Early October 2021, I started writing with Laurie Wagner. The process she teaches is named Wild Writing. She reads a poem, selects a line to use as a jump off-line, reads it again, and then gives these instructions: set a timer for fifteen minutes, write as fast as you can – saying yes to whatever comes. Try to write poorly she always adds and she sometimes advises us to let our bellies hang over our jeans.
For today’s post, one that is a tad bit longer than usual, I decided to share a piece I wrote on December 6, 2021, to give you the flavor of what can happen. This piece was important for me to write, as I found myself celebrating my health and cementing in my mind the idea of taking training in Wild Writing. Someday I might want to teach! Wild Writing happens in small groups, where everyone, including the leader, listens to the poems, writes, and then shares out loud what they have written. The leader creates a very safe environment by adhering to Wild Writing structure: no small talk and no comments or critiques from anyone, just a facial expression and hand gesture to acknowledge you heard the other.
This is the first time I have typed up one of my fifteen-minute handwritten responses. I decided not to make any changes in the original – I even left my spelling errors. This piece was in response to a poem by Lisa Jarnot, “Poem Beginning with a Line by Frank Lima.” The line I wrote to was – “How terrific it is.”
“How terrific it is that I can drive again. That the ravages of NPH – Normal pressure hydrocephalus are calmed down, by just a tiny bit of drainage. A shunt! Who would have thought that drilling a hole in my head – my skull – inserting a plastic tube and dropping it down into my abdomin – how terrific it is that they knew where to deposit the surplus cerebral spinal fluid. Who knew where it could go? I wouldn’t have known. I thought maybe it should go to my heart – the muscle that directs everything. But no, it is going to my abdomin. I don’t know if I can spell abdomin or not – but I will give it a shot. How terrific that now Ed – a voice on the phone I’ve heard – a voice that has a stutter – a stutter that endears him to me. He and I have problems with our voice. I get frogs. He stutter, I run out of ink. How terrific it is to have another pen @ the ready. A pen I ordered and love how it writes. How terrific it is that Little Dog Tech, my computer gurus are not on the corner of 50th and Ashworth but on the corner of 60the and Ashworth. How wonderful that I got to pull over and fin my phone and call them and push #1 for store hours and directions – where I find that they are indeed on Ashworth – but 10 more blogs west. How terrific it is that I thought 50th Street was closer than I thought and how terrific it is that I can go some place by my self. That I can drive. I remember when I couldn’t walk very well – let alone drive. I was a stubborn person then. And I still am aren’t I? I fight for what I think is right even when I don’t know much at all about the subject matter – especially when it is about computers. I want to learn. I am learning. How terrific it is to learn. How terrific life is. How terrific medical science is. How terrific I could feel now that I have a shunt in my brain. A shunt! I love that word – a shunt. Shunt you know what to do about having too much cerebral fluid. How terrific it is that I am going to take a class on teaching Wild Writing just to be close to Laurie Wagner! Just because I want to. I need to. How terrific it is that I can afford it.”
I hope you enjoyed learning about Wild Writing. It has been an important part of my writing life. If you want to read the poem my writing was inspired by, you can find it here: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poem-beginning-with-a-line-by-frank-lima/.
Let me know if you have questions.
IMAGE: Photograph by Mason Hiatt which I felt depicted what it feels like trying to write from the unconscious. The location was Lisbon, Portugal. One of the women in my Wild Writing Class lives in Portugal!
