Writing: A Spiritual Practice
Making Gifts
“Music was his life, it was not his livelihood
And it made him feel so happy, it made him feel so good
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul
And he did not know how well he sang, it just made him whole”
— Harry Chapin (Mr. Tanner)
The Writing Life
During the last fifty years, I have written thousands of poems—some poems are hundreds of lines long and some as short as three lines. Only a few hundred have been published. Some years I write four to five hundred poems. In other years I write fifty or sixty poems.
To paraphrase singer and songwriter, Harry Chapin, poetry is my life, not my livelihood.
Writing has helped me to stay sane in a crazy world. The joy of creation has brought me pleasure in indescribable ways. Writing poetry has helped to heal my soul and fill me with hope.
Reading poetry nourishes my soul and teaches me to see the world differently.
Spiritual Practice
Writing for me is a spiritual practice. I did not realize this until I read an essay several years ago in which Mark Vonnegut talks about his father, Kurt, one of my favorite authors. This quote opened for me a window into why I have spent years writing without fame or fortune.
