Green Flow, Poetry Flows…Go with the Flow (Poetry Blog)

18.09.18. I love when numbers align though! They announce their poetic presence and get on with job of being a day, daring us to notice something different about them.

Ahhh…September 18, today’s date in case you….don’t know. It happens, I’ve been there. The British in me writes this as “18.09.18” but the America I live in says it is “9.18.18”. The amount of times I’ve “almost” been in trouble over dates e.g., 01/09 – January 9^th or September 1^st? The struggle is still real people. I just write out the dates for national peace.

My birthday is June 6, one day that doesn’t care what country I’m in. My kinda day, literally. I was OVER THE MOON in 2006. Yep – 06.06.06. Some people were sprinkling garlic all over themselves, I had the biggest smile on. I also went to the cinema with friends to watch the remake of “the Omen”. I’ve always had a soft spot for Damien.

As I mused about today, a poem I wrote in 2002 popped into my head. What’s so special about it for me is, I never “rhyme” when I write poetry, it just not “me”, or so I thought snobbishly. One fine day, I decided to take a creative writing course, just because, and I signed up at the Mary Ward Centre in Central London, once a week for three months.

The first assignment was “flow writing”. This is an exercise where you write for time (I think it was 4 or 5 mins) without stopping, you just keep writing….ANYTHING that comes into your head, even if it’s the alphabet. We were each given a topic, mine was “green”. At time up, we were encouraged to read out what we had written. I had 3 pages of scribbles.  I didn’t even know what I was on about. Teacher was impressed, class mates smiled, I was pleasantly surprised! I was inspired to turn it into a piece, so I did.

I called it….

Green Flow

Green breeze, Green leaves, Green fingers
Green is where I see me to be, free
Green and free.

Green lakes, Green trees, Green pastures
Green is energy that causes me to be, free
Green and seeing.

Green planets, Green moons, Green suns
Green is travelling, rolling landscapes, free
Green and me.

What is green? Green is envy, green is pain
Green is grass, adorning plains
Green is strong, green is proud
Green does not wear a shroud.

Where is Green? Another life? Another place?
Another time. Another space.
Green skies build sandcastles in the air.
Green seas lead me to into Neptune’s lair.

I be green, whenever. I see green, all over.

Green is a story. Real words, true pictures, no shadows
Writing, reaching, freeing, anything.

Green is music. Real sounds, true harmony, not deceiving
Crying, singing, being, everything.

Green flows round me, courses through me
tells me what to do
Elevating, pulsating, aching, stretching
Wanting me to listen, wanting me to see.

It drowns me, it holds me, it makes me, it moulds me
It needs me, it loves me, it saves me, it is me.

I am music, I am me
I am a story, I am free
I can be, what I want to be

Not a colour, not a face,
Not a number, not a trace.

Colourless, odourless, raceless, faceless
Unforgettable, untouchable, undeniable, unconventional.

I be green, whenever. I see green, all over.

© November 2002 Titi Osu All rights Reserved

Photo from a trip to Hamilton Pool, Austin, Texas (April 2016) seemed to go nicely with it!

“Free-flow writing is a highly effective tool that opens communication between your conscious, cognitive mind and the unconscious, intuitive mind”. (lifematters.jimdo.com). Word. I didn’t know much about this technique then.

Flow basically is a state of effortless attention, when you’re so engrossed in what you’re doing that you lose track of time. You just get into the flow and be. Think back to a time, place, and event, when that happened. That’s when those crazy WOW moments appear!

Many therapists even recommend that patients flow write or “free” write! You don’t worry about spelling, grammar, if your hand-writing is legible or if what you’re writing makes sense. In reality, it’s for your eyes only. The aim is for you to get in touch with your thoughts, ideas and feeling, it’s not about perfect prose. Have you heard of “Yoga flow”? It’s not about the perfect pose! (hehehe). That’s why it’s called yoga “practice”.

We can all apply a bit of “flow” practice to our ever busy bustling hustling structured on-schedule snapchatting Instagrammed Facebook lives. Singing, playing a musical instrument, dancing, cook, don’t cook, call up a friend, buy someone a gift, read, write, run, don’t run, eat cake, start a business, binge watch TV, bike, hike, meditate…..just remember to flow. Ignore the noise around you. And be.

I write when I’m moved to write, today spoke to me. I can lose myself when writing. So I’ll stop now before I over flow!

Go, flow. Go with the flow!

How do you flow?

Toodles

Ttx

P.S. Bonus pics because I love them and I’m flowing like that.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, Vancouver, CA Nov 2016 (and cover image)

Hamilton Pool, Austin, Texas (April 2016)