This is a lovely memoir piece, in rough draft form, written by one of my students. She wrote it in response to a weekly prompt, which was "Wilderness" - to be interpreted any way your mind wanted. Kathy, the author, didn't know it was going to come out this way - at all! The surprise makes for juicy, invigorating memoir writing.
This line is so powerful: "Two
secret, or rather undiscovered parts of myself - pulled to the surface
by this magnetic force."
The poet and lesbian part both being seen as wild, as undiscovered parts, simultaneously emerging, inter-dependent.Both have what she calls in the last line:
the courage required in any wilderness...a synthesis of all the feelings and forces named above. Courage to step into this other place knowing it’s unlikely I’d be able to completely return.
This is powerful rough draft, and full of many places for her to discover/open up themes/enrich.
Thanks to Kathy for her courage to share in class and now online!
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It
was a very hot summer night sitting on
cushions in Kirby’s living room trying to stay alert while listening to
the mini-life stories of the dozen or so women who surprisingly all
wanted to join our group. The group was a conscious raising group and we
needed new blood, new members, but not twelve of them.
She
was one of the last to talk and suddenly I was awake without effort. I
felt pulled without any idea why. A very intense pull. Her story,
interesting but not exceptional, her looks intense but not beautiful.
