Flannery O'Connor

"Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days."

— Flannery O'Connor

American Novelist

1925 - 1964

Do you remember your childhood?  Some people block out memories of their childhood?  Others have a difficult time forgetting even the most painful memories.  As artists and writers we can mine our past experiences for inspiration for our art.  What events out of your childhood can you use in your stories or your art?  Remember art should transform the actual events into more than just the mere facts like spinning straw into gold.




Here are links to three story poems where I transformed childhood stories and events into more than family history — where I discovered a truth greater than facts.




Mary Lou

http://web.mac.com/hgking/HarleyKing/Mary_Lou.html



Sister

http://web.mac.com/hgking/HarleyKing/Sister.html




Brother Al

http://web.mac.com/hgking/HarleyKing/Brother_Al.html

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

American Writer & Poet

1803 - 1882

Sometimes we let our worries, doubts and fears control us.  There is nothing we can do to change yesterday and the things that happened.  Yes, we may alter the consequences by apologizing, but the action is still there.  Worry is creative imagination.  We create all kinds of scenes and stories in our minds that are not based in reality.  

My mother was a worry wart.  She was always dwelling on something that happened or was caught up in what she thought was going to happen.  And she seemed to get worse with age.  She and my father had a big fight on the morning he died of a heart attack.  He had been sick and she did not want him to go to work.  Being the stubborn person he was, he went anyway and died on the job.  My mother never forgave herself.  During the nine years after my dad died, she worried about what happened and punished herself.

So, of course, some of this worrying behavior rubbed off on me and there have  been  days when I struggled to overcome it.  But the older I have grown, the less I worry.  I have learned to accept what happens and to forgive myself.  But every now and then, worry will raise it's silly head and bite me.  

Are you a worrier?  Does your imagination run wild?  Have you learned to forgive yourself when you make a mistake?  Take heed of Emerson's valuable advice:  Begin each day anew!

Christina Baldwin

"Story is the mother of us all.  First we wrap our lives in language and then we act on who we say we are.  We proceed from the word into the world and make a world based on our stories."

— Christina Baldwin

American Writer

The world we live in is the world we have created by the stories we tell ourselves individually and collectively.  Both personal, family and community history is made up of remembered stories that we have told ourselves over the years.  We make decisions about our lives based on the stories we believe to be true.  As creative leaders in our society, what stories are you telling in your writing and painting?  The stories that you and I choose to tell help shape the future of our world.