about the rules but will just have some fun.


No comments:

Post a Comment