Writing the morning, after Mary Oliver

Poetry (pen) Pals #55

Sometimes my favourite type of poetry writing is when the writing doesn’t start out as poetry at all.

This is, ‘Writing the Morning,’ after Mary Oliver. In this post I’ve shared my version, her far superior original version and a gentle suggestion that you give this writing prompt a whirl.

I’d take a guess that Mary Oliver was a morning person too. In fact after writing this I began to try and count the number of her poems that are related to mornings - I lost interest after a while and found myself reading more of her poetry instead, so let’s just say, there are a lot.

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Writing the Morning

After Mary Oliver

1.“What time is it?” is too often the first thing I say, as if the answer holds the truth of an entire day.

2. When I turn the shower from hot to cold it takes a while to work. I prepare myself before my skin rushes to life. I watch the redness spread across my torso imagining my cells heading to the surface for their own deep breath, their own glimpse of what living today might look like.

3. “Good morning. I love you. I am listening” is the second chance I create for myself with a notebook. I sit first with my eyes closed (again), scanning this beautiful body which I have been given to borrow for another day.

4. Every single sunrise is a tiny bit different. Isn’t that remarkable!

5. I am seeing my sister today. My sister! When we sit together our hands rest on our laps in exactly the same way. It will be like talking to myself, only better. She is ten years older than me and always has lip balm. I think I will take her some cake.

6. I see the days of the week as colours. I have done my whole life. Monday is red. It is a mint green Friday today. The colour green delights me.

7. I will sit at our kitchen table shortly and drink coffee. I will hold it in both my hands. The smell is as important as the taste. Please bless this coffee which I will continue to smell for as long as possible. I can imagine it even now.

8. I am late a lot. The kids play their part – with their exceptional disregard for time. I apologise too much, “can I just”. I am always en route somewhere. I think this is one reason I love to write poetry. It refuses to hang around if you don’t attempt to write it down. And by write, I mean see.

9. Today, all six people who live in this house will go out and spot their own version of remarkable in the world. Isn’t that a thing! If I’m lucky one of them will come back and tell me about it.

10. But see here, I have no idea what time it is and yet there is still so much in the day.

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A Poetry Writing Prompt

• Write your own version of ‘Good Morning’ by Mary Oliver using a list format.

Here is ‘Good Morning’ by Mary Oliver, taken from the collection, ‘Blue Horses’. What a gem of a poem (and a gem of a collection, I have returned to it so many times).

For a change, Mary Oliver is teaching us to stop and contemplate the day. Showing us how to sit in a moment and consider the good we can draw out of the hours ahead. And of course she is using nature as a comfort and a guide. I also like how she suddenly throws in a piece of advice at number three, like it has just come into her head after writing number two. Why not?! And how about number seven. A reminder of the importance of rest and quietness? A lesson in love? An attempt to stop the poem from becoming saccharine?

Writing exercises like this really appeal to me. Especially when the poetry might not be flowing that freely or I haven’t got much bandwidth.

It’s sort of creative writing come journaling come poetry come, “who cares, you’re writing and that’s all that matters”.

You could do this same prompt on numerous days and get something entirely different every single time. In fact that might be fun. You could then pick your favourite nuggets from each piece and pull them back together at the end.

You don’t have to be held by the themes she uses, but if that feels safer then by all means try it. I did. When a form isn’t complicated I think it allows us to write more freely, particularly at the beginning.

Most importantly of all, enjoy writing the morning,

Nelly x