At our wonderful Soul Sisters retreat the other weekend, we wrote, we danced, and yes, we made art. I remember when the art exercise started, I kind of froze up. I am not a visual artist. I felt awkward. I did not know where to begin. I did not know what image to create, colors to use, etc. You can see from the butterfly below this is not my medium, but I was game and figured I’d learn something anyway.

I did. I realize that the awkwardness I feel when working with a creative palette that is not familiar is what some people might feel when they sit down to write. Because I am a writer, there is an ease that I might take for granted, but after this exercise, I no longer will.

I will be doing pop-ups this summer, both in my Berkeley home and on zoom, working with thematic poetry prompts about love, sex, family and whatever else seems to inspire me at the moment. More to come on that. You do not need to call yourself a writer to come and play! Keep creating, keep playing, it is your birthright!