I like your question, on the threshold of what? Indeed, I am asking myself that very question at 81, on the verge of publishing, will it happen? Do I have the razz-a-matazz to complete the process? Do I even NEED to?
Kara, I feel in these very words of yours the requisite razz-a-matazz. What is need, anymore? What completes us? I have found a sense of completion here on Substack that I haven't felt in a very long time. Stay with us here, while you ponder.
Wild Flower! Do you know, dearest and beautiful friend, that I have a novella called "Wild Flower?" (not published). That Wild Flowers, in so many ways, define me? Thank you.
You have such a gift of saying something that illuminates and names things that I am walking/sitting around feeling……when I read your words my heart so often explodes! ……I too have been holding this feeling of having not ‘done’ enough with my time. Yet. It’s seems we were these young women just yesterday. Yet also now the knowing that just ‘being’ fully in a beautiful moment is enough. And the moments I feel that joy of life are when I’m making. 🙏
Oh absolutely. That joy of making. We are all struggling in this new world and with the passage of time. And then we hold something in our hands and … the moment is alive. Our lives are now. Thank you to you.
"Though I only hear the wind within, the tumbleweeding of my mind. How one thought knocks against another thought, leaving bruise behind" so good... 🙏👏👏👏
Yes, yes, yes to being audacious lest we be as boring a fluorescent tube bulb. Here are my favorites: "There is grammar in my skin, gray in my hair. the old bike is rusty. suddenly I am lost in the liquidity of time, chasing multiple selves."
Oh, Ruth. She seems so far away, that Beth. And I wondered, reading the previous her, if I do know more now. But I will hope to. These times challenge us in new ways. And we must keep rising. Thank you so much, Ruth. xo
Your audacities are an inspiration. This essay made me think of Annie Ernaux’s “A Girl’s Story.” A book I highly recommend, but I assume you already know it.
Claire! I have on my shelf AE's Getting Lost, The Years, and A Woman's Story (all read, sometimes more than once) but not A Girl's Story. I love that you are recommending it. I will look for it, with gratitude to you.
Yes Beth. I see photos of myself and think, "Then I could do this...then I thought about doing that." Some of my past desires have changed, but not all have. They've just become impossible. How should I feel? Surprised? Resigned?
I read your words "on the threshold" and "audacities" and I think of all you have done and all you bring to your work, the totality of you in each book, each piece of art, each class and workshop. What a gift you are!
I like your question, on the threshold of what? Indeed, I am asking myself that very question at 81, on the verge of publishing, will it happen? Do I have the razz-a-matazz to complete the process? Do I even NEED to?
Kara, I feel in these very words of yours the requisite razz-a-matazz. What is need, anymore? What completes us? I have found a sense of completion here on Substack that I haven't felt in a very long time. Stay with us here, while you ponder.
Asking myself the same question!
Martha, the eternal question.
Yes yes yes you do!! Go for it Kara.
Just so perfect. Each word placed naturally. Each one a wild flower. How I love the view from your window.
Wild Flower! Do you know, dearest and beautiful friend, that I have a novella called "Wild Flower?" (not published). That Wild Flowers, in so many ways, define me? Thank you.
You have such a gift of saying something that illuminates and names things that I am walking/sitting around feeling……when I read your words my heart so often explodes! ……I too have been holding this feeling of having not ‘done’ enough with my time. Yet. It’s seems we were these young women just yesterday. Yet also now the knowing that just ‘being’ fully in a beautiful moment is enough. And the moments I feel that joy of life are when I’m making. 🙏
Oh absolutely. That joy of making. We are all struggling in this new world and with the passage of time. And then we hold something in our hands and … the moment is alive. Our lives are now. Thank you to you.
"and when she plays her music, she plays it loud and dances, unafraid to be seen, or to be found out..."
A certain Mr. Springsteen, perhaps? :)
Dancing in the Dark. With Bruce.
Our one and only.
"Though I only hear the wind within, the tumbleweeding of my mind. How one thought knocks against another thought, leaving bruise behind" so good... 🙏👏👏👏
Thank you so very much. My mind receives the world in its own strange ways. And then the words emerge.
Yes, yes, yes to being audacious lest we be as boring a fluorescent tube bulb. Here are my favorites: "There is grammar in my skin, gray in my hair. the old bike is rusty. suddenly I am lost in the liquidity of time, chasing multiple selves."
All of the above.
to the forever audacious in us, Char.
You will look back and see your beauty and youth and realize how much more you know now and love that woman .
Oh, Ruth. She seems so far away, that Beth. And I wondered, reading the previous her, if I do know more now. But I will hope to. These times challenge us in new ways. And we must keep rising. Thank you so much, Ruth. xo
So beautiful, Beth.
Hello you. And thank you.
Keeping being audacious! (I know I don’t need to tell you that.) I love this photo and I love that Bill took it.
I will do my darndest to be my most audacious, even though anxiety and panic gnaw and gnaw, as they do. As they will. xo
Women are always the bravest, and you, my friend, are fearless and leading by example.
Grammar in your skin!
always!
There is no container for ongoingness!
Nancy, those containers just keep shattering ...
Love this missive so much. It's gorgeous, and it reverberates. xo.
Carmen, it means so very much to have these words from you this morning. Thank you.
Your audacities are an inspiration. This essay made me think of Annie Ernaux’s “A Girl’s Story.” A book I highly recommend, but I assume you already know it.
Claire! I have on my shelf AE's Getting Lost, The Years, and A Woman's Story (all read, sometimes more than once) but not A Girl's Story. I love that you are recommending it. I will look for it, with gratitude to you.
Yes Beth. I see photos of myself and think, "Then I could do this...then I thought about doing that." Some of my past desires have changed, but not all have. They've just become impossible. How should I feel? Surprised? Resigned?
Perhaps alive in the very humanity of it all, as bewildering as it is, Linda —
Yes...and I've found a balance between acceptance and experimenting.
I read your words "on the threshold" and "audacities" and I think of all you have done and all you bring to your work, the totality of you in each book, each piece of art, each class and workshop. What a gift you are!
Susan, I — still feel so incomplete, so still wondering what more I might have been, how much wiser. But I thank you, truly I do.
I think we all wonder what if. The thing is that we are who we are at any given time, and that is more than enough. To me, you feel like a gift!
I will try to live with that, Susan. With your grace. In it.