Tag: memoirwriting
-
a beast in my soup
One afternoon I was having lunch with my friend Misha. We were gabbing about who-knows-what when she stopped and said, “There’s a beast in my soup.” I looked over and sure enough, swimming around her soup was a jade-green beetle. We erupted into giggles. “What is the other word?” she said, wiping a tear. She’s…
-
a sharpened stake
I used to think writing was a solitary act. I wrote alone, brainstormed alone, edited alone. Only on very rare occasion did I let it out into the sunlight, did I invite someone in. Partly that’s because I was shy. I didn’t think anyone would want to read what I wrote. And showing someone your…
-
saws and other writing tools
“If you’ve never seen a saw, then a log looks like a miracle.” Think about that. If what you want feels impossible, it’s tempting to conclude that it is. But maybe… Maybe it just seems that way because you haven’t yet found the right tools. Maybe, to someone with the right tools, it’s in reach.…
-
twenty cat-cows
“Let’s go into cat-cows,” my yoga teacher said last Monday. “We’re going to do twenty.” (Me, silently: That’s way too many cat-cows.) “Don’t go to your full range of motion at first,” she went on. “Start small, and let each one expand a little more.” I felt called out, trying to arch my back as…
-
ghosted
Years ago, I met a client in person after months of working together. Right after, she ghosted me. She was a renowned clothing designer, and I was nervous to visit her studio. Still, she was friendly and welcoming, and I left thinking it had gone well. Then she stopped returning my emails. Weeks turned to…
-
the remedy for writer’s block
“Let the muse find you working.” “Don’t wait for inspiration. Start writing, and it will come.” That’s the common advice we hear about writing, and it’s missing something crucial. What we need isn’t inspiration. But neither do we need stubbornness or a work ethic of steel. What we need is clarity. * We get writer’s…
-
how to write
(a lesson in grammar) Earnestly. Honestly.Tired, cold, thirsty. With a pencil or pen.With or without a plan.With alarm or with tranquility. With abandonWith uncertaintyWith angerWith patience Joyfully. In big letters! Messily, illegibly. Or neatly. On a laptop, in a notebook, on the back of a receipt. On a Post-It, on a napkin, in the snow,…
-
deep sea creatures
“Mia’s teachers want her to skip a grade,” some guy named Tim was saying about his daughter. This was a friend’s house, maybe five years ago. “But we’re gonna keep her in first.” “Why?” I asked. Several people turned and looked at me like I was an idiot. “Um, because it would be really hard…
-
compromise, vicarious
Sometimes I think about what I learned in school. It’s hard to quantify, exactly. Yeah, I learned about cells and rhombuses and World War II. Mostly, I learned how to get good grades. I learned this quickly, so I did well in school, so teachers said I could “be anything.” But the older I got,…
-
a gift, not a given
“I was in a gang growing up.” “I’m a slam poet. I actually have a show on Friday if anyone is free.” “I just moved here from Berlin.” Well, geez. How was I supposed to follow those? I was 21, in a two-week training that kicked off my AmeriCorps year, faced with the hated icebreaker…
Kimberly Bunker, MFA 