Artistic Afternoons: Write your own found poem today, by taking a couple of pages of text (from a book, a magazine, a newspaper, your own journal...?) and cutting out words that speak to you in some way. As you do, notice the "shoulds" that rear their heads in you: "Should" I be cutting up this page? What words "should" I include? Oh, I "shouldn't" say *that*! And let yourself choose freedom and presence over the rigid shoulds. See what happens when you play, nary a "should" in sight. Arrange the piles of words you've discovered into a series of lines (found poetry doesn't usually rhyme, so don't even worry about that!), and glue them down. Then, notice what has come up--both in you and on your page. How do these lines express something in you that you may not even have known was there? How does it give language to the prayer of your soul in some way? (And share your poem with us, when you're done!)

Posted by Jamie Bonilla at 2023-03-16 20:30:10 UTC