Investigation

Last week I wrote about one of the “Community of the Imagination” sessions at Under the Volcano, the three week writing program I attended last month in Tepotzlan, Mexico. At that same session, novelist and memoirist Elizabeth Rosner said that all writers are “investigators.”  Even when walking on a familiar path, we can take the opportunity to discover the new, investigating with our eyes, ears, and all our senses.

A friend of mine and I exchange a photograph and haiku every morning. I have always been jealous of her photographs of the city, thinking there are so many more possibilities there for images and inspiration than on my walks in a rural landscape, past the same trees and greenery. True, there are seasonal changes, but day to day I have struggled to find something to write about. Thanks to Liz, I decided to “investigate” more carefully. Even if the landscape didn’t change, I could see and hear it differently. I could let it speak to me each day and discover the poem it was offering me.

Returning to Florida and a daily walk that rarely varies, I have been able to apply Liz’s words:

Which vision is true?

Sky and trees or trees and sky

Reflected clearly.