Unexpected kindnesses can happen anytime, in the most needed ways. A couple of weeks ago, fellow slicer and friend Barb Edler of Iowa reached out to see if I wanted to be part of a small group she was putting together for The Stafford Challenge of daily writers in our second year of writing a poem a day for one full year. Each of us writes in three common writing groups and have met in person to make presentations at NCTE. We keep in touch, and I’ve often thought that my friends in the midwest and west coast and I share deeper connections than friends sitting next to me each day at work – – because we share the bond of kinship through writing. And I’m so thankful for this, because along with Denise Krebs and Glenda Funk, we found we were kindred spirits all seeming to need a lift right about now. Each of us shared a poem via Zoom that we’ve written recently and found a common thread – a numbness, disbelief, sadness about what is happening in our world with its shocking politics, heartbreaking plane crashes, and other woeful wreckage.
There are no words to capture the deep feeling of comfort that comes when you sit with friends, near or far, with a cup of tea and spend time sharing writing. I’m thanking each of you today, because that’s what slicing does, too. It brings us together to share what is foremost on our minds and hearts and keeps us in touch with what is going on in our lives across the globe. I love having my gardening friends, my RV bloggers, my travel buddies, my fellow grandmothers who share amazing ideas, fellow readers and birdwatchers and more. Thank you for being a writer in my life.
I’m sharing my tricube (three stanzas, three lines per stanza, three syllables per line) that I shared last night (below). I’m also making plans for March slicing – – I’ve sectioned out the waking hours of a typical day, and I plan to write a poem for every 31-minute time slot about something happening during that time, just to feel the real-lifeness of each moment, just because there can be deep comfort in things as simple as stirring honey into a cup of hot green tea and accepting that it’s okay not to want to read the tea leaves.
I don’t know
I don’t know
what to say
words fail me
I don’t know
what to do
verbs fail me
I don’t know
what to think
thoughts fail me
Common Threads 
Ooof, your post hit me right where I am. I am feeling those feelings too! The gratefulness for friends (and friends who write) and the uncertainty now.
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Thank you, Erika. Friends help with the anxiety and uncertainty, that is for sure.
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Kim,
I loved our time together last nights got, and I’m glad you shared your poem here so I could see it on the page. I thought about writing about the plane crash and the felon’s response to it. I want to tell him I’d rather have a black pilot than a white one because that way I’d know the pilot isn’t a white supremacist. All those beautiful lives lost, and the king of ugly and his little twat press secretary say such ugly things in response. Anyway, I’m glad to have writing friends who are kindred spirits. I need you all to help me get through these dark days.
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Glenda, that time just writing and connecting was medicine for the heart.
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Kim, it is great to be here this morning and read your tricube. I do like to see a poem too, while I hear it read. Maybe next time we can share our screen and do that.
You have captured the importance of having writing friends here, and as we look forward to March and April with daily writing, I feel the healing that will come. Thank you for your consistent writing practice that motivates!
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Denise, I agree that I like to see a poem as I hear one as well. I like the idea of sharing our screens! I’m glad we can write together!
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Kindred spirits! I wrote today based on one of your prompts in 90 Days. I love the idea of having a group to write with. I signed up for Write Bites with Georgia Heard and Ralph Fletcher just for this reason, but truth be told, I’d rather do it for free! I have never been successful at planning for March. It just has to happen. I’m a pantser not a planner.
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Margaret, I loved your poem on your blog today. A lemur named Jack! Oh, a pantser not a planner – – I’m laughing! I am often a pantser as well……so funny!
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Your writing stamina amazes me.
Your friendships inspire me.
Your poem mirrors my heart.
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Thank you, Anita!
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I love your poem and the message of your post. My various writing communities are nurturing my soul and sustaining me through the empathy famine going on in the US.
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Fabulous way to express it – – empathy famine. That is a great way to put it. I enjoyed your post today.
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WOW! Your poem says SO much in such few words. It is just want I needed to read today. Comforting to know I am not alone in all that I am feeling.
Also, thanks for sharing your March writing plan. Can’t wait to read your daily posts! Both you and Fran McVeigh are nudging me to start making a writing plan. Thank you.
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Thank you, Sally!
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Kim, your thoughts about friends and writersare just what I needed today. The tri-cube is a great format for quick thoughts.
Today’s thoughts and poem are certainly thoughts don’t fail you. Keep on writing. I hope you send a Valentine poem to my padlet for poetic goodness.
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