Get Out The Creative Cookbook

 A SPACE FOR CREATING

So... many people who  play a big role in my universe—-“my” univers?  Really?  That’s probably  overstating my cosmic powers a bit.... Okay let’s just  say a lot of the people I strive to stay connected with  have creative  tendencies.  Understanding the richness this brings. To my experiences, it seems reasonable to connect creative experimentation to seeking peace and joy.  Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a shock that my reading list includes  a fair share of works offered by artists, actors, musicians, and writers willing to take a stab at expressing  the processes and practices they have semi-adopated and adapted.  Having gone down the on-ramp this far you may not be mildly befuddled  by the fact that this post connects to one of these recent offerings.  In this case it’s  the book about writing one song by Jeff Tweedy the driving force within  WILCO.  (I’m not as impressed with WILCO as some, however, I once owned ABBA’s disco-oriented  album 

Okay if you create things, especially those things including words...I highly recommend  his short book and for my money his explanation of a songwriting  processes is fruitful.  Therefore  I’m going. To use it  for a few posts to fill up some creative space.  

One facet of the process  outlined in the book is  a word connection exercise.  Tweedy gives an example of how some words get tied to some others and  those connections need to be broken so that the words involved  can become more dynamic.  He essentially asks  if there is a “smattering” of anything other than  applause?  So...I’m sure many of you thought sure there’s a smattering of penguins right?  Ok..moving on he suggests that one might take  an occupation and writing down ten verbs related to what tat person might do and then picking out  ten or so nouns  by looking around in  your  current  space.  

I won’t offer my full lists here, yet I will  say the rest of this effort has to do with the occupations of cook and priest and the objects  were  drawn from my living room and  my office/studio.  

Verbs related to the cook

Frying broiling slicing

Frosting stirring scooping

Tasting boiling

Nouns  linked to my living room

Light switch thermostat snow globe

Remote control foot stool sweat shirt phone charger shot glasses

Cast iron toy car

Now  one can use these words  by connecting them in  various ways to form a poem of sorts and  here’s mine. 

As I activate the light switch with some degree of hesitance 

It shows the snow globe’s boing and we’re all unwitting residence

We stand upon the foot stool on life’s cake we are the frosting

While  our souls  may be emerging we have no idea what  it’s costing

There is sufficient. Evidence we know. Not what to do

With this abandoned phone charger dangling just outside the stew

So we maximize the headphones  to cover up the crying

As we slowly  realize our remote control is frying

The cosmic  thermostat indicates that cold hearts may need scooping

So let’s raise our spiritual shot glasses and get to the regrouping

Verbs. Linked to a priest 

 Preaches kneeling or kneels pray

Blessed or blessing anoint sprinkle

Gather forgive comfort

Nouns in my office/studio

IPad/tablet/keyboard ink pen junk mail

Vinyl  records guitar weed eater  battery

Attic door

Microphone neon  sign plastic flowers

curtains bunny chord stapler

Okay here we go again...

As the cleric  tried to bless  the fool

Who plays guitar in the vestibule 

The microphone  takes the stand 

To testify this all was planned 

By the peddler  selling plastic  flowers

And claims that they  have mystic powers

To forgive those who abuse the pen 

Or the tablet keyboard now and then

Outside  we gather  kneel and pray

Till the sprinkler send a stream our way 

And the neighbor’s pet baboon  breaks loose

And our weed eater runs out of juice

But the jester preached It will all  be fine  

Because it says so on his neon  sign

That rests  beneath the attic door

that’s held by bunny chords galore

But some of us are not so certain 

For we’ve seen the man behind the curtain 

And since we’ve  heard the vinyl  records play

We’ll seek peace and joy come what may

What do these  rhymes mean?  Who knows... but they are seeds and if  you expect shade  you might want to teach. Someone. How to plant trees and thank those who taught you.  so thanks. To all you creative soldiers out there.