Manifesto

Physically speaking, this week has been pretty much of a non event so far, as I have been ill for most of it. However I do have a poem to share with you,  inspired by Jen Lee's  Finding Your Voice e- course, which has been life changing for me in that I am writing again. My weekly blog posts have become second nature to me now but fiction writing and poetry have seemed out of my reach for so very long. Thanks to the riches of Finding Your Voice I have tapped into a part of me that needs to write again. I wrote my first short piece of fiction last weekend, the first time I have done so since the age of seventeen. I am still contemplating whether I am brave enough to share it here, but in the mean time I hope that this poem reaches out to you:

Story Manifesto

Stories are knowledge.

Pick them like glowing flowers,

Arrange them in your favourite vase,

Look at them often.

True words can be difficult to find,

Painful to release.

Do so with deep routed compassion.

Put them out there with faith.

Stories are gifts.

Wrap them delicately with shiny ribbon,

Or passionately with richly printed paper.

Send them intentionally, with a part of yourself.

True words have consequences.

Sit with them a while, offer tea,

And don't be afraid.

They will whisper when they are ready.

Stories are treasures.

Wear them head held high,

In a rainbow necklace.

Next to your soul.

Milena Widdowson