Carrie's Sunday Post: A Book of Questions
Writing Prompt For The Community
Hi Folks,
This week I’m featuring the song A Book of Questions, from A Great Wild Mercy.
Here’s the lyric video….yup, thats me writing in my notebook :-)
I’ve often said that I don’t write songs because I have an answer, I write songs because I’m writing myself into my next becoming. I’m writing because I have a question.
An open-hearted question is a beautiful way to get to know another person. When I’m at a gathering and meeting new people I often like to ask opening questions that go beyond the usual “what do you do”. I often ask questions like “what gave you life this year” or “What were you grateful for this week”. People will sometimes look at me like I have seven heads, but then they will launch into the most wonderful stories. I always feel grateful for the story and feel I got to know the person much better than if I had asked the usual fare.
So this song was written that each line in the song could be used as a writing prompt, or a question that would draw out a more insightful story. Some questions are simple but personal like “Do you put honey in your tea” or “Ever kiss in a busy cafe”. But other questions ask for a deeper, even more vulnerable response, “Did you make peace with your worse day” “Did you ever love a place, that you still had to leave”.
I loved the instrumentation on this recording and a deep bow to Gary Walters, Brittany Haas, Paul Kowert and Jordan Tice for their beautiful work on this track.
Question
I’ve posted the lyrics to this song below. Read through and choose a line that speaks to you. Tell us your response to that particular question - you can choose something lighter or more poignant. You could also just pick a line and journal about the question for just yourself as a reflective practice.
I’d love to ask folks in the community to respond to one another as well as to me. I so love the thoughtfulness of this community and those who post here.
A Book Of Questions
Do you put honey in your tea?
Do you let it cool gradually?
Do feel the strange wash of time and memory?
Have you made peace with your worst day,
Ever kissed in a busy café?
Are there things you feel, but you still don't know how to say?
Brief as the light on wheels of hay,
All that you’ve kept or was given away.
Questions that come before dark, at the end of a day.
Did you lose a lover or friend?
Was there a story that just had to end?
Did you final learn what kept coming around again?
Did you work in a bookstore?
Are there things that you don’t do anymore?
Ever watch an oncoming train or gathering storm?
Brief as the light on wheels of hay,
All that you’ve kept or was given away.
Questions that come before dark, at the end of a day.
Did you say yes, did you say no?
Was it true or just wasn't so?
Did land hard or gracefully,
Was it not what you planned,
But right where you needed to be?
Have you ever made a grilled cheese?
Ever prayed down on your knees?
Did you ever love a place that you still had to leave?
Did you walk before you crawled?
Have a dog when you were small
Did make it through but it was such a close call?
Brief as the light on wheels of hay,
All that we’ve kept or have given away.
Questions that come before dark, at the end of a day.
By Carrie Newcomer
Tour Schedule
For info and details visit www.carrienewcomer.com/tour
TOUR SCHEDULE
Hi Folks, Looking forward to being back in New England next weekend. Heres the dates. The direct links for tickets below!
NOV 10 FRI
Second Friday Coffeehouse @ 7:30pm Belmont, MA, United States
NOV 11 SAT
First Congregational Church @ 7:00pm Randolph, MA, United States
NOV 12 SUN
Phippsburg Congregational Church @ 3:00pm Phippsburg, ME, United States
One Inch Photos -
October in Indiana…they aren’t one inch photos…but they are glorious autumn light. Breathe in the last golden glow of the autumn…drink it in like tea with honey.
My answer to one of the questions…”did you walk before you crawled?” I actually did pull myself up and began walking at six months. I never crawl as a baby. My mother always told me it was significant, and I didn’t realize what it meant until I had a friend who was the mother of a six month walker. It’s kind of tough because a little one that age doesn’t yet understand things like “don’t touch that it’s hot.” So all you can do is pretty much follow them around for several months until they do :-). There is the reality, but also the metaphor. There have been times when I’ve gotten impatient with my own growth. I want to walk before I crawl, get to the end of the book before I’ve read the middle part. And there is so much life and living and important “being” that happens on the way.
Did you ever love a place but still have to leave? That question really resonated. In the 1990s I lived in a small town in Eastern NC that I just adored. It was on a big river and I had a sailboat. It felt like heaven but for several reasons, primarily to help my aging parents, I had to move away. For 21 years I longed to return even though my life was good and I had all the things, material and emotional, that make up a good life.
I've subsequently retired and have returned to this little jewel of a place. In time, I will probably have to leave again, but am so grateful to have found a place where my heart beats joyfully and I know that wherever I am, this place will live in my heart.