Light My Fire

Sometimes You Just Have to Improvise

Fiery Flower in the Hood

Hello Friends,

I don’t know if it’s all the constant rain we’ve had this summer, or the heat, but my brain just isn’t working right. Not too worry! Sometimes a brain meltdown is just what’s needed. Honestly, I have so many ideas and creative projects in the mix, I think the only way I can relax these days is to have a meltdown.

So instead of composing Part 2 of What Is Holistic? I’m instead sharing a live telling of the Russian fairy tale, The Firebird, I spoke into my phone this week while my brain recalibrates.

Telling stories without an audience is much harder than telling stories to an audience. I am really fed by the energy of the listeners, especially as they bring out the improvisational side of me. For instance, if I forget part of a story in a live telling, I’ll improvise something based on what’s happening in the moment until I remember. I find audiences really enjoy when this happens because it shows them how the stories weave themselves into daily life in real time! It also adds levity to stories that can often be quite heavy. When I record a story and forget, I usually start over because there is no audience to riff off, at least not a human one. I started over six times before I had a recording of The Handless Maiden I was happy with.

But I’m getting better with summoning the electricity that comes from a live audience into my voice and body without a live audience, though I do still prefer one. I feel some of the excitement of a live telling in front of rapt listeners came in when I was telling this version of The Firebird. I knew I was enjoying it as I was telling it, which is always a sign it has some life to it.

I am sharing it here with paid subscribers, so if you’d like to hear it, please upgrade to a paid subscription or take one out now by clicking on the button below. Paid subscribers get access to all my posts, as well as over two years worth of archives that go behind a paywall after they’ve been up for free after two weeks. Paid subscribers also get a PDF download of my 96-page poetry handbook, “Weaving a Basket of Words: How to Write a Poem to Carry Water.” I will send it to your email if you upgrade or take out a paid subscription.

Thank you to all my readers for supporting The Corpus Callosum Chronicles! I have a lot in the works right now so hopefully my brain will start functioning again so I can complete these visions. Anyone else feel in the doldrums? It doesn’t mean we can’t create. Sometimes all that’s required is a change in direction to call in the fresh wind. For me, telling this story is doing that, and if you’re also feeling becalmed, I hope it takes you somewhere new that excites you about the possibilities for your life and your part, no matter what that is, in riding the tides of change sweeping our planet these days.

Red Honeycomb Ginger