There are many new beginnings that arise throughout the cycle of the year: Winter Solstice; New Year’s Day; turning points in our personal lives that open up new doorways to walk through; voluntary change or the unexpected, thrust upon us by fate’s fingers.
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we have just passed through this year’s Spring Equinox and life is burgeoning at every edge. It feels as though we are in the thick of the energy of beginning, new growth and the blossoming of possibilities.
What I love about List Poems is there bare-bones simplicity. Writing a list is a way into any topic or theme. It can be a messy starting point or a refined final piece.
Try this…
Write a list on the theme of ‘Beginnings’, they can be single words or phrases. Your list can be connected to the sights, sounds and smells of Spring but they don’t need to be. Here are the first thoughts that came into my head:
new chapter
door opens
green shoot peeps through the soil
newborn babe opens her eyes
first step on the path
sunlight leaks over the mountain
lips part to speak
Once you have your list, you can see if it works well as it is or you may wish to change the order around or add or omit some words to improve on the imagery or rhythm of the poem.
So my mini improvised poem might become…
door slowly opens
sunlight leaks over the mountain
first step on the path
green shoot peeps through the soil
a new chapter
newborn babe opens her eyes
lips part to speak
It’s not a masterpiece but it gets the ink and the ideas flowing. See what you can create on the theme of ‘Beginnings’.
JourneySong.ink 