Late July 2005
Dear writers
I came across the idea that when we are silent, the
universe rolls through us. May words roll through you.
I met some great souls at the International Poetry
Festival in
Two narrow horizontal lines together and a few
wavy lines above with a figure to the right. Signifying a mouth, words coming
out of that mouth and a person standing next to the words = sincerity
Another poet, James Fenton (Prof of Poetry at
Rita Dove, the African American poet - I enjoyed her
work, her way of reading. One of her poems begins “When I was young the moon's
spoke in riddles and skies rhymed” and ends "the world was already
old and I was older than I am today."
I did much inner and outer work in
Here is one of the poems.
Weighing Words
in the Palace of the Inquisition,
in the Caribbean town,
they weighed women
on a platform
hung on chains
with a metal balance
hooked to the ceiling.
if you were too thin a woman,
were you so because you flew?
catch questions line the walls.
do you use the devil’s name
in your incantations?
who is your master?
who taught you to fly?
the authorities squirted liquid
into your eyes.
if you did not cry
you were witch.
tonight in this Palace, on a platform,
three poets pitch words into the space
where the ash of 800 women
floated through the air.
I read of Osiris who weighed
your heart against a feather.
of Aquinas who imaged hate as ice
and love as a melting.
my fellow poets, women,
raise questions, author images,
cast spells, smoulder words
that melt my tears
and set the hall burning.
While travelling I read Like Gold Through Fire, Understanding the
Transforming Power of Suffering by M and B Harris, two Jungians. A deep read . They work with the myth of Inanna,
Sumerian Queen of the upper world.
I continue mentoring a number of writers. Hixiting
projects. One of them, Tom Cottrel, has
completed his Five Hour Pilgrim, the Philosophical Meanderings of a Nobody. Tom, to
celebrate his fiftieth birthday, ran on six
continents. His book will be published shortly.
And talking of books I was the UC T. M. A. external
examiner for Russell Brownlee’s Garden of the Plagues which is just been
published. A novel set in early
I’m increasingly doing work as a corporate
storyteller. Chasing after stories as they run through the
work place. Talking at the South African Institute of Management
Services conference in August in Johannesburg… and am co-writing a book -
working title Walking Backwards, the
Power of Stories in Personal and Professional Life.
Here are August-September 05 workshops.
Please speak-speak if you want specific workshops like in your area, I’m grateful to those who pass on this
letter to writing friends. Please unsubscribe if you need to.
Winter story-telling
Brazilian born
story-teller, Antonia Rocha, a full-time teller with a mime and movement style…
venue Erin Hall
in Rondebosch 19.00.
min of R20 donation
Family and Ancestors: Giving our Stories as Gifts
Fair Lady Magazine Winter Workshops 2005
R640
6-7 August
One day we too will be ancestors. Our
stories will be gifts for those we leave behind. We write those stories and
place them next to those of our family, immediate, extended and chosen. The
idea of family includes not only blood but our spiritual tradition, culture and
the line of those who have influenced us. The workshop also touches on healing
the family tree.
Venue:
4
My Life, my Death: A Writing and
Story-telling Workshop
(with
Peter Fox) R360
Sun
21 August
Everyman I
will go and thee and be thy Guide (Death, from a Medieval Play)
We’re constantly in the flow of life and
death. This workshop explores these two twin energies that accompany us on our
journey of transformation. We discover those experiences that bring us a sense
of aliveness and an acceptance of the mystery. We celebrate our life and
befriend our death.
Myths, stories and poetry are our guides for the day as we
create and craft our stories.
This workshop will be of help to those
who
·
are training
to be counsellors
·
attend to the
dying
·
are dying and
wish to reflect on their lives
·
are grieving
and seeking healing
·
wish to remember loved ones and pass on their stories.
Peter Foxis the spiritual director of St Luke’s Hospice. He is
co-author of the recently published Dying,
A Practical Guide for the Journey. He lectures in
the field of grief and loss. And he is
my friend.
Venue: Southern suburbs
…and WritEscapes events in the
contact Mandy Lebides who gives writers a voice
mandy01@iafica.com
083 301 9832
WritEscapes monthly
August meet
I’m talking on
The Outer-inner Journey of a Poetry Festival (
Somerset Lodge
Main Rd
Story-telling
Festival 2 and 3 September
I will be involved on 2 Sept
KZN
Zen Pen
workshop at Ixopo Buddhist Retreat Centre 16-18 Sept
– 039 834 1863
And Octember
and beyond …
Consciousness Film Festival Workshops (October)
Erika van Gruenen
has revived this festival in
Your Personal Myth: Writing yourself Alive, Aware,
Awake R390
Joseph Campbell suggests we are in search of the
experiences that make us more alive. Writing is one of them. Explore your
creativity and imagination. Write your life as a movie. Travel in search of
your personal myths - the stories that energise your life.
The Bigger You; Writing Longing and
Belonging
I am not I. I
am the one walking beside me. (Jiminez)
When we think of a relationship, most of us think of
relating to other people –
a lover, a spouse, a child, a friend. But what about the
relationship with the person we have known longest - ourselves -? Can writing
open to a lifelong love affair with yourself?
This workshop explores ‘the companion
self.’ That part of me that accompanies all I do – the part that Carl Jung called
the twin. As Ray Bradbury, the writer, suggests “I do not write. The other me demands
emergence constantly.” But who are ‘the other me’s?
And how do I find them? The workshop attempts to answer these questions.
Venues to be announced
and a Mid Summer Workshop
Somerset West 23-27 Nov
Join the
second Summer Writing School (R1880) Summer in the Helderberg?
This writetime includes
tuition * one-on-one mentoring *one email follow up consultation*
files and a surprise gift for writers*fine writing company *most meals * nature
reserve admission
reasonable B & B close in Somerset West or nearby Gordon’s
Bay,
and as word roll through you may you roll onwards
Dorian