Exquisite Collaboration Poem: OUR NEW STORY

In the garden at Allegheny College’s Environmental Studies

OUR NEW STORY
written by the conferees at St Davids Christian Writing Conference during a general session, June 2023

I used to be spry and now I am stiff
I used to be young but now I am older
I used to be young but now I am old

I used to be ugly but now I am passable
I used to be thin but now I am thick
I used to be healthy but now I am sick
I used to be a Masters in Social Work student but now I am a writer, because I got sick
I used to be a writer but now I am a waiter

I used to be an irate driver, road raged but now I am serene, calm and cool, despite what is going on around me
I used to be broken, disheveled but now I am peaceful
I used to be an orphan, now I’m a favorite daughter

I used to be afraid, but now I’m tentative
I used to be afraid, now I am unsure
I used to be eager to please but now I am obstructive

I used to be bound but now I am coming undone

I used to be overwhelmed but now I am not as bad
I used to be an English teacher, now I’m an anything teacher
I used to be a professor, but now I am retired

I used to be scared but now I am excited

I used to be shy but now I am able to express myself
I used to be a dreamer but now I am a wonderer
I used to be shy but now I am outgoing
I used to be shy but now I am bold

I used to be very pressured about control and others expectations but now I am enjoying the freedom
I used to be married but now I am happily divorced
I used to be ME but now I am…me. Can I find again? Can I see?
I used to dislike who I was until I realized that God made ME me

I used to be a white crayon but now I am a rainbow
I used to be invisible but now I am seen
I used to be invisible but now I am invincible

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THE POEM & POETS

I led a general session at the St. David’s Christian Writers’ Conference in June 2023, on turning self-limiting statements into new stories. At the end, I had everyone respond to a prompt I use often for self-reflection:
I used to be _________ but now I __________.
I collected the responses, compiled them around themes, and, at the request of the venue director, read the poem at the ending night banquet.

THE ARTWORK
A photo I took of the gardens at the garden at the Environmental Studies building on the campus at Allegheny College, where the conference took place.

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This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment.  What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.

Click here to read the series of Exquisite Poems and to find the links to the current prompt so you can join in the fun.

To learn more about my workshops and upcoming events, or if you’d like to learn how I can support you on your own creative journey with one-on-one coaching, visit my website.