my one word prompt {4.23}

Hello, April!

I welcome the turn of the calendar page — and the ‘refresh’ of a new prompt. (Which always has a ‘new-box-of-crayons’ feel to me.)

April’s, especially.

Heavy on ritual and anticipation, I do an annual ‘check-in’ on or around my late-April birthday each year. (Since, gosh, since Audrey was born. In 2004.) There’s something…beginning’ish…about the process, which makes sense as I start my next trip ’round the sun.

When I began monthly One Word prompts, it made sense to adapt that check-in to April.

And while that tradition remains a part of the month, I added a [more] creative element last year, which I lovedlovedloved. (That ‘lookbook’ project for Engage ’22 is an all-time favorite; I keep it front and cente — and open it! Often!).

It was a gift to myself, that prompt. Not something I’d dedicate time to every month. But it surfaced in my One Word Wrap-Up 2019. (You know that time of year when some of us look back on our practice and ask what worked, what did we love, what do we want more of, what can we scrap? ‘More making’ and ‘creating visual, tactile prompts’ came out of that.)

I’m not going to repeat the lookbook this year. Not so soon.

But I do want to take a creative angle again. And. I want it to be just outside my box.

So.

Poetry it is.

And with a One Word like ASK? The possibilities with poetry are endless.

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For me and my word, I don’t plan much in advance.

These prompts, for example. I try not to even think about them ’til a week or so out. It keeps it in ‘real time.’ Lets life and my word align…and that organic approach is more effective for me than a pre-set ‘schedule.’ (Handy as that may be.)

That said…I’ve had a sense about this prompt for months! Ever since my friend (+ blogger) Moriah stirred something up with a David Whyte excerpt in her holiday card.

I’ve got some poets and poems on deck. And ideas of what I’ll be doing. But I don’t want to hold myself to anything too particular. No musts. Nothing’s required. I’m gifting this prompt to myself, after all! I’ll gently pull the ribbon and slowly slit the Scotch-taped seams, like my grandpa with his pocketknife. (Is that the privileged child’s torture? The prolonged unwrapping of a shiny package?)

Anyway.

Let’s open it up. See what April holds.

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I’m ducking out for the next week and a half. I wish you a sunny start to the month — in every way possible. And I’ll see you when I’m back!