One way the universe encouraged my creative life

 A friend and I are working through the exercises in Deep Creativity together and this week's reflections were on fate and circumstances and events that have influenced our creativity. Here's a poem I wrote in response.

I was new at it all

Retreats, ferry rides in the San Juans

Meditation, ritual thinking

The afternoon was blissfully cool

Soft water breeze, bees

On apple cores in the grass

—The bookstore’s open

Carolyn said

A corner of the lobby

Theosophy mostly

Deep thinkers older than I

And then at the end of one shelf

The Artist’s Way

And I saw exercises on the pages

And was flooded with

Memories of car trips

To Grandma B’s in Idaho

And workbooks to pass

The long hours in the backseat

And I read of 12 ways to be creative

And I wanted that

—Are you an artist?

The woman taking money was frail but friendly

And a long-repressed part of me

Said yes

—Yes, I am

And I knew it was true

And now here I am

Still new at it all

And yet not