Back in 2005, we used the prompt "Being in the Moment" with a model poem by Jane Hirshfield. It received 9 interesting comments. Most posts here don't get any comments and those that do (according to my analytics page) get only one comment. Poets are not big commenters. Or the posts don't inspire comments.
Several of the comments posted on that prompt are addressed to "Lauren," though no one by that name appears in the post or the comments. Did a Lauren comment get deleted? In fact, all the comments there as of this writing are from "Anonymous."
What kind of post inspires readers to comment?
I agree with the person who said, "So many good thoughts here! This is what this type of discussion SHOULD be."
I'm reposting just the comments here because it is an interesting conversation about being in the moment, interpreting poems and interpreting prompts.
The comments begin with Anonymous on12/09/2005 7:38 PM
One of your links - the article - talks about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who uses the term "flow" to describe that time when you are so into an experience (she says making love, creating art, playing chess, having a profound conversation with a friend) that time no longer seems to exist.
I also think that her comment that this could be thought of as the rapture of mystics is a path that might be of value & interest to your readers.
You can find out some more about Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at http://www.brainchannels.com/thinker/mihaly.html
Anonymous12/19/2005 1:37 AM
This idea you are presenting is better known to Zen followers as "mindfulness." Some people who encounter this term think it means that if you are mindful, you shouldn't think about the past or the future.
Better to think of it as being mindfully aware of what is going on right here and now, including thinking about the past or future.
Being in the moment does not mean that we are stuck there. Daydreaming can be creative and a good way to let the creative unconscious mind the opportunity to express itself - but it is very useful to have a part of our conscious mind observing.
You mention Billy Collins on this page and his poem "Shoveling Snow with the Buddha" is a lighthearted but accurate look at how we can be in the moment even in the act of work and be free and yet controlled.
Anonymous12/26/2005 8:53 PM
I find this a very tough prompt to write from. First of all, I need to get rid of all the Zen stuff which means nothing to me. And sports metaphors don't work for me either.
So now, it's just being totally involved in something. OK, that happens when I read, watch a film or play...
The poet says: "I ask this, who am myself the ruined siding, the handsome red-capped bird, the missing mate."
So in that play I'm watching - I am one of the characters - no I'm the set - no, the other actor - all the actors, all of the set & props?
I'm being silly but - where is this poem going? Am I the only one who doesn't get this?
Something feels false in that poem. Maybe that's it - the prompt works - the sample poem doesn't.
Anonymous12/28/2005 3:02 PM
I'm no authority on the poetry world or Jane H., but that's the kind of poem that reinforces the idea that poetry is supposed to be confusing and "deep". (not because it's so complex - in fact, it's too simple, to the point of having no meaning at all) It's the kind of poem that makes my husband say, "I don't see what you see in poetry."
Anonymous1/14/2006 10:36 AM
Writing to a prompt is something we do here because we like the challenge and the discipline imposed upon us. Each of us who has done this has found some prompts easy to work with and others have proved to be much harder than we thought. The challenge of this prompt is that we are being asked to think of a time in which we are completely lost in the moment. It seems so easy, but it’s not.
As I read your comments, I noticed that you indicated that you were “totally involved” when you read, watched a film or play. Those are all wonderful activities, but all of those involve a text/words from another writer, and thus the experience isn’t totally your own but one imposed upon you by the writer of the book or play or movie.
What you probably need to look for is a more personal, authentic moment in your own experience. As a poet, you are an observer, a thinker and a person who reflects closely on many things. Think back to someplace or doing something where you were so absorbed that the world seemed to stop for a moment. As in any writing, you have to let yourself go and feel as well as think. This prompt is a very deep (albeit simple) one.
The excellent prompts on Poetsonline frequently push us out of our comfort zone and into places we might not otherwise explore. Both this poem and this prompt are challenging, but isn’t that why we read poetry and write it?
Anonymous1/22/2006 10:05 PM
Your own poetry (and that of many who publish in poetsonline) brim with sharp original observations of the natural world and of people. I don't think a poet can write like this without a special concentration; that is, unless you as the "seer" join the "seen object" in an original way. Maybe this creative act puts the writer temporarily into a reality where boundaries cease to matter so much. The poet forgets to ask "who is listening and who is singing?" Not every attempt at writing a poem succeeds in accomplishing this of course.
Anonymous1/22/2006 10:56 PM
so many good thoughts here! this is what this type of discussion SHOULD be! I agree that when a prompt forces you OUT of your comfort zone, it is then that you are just entering where you need to be in writing. perhaps it is THAT moment when I am most in the moment, when the poem & myself seem to be one. I don't mean anything as simple as autobiographical writing, but it may be close to automatic writing.
Anonymous1/28/2006 4:39 PM
The key to mindfulness is to be a nonjudgmental and dispassionate observer of life rather than maintaining a running commentary of the goodness or badness of life's events. Observe without judging, without editing or censoring it, without intellectualizing it or getting lost in your own incessant thinking. Poet - if you observe life rather than measure and evaluate it, you begin to see things as they are actually happening. What is there is there. This state of perception has to be learned. It takes regular practice.
Well, now it is your turn to comment. You can post one here about comments in general, or go back to the original post and add one about the topics there.
I see you hiding in the back of the classroom, trying to be invisible, and I am calling on you to speak up.
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