Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT October 14th 2024

16 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we took a close look at the piece titled “Disability” by Allessandro Gatto, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about a space.”

More details will be posted on this session, so check back again!

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

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Please join us for our next session Friday October 25th at 12pm EDT, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

“Disability” by Allessandro Gatto

Credit: Allessandro Gatto

16 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 6PM EDT October 14th 2024”

  1. al3793's avatar al3793

    Write about a space

    Do I dare step out of this space

    precariously perched on crutches

    too slight to bear my weight

    listing to the left where

    my leg should be – seen only

    because a mirror suggests that

    my leg is there.

    That space reminds me that I am not whole.

    The space says, “don’t count on that”.

    There is no leg to bear me on

    I will, must proceed somehow.

    I must reckon my way out of this space

    reckon a firm, solid, trusted space

    in which to take my next step.

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Both your piece and mine end with a feeling that life must continue despite the hardships. The body may be weak, but the spirit still flickers within and courage is found.

      Like

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    • Elizabeth's avatar Elizabeth

      Andre, I find it very interesting that in life when we know there’s a problem, all of a sudden, we feel the problem. If the narrator wasn’t forced to look at the problem as a problem, he/she might not see it as such and then be able to move out of the space more easily.

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  2. Jennifer Lee's avatar Jennifer Lee

    Depollute me and the tiredness will flow through you like the river never existed. 

    Hobble over the floorboards, reach for my hand until world gives way to water.

    Let clarity take you at your purest (till the rot has an easier path to your lungs)

    Hold the mirror to my legs, interlock your fingers with my ribs and wash up against the cage until you realise 

    I am not your life boat.

    Oceans have drained and skies have rusted over and I am not who I was before.

    Perhaps it is for the best that time has painted over the difference. 

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    • michele348's avatar michele348

      Jennifer, your writing continues to amaze me. Your piece conveys to me a sense of yearning to secure help from someone who is unable to give it. So that person must find the strength within to “stay afloat” and maybe that is best for it shows him he is more powerful than he thought. Isn’t that a lesson we all need to learn.

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      • Jennifer Lee's avatar Jennifer Lee

        Thank you so much Michele! I love the imagery and meaning behind your work (I may or may not be a reader of your Medium articles). I hope you have a lovely week.

        Liked by 1 person

    • al3793's avatar al3793

      Dear Jennifer,

      I hear such visceralness in your speaker’s voice -“depollute me”, “till the rot has an easier path to your lungs”, “interlock your fingers with my ribs”. I also am moved by the irony described – clarity and purity vs rot. The beauty of the language is stunning, “Hold the mirror to my legs, interlock your fingers with my ribs and wash up against the cage until you realise I am not your life boat.”

      Beautiful. Thank you. Andre

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      • Jennifer Lee's avatar Jennifer Lee

        Thank you Dr. Andre! I am grateful that you took the time to read what I wrote. The sessions are truly such a beautiful shared space and I am always awed by the amount of expertise and knowledge present.

        Like

  3. michele348's avatar michele348

    About a space~~~

    My interior used to feel crowdedwith warm, fuzzy thoughtsfloating around in it…my heart and mind, that is.

    Now, my innards seem cold and empty,doused with ice water.The present is all I haveto keep me upright.

    The courageous rose bushoutside the window,struggling to survive the chillof the night air.

    The gray squirrels chasing each otherin a wild game of tag.

    The chirping of the eastern bluebirdperched up highin the sturdy branchesof the sugar maple.

    I am trying to fill the space with joy and happiness,in a world that seems contrary to it.

    But I will persevere.

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  4. michele348's avatar michele348

    About a space~~~

    My interior used to feel crowded
    with warm, fuzzy thoughts
    floating around in it…
    my heart and mind, that is.

    Now, my innards seem cold and empty,
    doused with ice water.
    The present is all I have
    to keep me upright.

    The courageous rose bush
    outside the window,
    struggling to survive the chill
    of the night air.

    The gray squirrels chasing each other
    in a wild game of tag.

    The chirping of the eastern bluebird
    perched up high
    in the sturdy branches
    of the sugar maple.

    I am trying to fill the space with joy and happiness,
    in a world that seems contrary to it.

    But I will persevere.

    Like

    Reply
    • Elizabeth's avatar Elizabeth

      Michele, again ( like in your other pieces)the narrator is looking to nature for solace and as a guide. While I hear perseverance, I also hear the difficulty and the work involved to do so. Not an easy task.

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  5. Elizabeth's avatar Elizabeth

    How can that little space in my head

    have room for the army of emotions

    that marches back-and-forth,

    doing its drills

    on a daily basis?

    Like

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