Welcome to Verse First, where simple notions prompt amazing poems.
Today's notion?
The Function of Freedom
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The Function of Freedom
In "Bird by Bird," Annie Lamott's seminal instructions on writing and life, she quotes Toni Morrison when she says, "The function of freedom is to free someone else."
Lamott goes on to say, "... if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, tell your story. Risk freeing someone else. Not everyone will be glad you did. Members of your family and other critics may wish you had kept your secrets. Oh, well, what are you going to do?"
Lamott goes on to say, "... if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, tell your story. Risk freeing someone else. Not everyone will be glad you did. Members of your family and other critics may wish you had kept your secrets. Oh, well, what are you going to do?"
"Get it all down. Let it pour out of you onto the page. Write an incredibly shitty, self-indulgent, whiny, mewling first draft. Then take out as many of the excesses as you can."
Write it all down, then carve away every excess. That, poet-friends, is your assignment this week.
GO!
I look forward to reading your unflinchingly pared-down poems. ~ Kim
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