22 Comments
Nov 25, 2023Liked by Jeannine Ouellette

Beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this. I would love to hear more about your work with the inmates. ๐Ÿ’—

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I have heard others ask for that, too. I'm thinking about how to write about it, as it is very transformative and powerful!

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Thank you for this in-depth experience of Mary Oliver who happens to be one of my very favorites. She is inspirational.

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She is so very inspirational. I bet I think of her words at least once a day ...

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This is so great, and I really connect with this just by being lucky enough to meet writers in graduate school--pick them up from the airport, hear them read. That said, maybe you have other substack posts on your teaching in prisons. I just recently did my first course (in a maximum security facility) and it was pretty transformative to me so this topic really has my attention. I'm trying to expand my institution's programming but, wow, lockdowns and short staffing make that hard. More importantly, I'd love to hear if you are part of a program of some kind.

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Yes, I teach with the Minneaota Prison Writing Workshop & Iโ€™ll swing back later today or this evening to say more about it โ€” I love it.

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Thanks so much--Iโ€™m in Wisconsin and have working with Odyssey Beyond Bars so far.

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I have long loved Mary Oliver. What an honor that you heard her read in person. I loved that interview with Krista Tippett. I loved Alyโ€™s reading. Funny to find out that you were Alyโ€™s teacher. I read my posts aloud each week as I want folks to be able to listen to them. I find it soothing, and it also helps with revision. I try to perfect the post, but for now the audio is a one take.

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Yes, isn't it something to listen to yourself, really listen to yourself, reading your own work? I love that you would use the word soothing for it. That's beautiful.

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Thank you for this. It makes me want to read/listen to more Mary Oliver. A great reminder to pay attention

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author

Yes, she also warned us not to look without noticing. It's such a beautiful goal.

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I found this post so calming and wise. Thank you!

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founding

Thank you for posting this wonderful Archive, there is so much in it, in all of the posts I've read. I am new and as I have browsed, I have this feeling of having missed a lot. I have been tempted to find the beginning and start there, but I know it is wiser to jump in here where I first found the water. I spend a lot of time outdoors, walking and gardening, watching. I have also spent a good part of my life being a 'good listener', literally as a skill. I have always liked to write, but it is the poetry of Mary Oliver and WS Merwin, and your posts that bring home the spoken element of writing--tell someone. It isn't 'express yourself'---it is 'tell someone'.

And I loved this sentence, Yes--Very Interesting! I'm looking forward to the adventure.

"There is a reason for the idiom โ€œtalk things out,โ€ because speaking things out loud activates a region of the brain that is more open to possibility and problem solving than we engage through silent thinking. Isnโ€™t that interesting?"

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Leslie, I am so happy for this note, and so happy you are here. The archive is rich, yes, but could also be overwhelming. A gentle beginning would be to start with the Creativity Challenge posts, which are archived in order here: https://writinginthedark.substack.com/t/30-day-creativity-challenge You can do them as slowly as you like, and they're all meant to be repeated an infinite number of times. But you can also just start where you are, as you say, and begin swimming. Welcome, welcome!

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Beautiful post --๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป

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Oh thank you, Elissa. I love your work so much.

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๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป Ditto. Thank you. We saw Mary at one of her last events in NY, at St Luke in the Fields, and not only was she brilliant; she was hilarious. I met Aly at Kristaโ€™s On Being Gathering back in 2018, which was wonderful. I love her reading of this poem--

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Also, to the hilarity: that was the part that surprised me most. I realize the Percy poems were funny, I realized the presence of humor, but Mary herself was so much funnier than I'd every suspected. Wonderful that you got to one of her last events. How special, sacred really.

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Wow! How amazing that you met Aly, too-- six degrees of separation, indeed โค๏ธ

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Thank you for this, Jeannine. As someone new to this space and back to practicing writing after years away, I so appreciate the nod to Mary Oliver and the art of attention. My biggest โ€œdownloadsโ€ as to content for writing come when I am meandering in nature - voice notes and texts to myself. I havenโ€™t given much thought to reading these back - out loud- to myself. I may try that on. My 10 year old daughter prefers to read out loud (something I find myself trying to tame since I know she canโ€™t do so on tests & at school). I am looking at that differently now.

Also, this piece made me think of how I tend to โ€œlive in my headโ€ and struggle with embodiment. If I take a page from Maryโ€™s book (and yours) perhaps I can feel the words more (in addition to) intellectualizing them.

So much richness here! Thank you ๐Ÿซถโœจ

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I love what you have written. Mary Oliver has taught us all so much and to really 'hear' something that resonates and for it to be spoken out loud.....there is such power in that.

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