Neuf Petites Rêveries à Paris
This month’s offering:
A few musings
A journaling idea
Some poetry
A little French
Writing news
And a puppy dog
1. One of My Happy Places
I returned once again to Collioure, France for the Come to Your Senses Writing Retreat with Karen Karbo.
The sea, the sky, the light.
2. A New Idea
This year her co-teacher was Michele Filgate who shared a journaling technique from Lynda Barry.
I’ve added this to my daily journal practice since then - and since I’m in France - in FRENCH! This simple idea has helped me become more observant.
3. What’s the question?
My apartment is in the eleventh arrondissement in Paris. It’s the place to be. A street quote.
Think Hamlet. Teubé translates to moron. Interesting twist. To me the answer is easy.
4. Poésie here.
5. Poésie there.
6. I bought peonies (povoines in French) at the marché. This reminded me of the poem I wrote years ago:
In a Paris Apartment
Loosed from ribbon,
peonies unfurl,
offer up silky aroma
as we drink in
evening light falling
gold across gold stone
outside our window.
Buying these peonies,
buds still tucked tight,
you astonish me
striding ahead into the shop,
fourteen years old,
ablaze with your first
time in Paris.
I have decided
to stop denying
my love of pink,
you declare as you cut
the stems, your deft
young hands full
of petaled promise.
7. I also returned to Ariège, a region in the south of France for a second round of immersion en français with Baptiste Delvallé of Deep French. I taught a poetry lesson in French! And wrote an acrostic poem.
Les mots murmurent, je suis écrivaine.
Imaginative, je cherche. Quels mots dois-je capturer?
Sur ma feuille, mon stylo coule un ruisseau bleu.
À la fin, ces mots créent ma vie.
Even though the acrostic is lost in translation, here is the English version:
The words murmur, I am a writer.
Imaginative, I search. What words must I capture?
On my paper, my pen flows a blue stream.
In the end, these words create my life.
8. Matisse
I went to the Matisse exhibit at the Grand Palais. Even though I love his colorful paintings, this is the image that struck me the most. How did he express so much with only SEVEN lines?
This is a lesson to remember for my writing. Keep it simple.
P.S. Matisse spent time in Collioure…
9. Just for fun: a new friend at the marché. I grew up with dachshunds (teckel in French) and love seeing them everywhere in Paris. This belle dame and I had a nice conversation while waiting to pay for our vegetables.
Writing News
I wrote a blog post for the Brevity Blog titled: When a Poet Writes a Memoir Then a Novel and Returns to the Memoir. Yes, I am still wrangling with my memoir, even while writing a novel.
READ IT HERE. I’d love for you to read it and drop a comment.
GET IN TOUCH
Try out the new journaling idea. It makes recording your day easy and fun. When you do, drop me a line to let me know what you think.