To help with my writing funk, I’ve been reading a lot more than usual. And that advice is always given to writers: read more. Read different genres or subjects than what you are writing about. This helps to expand your mental awareness and give a larger pool of ideas and images to the mind and imagination.
I finished the first book about Zen Master Ryokan “Sky Above, Great Wind”. This has provided two straight weeks of new writing each evening. The most productive I have been in some time. I feel there is much more I can learn from him and have started another book titled: “Great Fool: Poems, Letters, and Other Writings”.
While reading about his life, his writing, source of inspiration, and how he chose to live, I feel a connection of sorts, and a desire to continue on a path of simplicity and immersion in nature. What else can we do but embrace what is around us, and care for each tree, each blade of grass, and each dew-drop.
The moon rises near Orion and the recent snow glistens as I listen to nothing but the footsteps of a rabbit and the quiet breath of Leroy as she watches over the land near a fallen leaf, a gentle reminder of change and the resilience of what we live and breathe within.
