Online Class

Two Writing Exercises

By Thom Williams

1. Childhood Memories and Exercise
2. The Meaning of it All and Exercise

Afterthoughts Of God In Absentia By Thom Williams Look closely. There is more than a galaxy in each eye. Iris colors, earth and sea tones, have the gift of reflection. I meant and began the world to make sense, for each square foot of soil to be a dictionary, for boulders to be strung in an ice age abacus, for the sun and moon to be local deities. Creation was not for man; it was the way I passed a lonely afternoon at a great height. The wise men who saw shadows in the wood and called them devils misread my smudges on an unfinished work. To be honest, the project began to bore me. There is a tedium to omnipotence; one tends to anticipate oneself ad infinitum. The echo amplifies in circles too wide, and the loneliness remained. Now I am long gone to where light years are yesterday, and prayers blunted at the heliopause cannot follow. But look closely, in the unexpected, cool shade there are wild raspberries fallen beneath tiger lilies.

Photo Copyright © Phil Franks 1970 - 2002 All Rights Reserved.

The meaning of it all. Now there's a light topic. Let me start by saying that I make no special claims to know anything more about this topic than, and especially, anyone else. I do think we all get our crack at the mystery (to butcher Whitman's words), and that commenting on what counts is a worthy subject -- one as old as our first human thoughts, I suppose. I come to encourage you to share some of what you have discovered and the resultant poems, as I will share with you.

Where I'm coming from spiritually is a very fluid position. In my family, there have been preachers and pirates. Joshua Thomas, for whom I am named, was a traveling, sailing evangelist who converted many of the inhabitants of the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Methodism in the eighteenth century. He is said to have worked miracles, some of which are documented in the book, A Faraway Time And Place. My Uncle Vaughn was a big-time minister in Washington D.C. and ministered to many of the great and powerful. So, I come by my spiritual voice "honestly" as they say on the Eastern Shore.

Personally, I am not religious, though I have made comparative world religion a small-scale study. Half of me is spiritual, and I lean toward Taoist, Buddhist, Zen thinking. The other half of me leans toward the idea that all the talk about the soul is more-or-less pathetic, wishful thinking.

               "All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses.
                And to die is different from what anyone supposed,
                and luckier.

                Whitman

So, instead of going on and on, I'd like to share with you a few of the beacon fires that guide me:

               "Some people are such snobs that if they were born twice,
                they'd improbably call it dying."

                e.e. cummings
                _____

               "To see the World in a Grain of Sand
                And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
                Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
                And Eternity in an hour."

                Blake
                _____

               "All that lives must die, 
                passing through nature
                into eternity."

                Shakespeare
                _____
 
               "Simply trust:
                Do not the petals flutter down,
                Just like that."

                Issa
                _____
 
               "The summer's flower
                Is to the summer sweet,
                Though to itself it only live and die."

                Shakespeare
                _____

There are so many more, but, at the risk of losing you, I'll move along to two of my own theories. My poem "Afterthoughts of God in Absentia" is one of my most popular and most quickly published works. It was inspired when I actually came across wild raspberries beneath tiger lilies in an unexpected, cool shade. The sight so moved me that I began thinking in larger contexts, like about how happiness is where you find it and that it might be brief or seemingly insignificant. The poem was published by Atlanta Review and Borderlands (Texas Poetry Journal), much to my surprise and satisfaction.

Initially, I worried that speaking for God was presumptuous, but then I relaxed when people liked the poem. The poem reflects one of my light-hearted theories of being. Let's call it "The God's Ant Farm Theory." To explain: Let's say you have an ant farm in your room in Pennsylvania. You, as far as the ants can grasp, are the reason for the existence of the ant farm. The ants depend upon you for their place, their food and the only meaning relevant to their situation. In effect, you are the ants' God. Then, let's say you have to move to Montana and leave the ant farm behind. In Montana you go on with your business, but the ants back in Pennsylvania are left to work it out for themselves, and though things often are not easy or pretty, certain ants have moments when the simple, beautiful essence of existence shines through, more beautiful because it exists for itself alone, stranded just like the ants.

The other theory on the meaning of life I will offer is "The Cat and the Car Theory." In this, man is like the cat, and the car is the meaning of it all. Now, the cat does know things about the car -- that it is big, loud, scary, that you should get out of its way or it will crush you. However, the cat just isn't capable of comprehending the innumerable subtleties of an automobile. The cat just won't get it, no matter what. The cat does know what it needs to know for its limited purposes. This is how man understands, and can't understand the meaning of it all.

I have shared my less-than-philosophical theories on the meaning of life to encourage you to make your own into a poem. I would be interested to read your thoughts and imaginings. Lastly, I just came upon a haiku two years after writing "Afterthoughts of God in Absentia." It is written by haiku icon Basho (one of my writing idols) of the seventeenth century. It seemed familiar.

"Looking carefully, --
A shepherd's purse is blooming
Under the fence."

Thom's 'Meaning' Writing Exercise:

1. Select a moment which inspires you to larger scale thought. Include in your poem the details of the moment and their significances.
2. Take the point of view of a mythical entity such as God, Buddha, Zeus, a ghost, etc. and use it to reveal some of the mysteries of life as you see them.

Here are a few questions I'd like to pose to the AF readers and guests on the topic 'Writing Poems about the Meaning of it All':

1. What are your favorite poems on the meaning of it all?
2. What are some of your own ideas? Call it personal mythology.
3. What might be some obstacles that would make writing about the meaning of it all difficult?

Thom Williams is a teacher of English, Creative Writing and Poetry. His poetry has appeared in California Quarterly, New Spirit Press, New Times, Black Buzzard Press, SYN/AES/THE/TIC, The Atlanta Review, Abiko Quarterly, Borderlands (The Texas Poetry Journal) and many other publications. His poetry has won prizes and commendations from The New Press Literary Quarterly, The Sharon Creative Arts Foundation, The Robert Penn Warren Awards, The Scriveners, The Comstock Writers Group, The Mississippi Valley Poetry Competition, The Maryland Poetry Review, New Spirit Press Chapbook Contest, Hudson Valley Echoes Poetry Contest and others. His chapbooks, In the New Cairo and The Rust Belt Adventures, are published by New Spirit Press and The Plowman Press respectively, and his book, Alive Beyond Blue, is published by Mellen Poetry Press. He is a dramatist whose works have been produced at colleges and on National Public Radio.