16 February 2019
“I think to Earth
it looks like the first first rain, the water
of the beginning”- Jeffrey Bean
Make art about what begins with rain, or that begins with rain, or about ‘the first first rain.’
3 February 2018
Make art about visiting family.
4 February 2018
Make art about driving in the rain.
5 February 2018
Sometimes, limitations can inspire and surprise.
Write a poem limited to six lines, or a story of no more than six sentences.
2 September 2017
Make art about money, having money, or not having it.
3 September 2017
Make art poverty of the spirit.
4 September 2017
Make art about the origin of a lie.
5 September 2017
Make art about the sound of animal, a purring cat, a growling dog, the whistle of a songbird, the cry of a hawk.
6 September 2017
Make art about the storm coming.
7 September 2017
Make art about arrogance, an arrogant person, about dealing with arrogance.
8 September 2017
Make art about preparing to leave.
9 September 2017
Make art inspired by or about water words: aquaduct, bog, creek, drizzle, fjord…
More here: 100 Words for Water: http://www.wallacejnichols.org/234/623/100-words-for-water.html
10 September 2017
Make art about rescue, rescuing, being rescued.
11 September 2017
Make art about recovery, about what that recovery means to you.
6 June 2017
Make art about what the moon says.
7 June 2017
Make art about what you see in the water.
20 June 2017
Make art about getting caught in a storm, literal or metaphorical.
8 May 2017
End of the semester, so I’ve been drowning in final grading.
Make art about feeling overwhelmed.
9 May 2017
Had some morning company 🙂
Make art about chickens in the road.
10 May 2017
So much rain here lately. Making the local weathermen happy, with their maps and pointers. 🙂
Make art about a weather map.
11 May 2017
My son’s sweetie got a new kitten, Baloo 🙂 Between him and my GrandPerson, our lives are filled with glorious baby things.
Make art about small beauties.
12 May 2017
Hung my sheets out to dry. Love climbing into them after they’ve come in that same day from the line.
Make art about the smell of the sun.
13 May 2017
Today was my daddy’s birthday. He could find the funny in everything, and he loved my mama more than breath. He wrote us letters to tell us kids all the things he loved about our mama.
Make art about how much you love someone.
14 May 2017
Another Mother’s Day, and I can’t help but think of all the women who mother in ways other than the traditionally expected.
Make art about nontraditional nurturing.
15 May 2017
Reading Whitman before bed last night. For Whitman, not only was poetry a kind of democratic action, but democratic action should itself be understood as a kind of poetry.
Make art about democratic action as poetry.
25 April 2017
Seventh day of rain here. Everything is gray, saturated.
Make art about being drenched.
10/4/2016
I grew up in Hurricane Alley, eastern North Carolina, so the preparation for these big storms is something I learned early. Hurricane Matthew has ripped through Haiti, and is on his way to the US East Coast. All my provisions are laid in, flashlights and emergency equipment in place and ready, and I’ve battened down as much as I can. But sometimes Mama Nature’s just too big and unpredictable for any kind of preparation.
Make art about preparing the best you can.
10/5/2016
Thinking a lot today about all the ways people find their way to, or demonstrate faith. Took me immediately to one of my top three favorite songs, The Mountain, by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer.
Excerpted Lyrics by Dave Carter
Some build temples and some find altars,
some come in tall hats and robes spun fine.
Some in rags, some in gemstone halters,
some push the pegs back in line.
I see the mountain, the mountain comes to me,
I see the mountain and that is all I see.
Make art about temples or altars or shrines, faith in some unexpected way.
10/6/2016
Road Angel Andrea at Walmart today told me about her grandmama teaching her to sew, first by making curtains, long straight hems, she said, over and over again, summer curtains, winter curtains with their heavy lining. She said her grandmama was patient but tough, making her tear out crooked stitches, and try again til she got it right. “I learned to take my time,” she said. “I learned to take my time, look ahead of the foot, and how a pair of curtains can make all the difference in a room.”
Make art about curtains. Or about what you learned from an elder.
13 May 2016
Headed off to teach a weekend Promptathon workshop at The Porches Writing Retreat 🙂
Make art about porches.
14 May 2016
Saturday morning at The Porches Writing Retreat, and we’re working on Voices.
Make art about the voice you hear down in the hall.
15 May 2016
I have a habit of collecting discarded photographs in thrift stores, those precious memories sold in estate sales, so many beautiful faces, so many voices, so many stories.
Make art about other people’s pictures.
16 May 2016
Had some sweet winged company.
A luna moth emerges from its cocoon with not long for this earth. The average lifespan is a week, during which time they have no means to eat (no mouths). Their week (and life) goal is simple: to reproduce. To make love, the strongest of human emotions.
Many observers believe this to be a reminder of the importance of love in our short time on this earth. Live and love to the fullest and enjoy every experience that gets thrown your way.
Make art about Loving fully in the moment.
17 May 2016
Okay, so the garden’s cleaned up and turned over, but it’s pouring cold hard rain outside. So I guess I’m sewing, instead of planting today.
Make art about having your plans thwarted.
Mary Carroll-Hackett: Poetry and Prose 
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