Say Tomorrow Doesn't Come: A Writing Practice on Uselessness and the Page with Ada Limón
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 40 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
“I wouldn’t be the human I am without writing, and reading, but also just the act of working it out on the page.” - Ada Limón
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then read “The Conditional” by Ada Limón.
Prompt.
Read this quote by Ada Limón from a 2022 Vanity Fair interview:
“I would look at the page and think: I don’t know what you’re doing for me? [Writing]’s not helping me and you don’t want to just read a poem that’s like, ‘I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared. I’m scared.’ But then the funny thing was that ‘The End of Poetry,’ which is the last poem of the new book, came to me because I needed to be touched and to be hugged and to be held. And that poem didn’t start with that last line, it started with the uselessness of poetry for me and its tropes that I couldn’t [use] because I wanted a sharp tool and all I have is soft language, you know? But of course, what does a poet do when all language fails them is they write a poem? [Laughs.] That poem was the engine that sort of started me writing again, and, and then I continued to write throughout. It really was a saving grace. It always is in my life. I wouldn’t be the human I am without writing, and reading, but also just the act of working it out on the page.”
Practice.
Write for 10 minutes about the things that seem useless right now for whatever reason, even if you know intellectually they aren’t useless.
Want More?
Read and listen to “The End of Poetry” by Ada Limón.
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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