#264: On List Poems & Rituals of Return
Hello,
I’m back home after 3 weeks, and it’s been a day of idling and slow rituals. A list of a few small wins since waking:
Perfectly crisp waffles with maple syrup and strawberries
The urge to read ‘List poems’ after lunch
Coming home to glorious spinach, arugula and basil growing in my garden
The golden tinge on the edge of leaves as the sun goes down
Haiku nostalgia, returning in tender and turbulent waves
All pending invoices sent + A story pitch accepted
Once I unpack my suitcase, most of the urgent ‘Rituals of Return’, as I call them, will be complete. One (or three) more look at Notion for the day and I’ll call it a wrap.
In the meantime, here’s some list poems I devoured and list-based links for you to enjoy leisurely. <No music this week. Coming soon-ish.>
List poems I loved
1. Delay with an urgent hesitation.
2. Be unwavering in vacillation.
3. Embrace the art of equivocation.
4. Read a book on procrastination.
5. Dilly-dally; dither; be dilatory.
6. Drink tea through the day continually.
7. Look up ‘avoidance’ in the dictionary.
8. Ignore all forms of worthwhile industry.
9. Break for lunch
10. Ponder the intrinsic nature of work.
11. Re-prioritise which tasks to shirk.
12. Allow three hours to hem and haw.
13. Lollygag; chew my jaw.
14. Stroke the cat; lose my pen.
15. Re-do tasks from one to ten
16. Lurch and flounder; loll and wallow.
17. Write To Do list for tomorrow.
Are We There Yet? by Heidi Roemer
Ocean maps,
Weather maps,
Maps that chart the stars.
Road maps,
Train maps
Show us where we are.
Builder’s maps,
Landscape maps,
Maps drawn in the sand.
Fold-up maps,
Rolled-up maps.
A globe held in my hand.
Tattered maps,
Treasure maps-
What secrets are they holding?
I like maps.
I read maps.
They get me where I’m going.
Lists by Linda Pastan (Excerpt)
I made a list of things I have
to remember and a list
of things I want to forget,
but I see they are the same list.
I made a list of items of need:
love and water on one side,
on the other the small flowers
that bloom without scent,
and it is like the grocery lists
my grandmother used to make:
milk and butter-dairy
on one side, meat on the other
as if they shouldn’t mingle
even on the page.
These Have I Loved by Barbara Farnstein
These have I loved: warm rain dripping over tile roofs,
green frogs bellowing from lily pads;
pink peonies damp with cool dew drops;
wet grass between my toes; crinkly paper;
red ink;
chubby, blond-haired children building sand castles;
mud puddles moving as the wind makes tiny ripples across them;
large footprints on wet sand;
the sweet potato cart on bitter-city streets:
cold nights and warm woolly blanket;
light wind upon my face,
wet paint brushes on rough rice paper;
old men on park benches feeding the flocking pigeons,
silence
And finally…
I’m Making a List By Shel Silverstein:
Links of the Week
Interview: Jennifer Wright for The Brand Identity
“Play is everything”: Jennifer Wright on concocting the wondrous worlds of Broccoli Magazine
I had such a great time interviewing designer Jennifer Wright about her world-building process for Broccoli Magazine with sensitivity and a sense of play + how motherhood is opening up new perspectives in her work + how sustainability and creativity can go hand in hand.
My first interview for The Brand Identity, which has been a super inspiring visual resource for me over the past year. Super excited to share the piece with y’all.
Parting words
“I have only one piece of advice in figuring this out: put yourself out there as much as you can. Put yourself out there even when you’re unsure of your work because that way, you can fail. The more you put yourself out there, the faster you will fail, the faster the weeds will be weeded through. Failing is a crucial part of how I learned what I was good at.”
-Annie Hamilton On Failing (Byline)
Happy failing and putting yourselves out there,
Rohini
very useful!
inspiring, as always. TY