Author Archives: Wizard Woodsy

Driving today in powdery, blowing snow and strong wind, I was mesmerized by the whispers of snow swirling on the mostly-clear road. The snow snaked down the highway, moving in from every direction, twisting, insidious. It didn’t seem to be sticking to the pavement; instead, it curled down a straight road, destination unknown. The roadContinue reading “02.15.21 ~~ See the Wind”

This week’s prompt – to love life​​This week, I’d like you to write into the challenges of opening to life, to the goodness of life, if even a tiny bit. What’s it like to greet life and say, as Ellen Bass does below, “yes, I will love you again”? And if you can’t fathom everContinue reading “02.12.21 ~~ to love life”

Last weekend, another family lost their son. Grandparents lost a grandson. A cousin, a nephew, a friend. Gone. I wanted to say to them, “I know. It’s horrible. It’s unimaginable. It is the worst.” But what I actually said was, “There aren’t words to cover this heartbreak. If you need to talk to another bereavedContinue reading “02.11.21”

No prompt to write from today, only the on-the-verge-of-breaking-down feeling that’s fluttered in my chest for two days. Days that, on the surface, I probably seemed fine. I laughed with my students, cracked wise with my coworkers, visited through a haircut. Made the executive decision to take home supper from Hy-Vee. I functioned. I wasContinue reading “Randomness 02.10.21”

Today’s prompt: If you could tell people something, tell them what is true, what is true about grief and love and loss, something they do not know, or can’t know, what would it be? If you could address them, what would be said? What truths can I tell you about grief and love and loss?Continue reading “Prompt 2, Round 2”

Today’s prompt: Who was the person you used to be? Tonya of Before Tonya of Before was clueless. Blissfully, blindly clueless. She was so clueless, she didn’t know she was clueless. She’d always been empathetic, or so she thought. She always felt others’ pain. Or so she thought. Maybe in some ways she was empathetic.Continue reading “Prompt 1, Round 2”

Today’s prompt: It’s all well and good to draw on the love of others, to continue because they love you. I wonder if you’ve found that same fierce love for yourself. I wonder if that gaze or intention to love can be turned back to you: you, stepping outside of yourself for a moment, to see yourContinue reading “Prompt #30 ~~ 02/04/21”

Today’s prompt: I’d like you to explore that balance, or that reality: That you write not just any story, but this story. That the words you form are not just any words, they are words that come from the deepest wound. They grow out of the reality of death – the loss of a person, a dream, aContinue reading “Prompt #29 ~~ 02/03/21”

When astronomers want to locate a large planet far off in a distant galaxy, they have to look for the invisible space. What they are looking for, they cannot see: it’s too far away, or too hidden. They know it exists, however, because of what they can see. For today’s prompt, I’d like you to explore thisContinue reading “Prompt #28 ~~ 02/02/21”

This entry is an extension of yesterday’s entry; working from previous writings. I was to pull a phrase from the same document I used yesterday, and use it as a jumping off point for today’s writing. And then just like that, it hits me: my son is dead. He took his own life. He shotContinue reading “Prompt #27 ~~ 02/01/21”