Why do you write?
If you're a writer of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, music, journal entries, or anything that involves creative words, you've been confronted with this question before.
My answer is usually to help me process life. Writing is a cathartic exercise of exploration with surmounting hills of courage-building. More specifically pinpointed, it's to understand the "walkaways."
A way for me to let go of all the ones that could not or would not stay. In my lifetime, there have been many. No matter how far they go, even by death, I hold them all inside me like a delicate box of jewels covered in soft crimson velvet. A box that's my heart, mind, and writing - a safe place to keep these memories and emotions and let go of them when I feel the time is right.
When feeling brave, I sometimes reach inside, take one of those precious gems out, and examine it. These gems have names only I know. I try to get inside their heads and hearts, discover their reasons for leaving, and acknowledge that their departure was not about me. I didn't chase them off … by caring.
 Not my father, my mother, my lovers, my friends…Their time with me expired. They taught me what I needed to know or learned from me; whatever it was, I could teach them, and it was time for a chapter to close. Another to prance in from stage right to begin, meet, and learn again. A remnant of recycled "hellos."
As you can see, I don't like goodbyes. I want everyone I've ever known to stay, but if they did, my box would overflow, and there would be no room for me. So I strenuously detach the chains, which I've carefully bonded to me, place the hidden souls on paper, appreciate our time, and move forward with memories in my heart and mind with proof of the existence of love in a poem. When I write, I let them go. The ones I'm ready to release.
There are a few I keep safely stored inside and pretend they have wings to vacate if they genuinely want to because I'd never want to own or control anyone. They are the ones I'll write about forever—because severing them, cutting them out of my life, is a pain I could not bear. This revolutionary release fills the box with MY essence, and I can clearly see what and who I am. What makes Monique feel joy and appreciation for living.
When I write, I can hear my voice, which echoes with freedom and liberation. It's a sound that resonates deep within me, reminding me of the power of my own expression.
So that's it in a deeper than one-requested nutshell. ;)
Why do you write?
Monique
Comments