Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST December 20th 2024

9 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read an excerpt from the novel “The Tidewater Tales” by John Barth, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about the story you would like someone in your life to tell.”

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 January 10th at 12pm EST, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

An excerpt from the novel The Tidewater Tales by John Barth.

KATHERINE SHERRITT SAGAMORE, 39 YEARS OLD,
AND 8 ½ MONTHS PREGNANT, 
BECALMED IN OUR ENGINELESS SMALL SAILBOAT, 
AT THE END OF A STICKY JUNE CHESAPEAKE AFTERNOON
AMID EVERY SIGN OF THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING
FROM ACROSS THE BAY, 
AND SPEAKING AS SHE SOMETIMES DOES IN VERSE, 
SETS HER HUSBAND A TASK.

Tell me a story of women and men, 
Like us: like us in love for ten
Years, lovers for seven, spouses
Two, or two point five. Their Houses
Increase is the tale I’d wish you tell.

Why did that perfectly happy pair
Like us, decide this late to bear
A child? Why toil so to conceive
One (or more), when they both believe
The world’s aboard a handbasket bound for hell?
Well?

Credit: John Barth

9 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST December 20th 2024”

  1. michele348's avatar michele348

    About the story you would like someone in your life to tell~~~

    More than 75 years ago, a middle child, a girl, was born.
    She was always asking questions and wondering why. Happy living in the
    countryside with nature, she usually found something to be amused by, whether it was spotting a pair of squirrels playing tag or exploring the fields behind the family’s barn where an occasional possum would pop his head above the tall grass. Her life resembled that of “Dora, the Explorer” but on a lot less grand scale.

    As she grew and matured, she still retained her inquisitive nature, but it also
    became evident to those around her that she had a “soft” heart. She always fought for the underdog, those wronged or treated poorly.

    And so, life for her became an enduring effort of trying to right
    life’s wrongs. Sometimes, she succeeded, and sometimes she failed.
    But what mattered most was that she tried.

    Like

    Reply
  2. rehavia6's avatar rehavia6

    Devoted, wife, daughter, sister.

    Fiercely proud mother.

    Loyal friend.

    Owner of big feelings.

    Passionate advocate for her patients.

    Hard worker.

    Avid reader

    Writer of poems and stories.

    Honest to a fault. 

    Like

    Reply
  4. antoinette56's avatar antoinette56

    Tell me a story to submerge me in fantasy,

    To carry me away,

    To bring new people close to my heart.

    For me to see myself in others, to see my struggles mirrored, sometimes won, sometimes lost.

    To find new answers, and new questions.

    To learn new words – outro, becalmed, la difference – words with accents, umlauts, or other wonderful grace notes, like spices I’ve never met.

    But also, sometimes, to recognize myself.

    To find the deeply familiar, to reread, to lay myself down in the quilts of words and sounds and lilting songs.

    Like

    Reply
    • michele348's avatar michele348

      To float about on a cushion of comforting thoughts… now that’s what most of us need these days! Recognizing ourselves is sometimes a challenge, as we confront life’s confrontations daily, requiring different attributes.

      Like

      Reply
    • rehavia6's avatar rehavia6

      “For me to see myself in others, to see my struggles mirrored, sometimes won, sometimes lost.” Also ” But also, sometimes, to recognize myself.”
      Antoinette these are such important lines to remember when we are caring for patients and others who need us and who may also not be the most pleasant to deal with.

      Lisa

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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