It's Wednesday, my Farm Pond Writer's group day, and I'm up early to finish prepping for the workshop I'll lead. It's our first time back after our holiday and I have a special art and writing project planned. I want a spiritually grounding poem to inspire a creative writing journey for the writers in this brand new year. Off my shelf, I take down an anthology, Cries of the Spirit, trusting I will find just the poetic prompt. And, here it is, this poem by Denise Levertov, Variation on a Theme by Rilke. We will read it out loud, in our circle together, to hear what our whole selves "are singing and saying. . ." about what we can do in our new year of writing together.

But first, it's light now, and time for me to go out on my skis into the frosty morning. And here at the river's edge, the dried flowers and leafless trees are a glittering presence in the early morning sun of this new day.

"A certain day became a presence to me"  ~ Denise Levertov, fromVariation on a Theme by Rilke

All photos and text copyright Kelly DuMar 2018