"Writing in Harmony with the Natural World" Offers Creative Opportunity

By Wilma Jozwiak

For the past five years, writ­ing instruc­tor Susan­nah Ris­ley has pro­vid­ed sup­port and encour­age­ment to writ­ers of all lev­els of expe­ri­ence, help­ing them find ways to bring nature into their poet­ry, short sto­ries, and mem­oirs. We are for­tu­nate to have received fund­ing for these class­es through the Poets & Writ­ers organization. 

We are pleased to share the work of one of our class par­tic­i­pants. We hope to con­tin­ue our writ­ing class next year.

My son Mykah Face­times me, walk­ing around the base in Ger­many with his tablet. Here is his bar­racks, here is the DEFAC, here is the com­mis­sary. Look at these, Mom.” He turns the tablet cam­era to a clump of flow­ers grow­ing in a mud­dy medi­an between side­walks, blue-green sword-like leaves, pur­ple petals curled up like cupped hands, oth­ers flow­ing down like a for­mal gown. Iris,” I tell him, though I think he knows.

I find a sin­gle flower grow­ing in the swamp behind our apart­ment build­ing, sur­round­ed by weeds. Regard­less of the com­pe­ti­tion, the iris seems to thrive in the damp soil, its blos­som gen­er­ous and bright. I snap a pho­to and post it on Face­book, tag­ging Mykah.

Lat­er I sit in my mother’s liv­ing room, look­ing out the win­dow at her iris, a yel­low with deep pur­ple vari­ety framed by white peonies, and open my com­put­er. I check my Face­book noti­fi­ca­tions and see my son has liked one of my pho­tos. I click the notice and the iris flower pho­to­graph pops up on my screen.

–Sandy Brew­ster



Summer 2018

Volume 36 , Number 3

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