This writing was inspired by a passage from Carolyn Jennings wonderful poem about writing, "Invocation."  Take this line and begin writing and see where it goes.  Email me your results or post in comments.  Anne    info@WriteYourLifeStory.org

Let them Nibble at the Tips of My Fingers -Jean Caggiano  September 14, 2008


Let them nibble at the tips of my fingers, all of those unspoken, fearful thoughts, desires, and secrets that fill my heart and I yearn to share but stop myself, often abruptly, as I clench, glancing furtively over my shoulder, not yet sure that it is safe to do so. Let them nibble at the tips of my fingers as I sit composed, resplendent on my muted green-gold couch with the Mexican red and green throw pillows atop my heating pad, drinking in its warmth as rays of sunlight glance across the room. I sign, contented, sip the delicious coffee Tony has brewed, each day a mix of different roasted beans-vanilla and Carmel this morning- as I sink into myself. Usually thoughts come first of the past, warm and happy, and I smile as I remember John as a toddler, throwing stones beside me into the creek behind our house, laughing gleefully. Then I think of my father, gone almost two years now but still beside me as I remember the sheer delight of speeding down the ski slope after him, able even at an early age to almost keep up with him. I drift as I read a little, do a little of my Jin Shin, acupressure work on myself and then often I dissolve into tears as sad thoughts engulf me, usually as my hour of repose comes to an end, as it often takes me that long to sink into stillness, to trust that" yes, I won't disintegrate, there there will be something to access, something to connect with when the daily frenzy and security of constant motion is put to rest. " It's safe now, at last, to feel my feelings, to let them surface, uncensored, and even to write them if I so choose, so I let them nibble at the tips of my fingers.