Lately, I find myself drifting back through time. It seems necessary to my creativity for me to go back before I can go through.
I am searching – I want to use my writing and art to reach out in a different way than I have in the past. How will I do that?
Conversations about art, music, and writing with people in my life now get me reflecting. And remembering … recently, I felt a song trickling through my mind. It was a Peter, Paul and Mary song, but I could only grasp a phrase. A search brought it back to me – Bob Dylan’s Dream. And with it, a flood of memories.
One memory was of my junior and senior years in college when four friends and I would hang out in the evening in Susie’s apartment and play music and sing together. They all played guitar, and we all could sing and knew a wide range of folk songs. Just sitting and singing and playing by candlelight into the wee hours of the morning were such incredible times. I don’t yet know how that memory will play a part in my going forward, just that it will.
I recently went to see a fabulous show of Japanese printmaking from the 1950’s to the present. I looked so, so closely at those stunning prints, noticing just how they were made, recalling the necessary techniques. I studied printmaking for two semesters – woodcutting, etching, and lithography. And these masterful Japanese prints brought that back, too.
I am being readied. I am preparing for some leap forward that I cannot yet see, but these memories are stirring the things I need to know, so long put aside while I did other things with my life. Sometimes it seems like I’m dreaming or wasting time, but I know I’m not.
I’m taking a deep breath and – not always so easy – trusting in the process.
No, no, not wasting time at all, dear one; listening to your life for the songs it’s finally time to sing, the art only you are meant to create, the dance you’re designed to dance. Great joy in the journey. I can’t wait to see what the excavation, mixing, and sifting yield and I know it will be gold!
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Thank you so much, Kitty. You are such an eloquent writer. Trusting the process is such a challenge some days because we are all so self-critical, but working on it. My turn to dance, my turn to shine. Mwah! ❤️
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I wasn’t familiar with this Dylan song, Jeanne, but I see how it fits so perfectly with your story about college days! I look forward to seeing where life takes you in your art.
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Thanks, Becky. I really appreciate your support. What’s going on in my head these days brings a while new meaning to the term “streaming.” So much music, so many thoughts … Glad you like the song; it’s such a lovely one. I also enjoyed the many images of Bob Dylan. 😊
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Oh, you are so not wasting your time. If anyone can trust in the process, it’s you! On another note, your fun times singing with your friends is such a great memory. I never knew of these times during your college years and appreciate your sharing them now.
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It was an amazing time in my life. And that song brought those nights back to me – the laughter, the smiles, the friendship, and the seemingly endless music. I am getting there … whatever the pace is, it’s going. I’m going. 😊
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I feel a re-shaping too…I hope your journey is wonderful.
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Same to you, Andrea. There’s always time and space to grow. Happy Beltane, too!
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