Anything Can Be Everything

Poem + Prompt + Events

Archibald

Archibald Moore
is a mushroom today.
His fruiting body
lifts from the grave,

while beneath the dirt,
he stretches a web,
weaves all that is living
with all that is dead.  

The itty bitty white mushroom parked in front of the old tombstone was the inspiration for today’s poem

The Prompt

I was struck by this note, written by artist Roman Muradov, about the work of one of my favorite artists, David Hockney.

Anything and everything can be the main thing. As thoughts around this theme swirled in my brain today, I misremembered that line, turning it instead into anything can be everything—which also rings with truth, at least to me.

If you would like a prompt to play with today, then I invite you take a look at your camera roll or at the art hanging on your walls. Identify something, anything, that isn’t obvious at the first glance—something that the photo or art wasn’t ostensibly intending to be about. It might be something in the background. It could be a shadow, a freckle, lines at the corner of an eye.

Now let this thing be the main thing. Go farther, if you’d like, and let it be everything. Imagine that this detail is the most important detail. Imagine that this detail might contain the whole world. Write your poem from the playful space of that audacious certainty. I’d love to read what you come up with!

On the Horizon

• Wednesday, June 17 @ 7:00-8:30 PM EDT - Join me on Zoom (we will mostly just use audio, though there will be chances to come on camera if you’d like) for a fusion of forest bathing and poetry. I recommend calling in from your backyard or a favorite greenspace, with a notebook, pen, and possibly some bug spray on hand. This event is free for paid subscribers (I’ll share the registration link in next week’s email/post), and there is a gently suggested (please don’t let money be a barrier) donation of $20 for everyone else. DM me or reply to this email for details! Paid subscribers can find the Zoom registration link below.

• Thursday, June 18 @ 3:00 PM EDT - Join me and poet Maya Sarin on Substack Live, where we’ll be talking about how to build a life that nourishes and sustains creativity. Maya and I each approach this topic from our own unique perspectives—but both of our perspectives have been shaped by illness. I’m so looking forward to meeting in that craggy, often uncomfortable common ground to learn from and connect with her!