On Saturday at the Wellness Community writing workshop we did a lot of five minute exercises using poems as prompts, including “Riveted” by Robyn Sarah. Try it yourself: 5 minutes – What show did you hope your tickets were for?
Riveted
by Robyn Sarah
It is possible that things will not get better
than they are now, or have been known to be.
It is possible that we are past the middle now.
It is possible that we have crossed the great water
without knowing it, and stand now on the other side.
Yes: I think that we have crossed it. Now
we are being given tickets, and they are not
tickets to the show we had been thinking of,
but to a different show, clearly inferior.
Check again: it is our own name on the envelope.
The tickets are to that other show.
It is possible that we will walk out of the darkened hall
without waiting for the last act: people do.
Some people do. But it is probable
that we will stay seated in our narrow seats
all through the tedious dénouement
to the unsurprising end — riveted, as it were;
spellbound by our own imperfect lives
because they are lives,
and because they are ours.
"Riveted" by Robyn Sarah from A Day's Grace: Poems 1997-2002. © The Porcupine's Quill, 2003.
FYI: TWC is an amazing place (sanctuary really) for people whose lives have been touched by cancer. There’s counseling, exercise groups, lectures on nutrition etc, – and it’s all free. if you’re interested go to: www.thewellnesscommunity.org I started the workshop in Redondo Beach (South Bay Cities) eleven years ago and it’s been one of the happiest projects I’ve ever done. For one thing a book came out of it (Writing Out the Storm, St. Martins Press 2002) and the other is that I keep meeting the most amazing people who inspire me and continually teach me to realize what’s important in this world. People come who are in different stages of cancer – just diagnosed, or going through chemo or recovered. And also people who are children or spouses or friends or siblings of people with cancer. Come join us at the next one if you live in Los Angeles – Saturday February 21st , nine to noon.
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