Way back at the Winter Solstice I attended a workshop hosted by Suzi Banks Baum. First, she led us through some freewriting. When we finished, she asked us to read through what we had written and underline any phrases that caught our eye. Then the magic started! Suzi invited us to open our still new 2025 planners and add the phrases randomly to our planner. We were strewing breadcrumbs for the year, little bits of whimsy and inspiration that would become a gift during the year anytime we found one.
All summer I’ve been reading Home: 100 Poems with Rachel Thompson’s Summer Reading Bingo in mind. Her categories are spacious and evocative and she offers just one question to help you dig a little deeper into your selection and read like a writer.
Later, I stumbled on the fall study plans that Amy from The Wrack and Shaunta from The Write Brain made. Then this last week, one of my phrases from the Winter Solstice gathering appeared in my planner: even astonishment. I have no idea what the phrase meant back in December or what larger piece of writing its from. But the magic worked! The phrase called to me from the past and suggested a path to the end of the year—a curriculum of my own that I’m calling the Even Astonishment Project.
In the coming weeks I plan to return to my selections, answer Rachel’s question, and use those responses to craft a writing provocation. Hopefully this will deepen my own response and writing practice. So let’s begin with Tina Chang. This poem isn’t in the collection that I am primarily working with, but it would be a great addition!
A Voice that Feels Unmistakably Itself—Why did this voice feel authentic or unique?
Title of the Work: “Notes on Longing”
Author: Tina Chang
Quote or Moment: “a wounded egg on rice”
What I Noticed: I love the gentle opening that the title offers. These are simply Notes, not anything special or profound. I love how the poem moves from outside to inside, doors locked and unlocked, families hungry and full, mouths eating and singing. And that wounded egg on rice! I feel like I could write 100 poems and never come up with an image like that!
Writing Provocation: Write a poem and borrow Chang’s title, “Notes on Longing.” I have a feeling your own unique writing voice will craft a poem vastly different from Chang’s. Or open a new page called Notes. Maybe they’re about longing, but maybe not! Let the ease of the opening lower the stakes and create a sanctuary1.
Hat tip to Ann Collins who gifted me this word this week!
That Tina Chang poem is a favorite of mine too. Have to laugh at the thought of how many notebooks I've copied it into as if for the first time. I LOVE your project and gasped at the magic and promise of the phrase "Even Astonishment"!
I love this summer reading bingo concept!