One of the joys of technology has been the opportunity to write with others. I have participated in weekly writing with the TeachWrite community; in James Crews’ The Monthly Pause; and in workshops with Georgia Heard and Ralph Fletcher. These experiences have been transformational for me personally and as a writer.

This past week, Georgia Heard used a poem to inspire our writing, “You Can’t Have it All” by Barbara Ras which you can read here. I didn’t realize how much I needed this exercise in noticing, in remembering moments of awe, in gratitude. How much I needed to hush my fears and lay down despair. Georgia reminded me that we can look at life through the lens of abundance or the lens of despair. We have the choice. Too often, of late, I have let fear cloud my view.

Barbara Ras’ poem ends with “There is the voice you can still summon at will, like your mother’s, it will always whisper, you can’t have it all, but there is this.”

Here are a few lines that I wrote – my own “there is this” – still very much in draft form. I encourage you to try this practice: You can’t have it all, but you can have…See where it might take you.

Draft:

You can’t have it all
but once,
I witnessed an autumn sunrise in a golden aspen grove
as sheep were led down the steep mountain road
by an Indian on horseback.
And more than once,
I’ve stood in meadows of bluebells surrounded in softness
up to my knees
or even my hips.
As a child,
I ate watermelon cooled in a canyon stream
with the scent of pine so cold and fresh
it seemed like summer and winter joined hands.
For a few moments,
Didn’t I have it all?

Thank you to all who make this writing space
a place of safety, support, and beauty.