Today, November 1, is Mindful Writing Day. It’s an encouragement from Fiona and Kasper of Writing Our Way Home for community everywhere to participate by writing a “small stone.”
I love the idea of “small stones” – little capturings of something in your environment. It’s a mindful practice to simply pay attention and observe something closely and write it down. They’re small sharings and so they often have the feel of prose poetry which is also a love of mine. And while I’ve certainly been meaning to play with the form ever since I heard about it, I just never got around to it. But today’s invitation is too good to pass up. And so here’s my stone:
origami poppies
red paper
holding space
reminders of summer past.
I’m delighted with how the photo I took turned out – totally out of focus. Perhaps it’s a reminder that although we can glance backward in time, toward those summer poppies, we can’t really be in that energy stream any more. We’ve moved on.
Or perhaps it’s more symbolic of the energy of poppies themselves. They’ve long been associated with Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. All those hynogogic, hallucinatory, opium references bring a certain flavor to our nightly visitations to our own personal dream theaters. And isn’t this the perfect time, with the veils thin between our worlds, to ask for dreams of our ancestors?
Poppies were also sacred to Demeter. It’s said she drank an infusion of them to help her sleep through the sorrow of Persephone’s absence. It’s nearing that time of year when Persephone returns to her life in her underground realm, so perhaps it’s no accident my mind was captured by poppies for today’s small stone.
Are you feeling yourself turning inward? Do poppies have a special meaning to you? Does the practice of writing “small stones” call to you, or do you have a mindful writing practice you enjoy. Do share – I’d love to know.