To get the creative juices going, I’ve taken to ‘morning writing’. The idea is simple: Write a stream of consciousness for a maximum of 10 minutes describing something you can see. At the start of the day, sitting with my morning coffee, it immediately gets the Awen flowing, ready for the day ahead. It reminds me that anything can inspire the flow of Awen. I’d thoroughly recommend it. What you write doesn’t have to be groundbreaking art; it just needs to be a handwritten poetic description that includes the senses.
This morning, I looked out into the garden and saw the Hellebore in full flower. Here’s what I wrote down:
Hellebore, rejoicing in the morning sun, dew-wet flowers calling out into the fresh March air with the promise of nectar to the sleepy, newly awoken, Bumble Bee. And there you are, wings buzzing, flying like a black and yellow striped helicopter through the crisp early spring air. You see the Hellebore, and you are smitten. You fall in love and surrender.
Drawn to the centre of the creamy pale, yellow embrace, you eagerly taste the sweetest of gifts, and she gives gladly – her head bowing, nodding, with the weight of your delicate body. You move deeper, into the flower, giving and receiving, receiving and giving. Then you fly on to your next lover.
The flower, motionless once more, smiles to the blue sky and the sun and sings its colourful praise for the returning light!
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Beautiful words Damh.
I’m not sure I would be able to write as well as you do.
But maybe with practice.
Best wishes
Karen Warrilow
Hi Karen. If you have a go at morning writing the most important thing is to turn the inner critic away at the door. Just write from your heart, your feelings, your observations, and don’t worry at all about what anyone else would think than yourself. Be utterly free. And nobody else needs to see it either. Enjoy!
Hi Damh – yes a useful exercise one much exercised by the writing community. Stream of consciousness writing is excellent and the way I start most creative projects, then refine, edit etc etc according to need and purpose. I note here that the title is Hellebore, and your focus at the start of the piece of writing is describing the Hellebore, but then the focus of attention switches to the Bee on the Hellebore.
Did a crazy poem Saturday night when I went to a Northern Soul night at our village hall – more affectionately known to me as the Beryl Cook experience complete with leopard prints. Beautiful life.
Thanks Lorraine. Truth is the piece had no title. I just put Hellebore because the post needed a title. The important thing was the process of creating it.
Lovely xx
Thank you Colleen!
Beautiful
Morning writing, or Morning Pages as I learned from The Artist’s Way, is a fab way to start the day. And your writing is lovely! Well done!
What a treat to start my day!
So good to see springtime awakening, a little bit each day. A bud here, a flower there, a bug and a bee and a wren darting and dancing through the wisteria all to the backdrop song of the high perched Blackbird.
This is a new day…..
Very inspiring!
Both the regular action that you’re taking every morning, and you’re words…
I hope to start something like this very soon. Thank you.
Hi Dan what a great idea nature is so amazing
Beautiful☘️
Beautiful words. I think all the creative writing words and phrases are just floating about in the ether near sunrise for the early morning writer to reach out and gently pull towards their page /|\
Love this! Beautiful and poetic. It has inspired me to try too.
Please do more.
What a wonderful poem!!! Yes, the “process of creating” and “utterly free” indeed!!! Thank you for sharing your poem. I read it several times and have found joy each and every time!!!!!
Damh, your writing is beautiful. I have found my awen coming thick and thin
However, my poems always rhyme, I feel it’s less thought provoking than your writing, and that of many other bards I’ve listened to or read poems from.
Am I doing something wrong?
I kind of feel like a child because if my words don’t connect in sound every other line, I feel it’s just writing. Please help