Daily Nourishment for The Tenth Day of Christmas: Advice for the Nature Writer
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 90 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
My poem, “The Vostok Ice Core gives a creative writing lesson,” gives advice for the nature writer which can be applied in any setting, not just glacial ones. - Nancy Campbell
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale.
Look at this photo of Lake Vostok in Antarctica.
Prompt.
Read the poem below by Nancy Campbell.
The Vostok Ice Core gives a creative writing lesson (first published in The Rialto)
Be complete. Tell the whole story: every day in every season, summer and winter, from the present until the beginning of time.
Be discrete. Record events in one location only; preserve the unities of space, if not of time.
Be precise. Do not get distracted by your own fears, the imminence of extinction. Never decide your results in advance.
Be concise. Do not use too many words. Do use a language that everyone can understand.
Air is invisible, but it holds just as much information as ice.
By the time they reach your readers, the events you describe will seem infinitesimal. That faint grey line left by a volcanic eruption that grounded all the world’s planes? It’s nothing to them.
Remember that ice is the frozen state of water. Your document may take on other forms.
If you want to find ice, go to the cold places, but keep your own temperature constant.
The work will not be quick. Anticipate seven seasons.
Keep going deeper. The story is already there: extraction is the reader’s art. Reading in the cold, drilling through the dark.
Practice.
Pick something from nature and make a list poem with instructions. Or take notes for what might become a list poem one day.
Make It Christmastide: Pick an event or encounter from this year’s Christmas season and make a list poem with instructions.
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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