Saturday, March 2, 2019

SOL2: Small World


            A week ago I was at a writing community I’m part of, Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon. Every month, the organizer, JP Howard, brings a published writer to the salon for a workshop, then to read her (usually, though sometimes the feature has been a man) work and to answer questions, about writing, about being published, etc.
           A week ago, the featured writer was DaMaris Hill. Her workshop was about revision, how to take a poem, or any piece of writing, that is or has become lifeless and wake it up. Partly, she suggested doing this through using methods from hip-hop, like remixing and sampling. (I won’t go into any detail, since this is her work, and I don’t want to be appropriating it.) The book she read from is her most recent, A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing, in which she writes persona poems for African-American women, from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland, some of whom have been incarcerated. As Publishers Weekly wrote, “Hill's poems illustrate how oppression can summon inner strength, resistance, and revolution.”
            A few days later, on Facebook, I saw a post by a friend from my college days about his being in a conference and meeting a couple of his former students—one of whom turned out to be DaMaris Hill.
            Two people, from vastly different times in my life, who know each other, and know me. I love these small world stories.
            What was your last small world story?
-------------------------------------
I’m participating in the 12th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 1 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!


5 comments:

  1. I love this slice and hope that maybe, just maybe a small world story will drop in my lap and offer inspiration for one of my slices. I am really intrigued by the "sampling" approach to revision. Thank you so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks! I'll bet you get one this month. They are more common than you think.

      Delete
  2. I love this slice and hope that maybe, just maybe a small world story will drop in my lap and offer inspiration for one of my slices. I am really intrigued by the "sampling" approach to revision. Thank you so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's an excellent small-world story! I love when that happens! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i love it too. It sometimes feels like there are only 1,000 people in the whole world, and I know every one of them, if we can just figure it out.

      Delete