December 20, 2024
Thanks to Alissa Simon, HMU Tutor, for today’s blog.
I recently entered a writing course through the University of Chicago, Graham School. Led by writer Dina Elenbogen, it focused on the intersection between walking and writing, a topic which many of our HMU students find important as well. We discussed craft but also motivation, inspiration, and the importance of journey. For many writers, movement inspires thought and helps to bring ideas together. This seemed like a particularly relevant idea to share on our final blog of 2024. As we move into a break, I hope that you are able to make time for yourself, for your family, for your friends, for your writing, for your mind, for your peace.
With that spirit in mind, Dina Elenbogen has graciously allowed me to share a poem from her collection Shore. As we celebrate holidays and move into a new year, accept her words as a brief pause. This poem allows us to walk the shore with Dina, to contemplate words that we want to leave behind, and those that we want to walk toward.
Words Gathered on a Walk at the Year’s End, by Dina Elenbogen
Each day the wind shifts in a different direction
We don’t know what we’re walking into
Raw fingers tingle inside
last year’s mittens I can’t grasp the pen in my pocket
Along the shore are shells and shards of language
I’m never sure which to gather and what to toss
to the waves afraid they’ll wash up
on next season’s shore There is so much
to ask this stark landscape This time
we thought things would be different
I never wanted to leave my childhood or theirs
but this year there’s little
I want to keep besides
you and you and you
We see the different versions
of each other as years pass but know
the same lake how water brings back
what we thought we let go
Again, thanks to Dina Elenbogen and Glass Lyre Press for permission to reprint this poem, and for guidance in the practice of walking and writing.
Thank you for journeying with HMU. Please enjoy your holiday break and the new year!
Photo credit: Shutterstock/ Goiynk Production
