Mapping

Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones Deck Prompts — Map your bedroom in words.

My bedroom

is a suite

it comes complete

in a nice room

~

Double doors open

into the space with art

visible as you enter in

Thus far, it’s looking smart

~

To the right is art, then a door

to a walk-in closet I adore

with carpeting on the floor

hubby has a tv on the dresser

on the part without a mirror

~

To the far right is a French door

to a bathroom, complete with two sinks

a Jacuzzi tub and a shower, a score

wallpaper with dainty flowers everywhere

A place to spend time before going anywhere

~

There are a couple of bookshelves that hold

both favorite books and photo albums and bold

art above and on the piece. Next, I will mutter

my bedroom can get full of clutter

There is lots of space, and it’s time to declutter

Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones Deck Prompts — Think about the word map, and how it shapes your description in a different way than if I said “describe” your bedroom. My mind wants to lay it out like a Monopoly board.

Let’s further use the word map your neighborhood, map your emotional landscape, map the topography of your family. Who is the family star? Who is relegated to a distant state?

How about this — instead of give me a memory, tell the history of your memory. A whole new slant, juggling the way of seeing something.

“What is a country but a life sentence?” writes Ocean Vuong in his novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Do you see? A fresh angle.

I live in swamp country and farm country

where there isn’t a farm, there is a swamp

There are mosquitoes, flies, and bees in the tree

The neighbors aren’t close, with lots of places to clomp

around. I love my neighborhood; it is so much better

than the city we lived in. And hubby is a go-getter.

~~

My family star was my sister, the artist

She may not have been the smartest

but she had talent like no other

She could paint, sculpt, and brother

could she teach about her work with clay

She brought back woodland pottery

to our reservations. She was A-okay

with her friends and our family.

She was in New Mexico and Arizona

I lived for a couple of years in Montana

Two brothers were in the Navy

Then it gets hazy

One brother lives in Texas

He’s not doing badly, he drives a Lexus

My memory is not as good as it once was

I had a respiratory code, and that was because

I had cancer that was placing pressure on my lungs

Some may think it’s dementia, but it's the wagging tongues

saying that. The doctors say, “No, you don’t have that.”

“It is clear when you describe the problem in our chat!”

Okay, well, I’m old, in menopause, and had chemotherapy

My hormones were all out of whack. I’ve had different therapy

and I’m doing okay today. My chiropractor said I have CRS

and that means that I can’t remember shit! How is that for a diagnosis

~~~~

Published first by Mercury Press in medium.com