Why I write

Last weekend I participated in a day-long women's movement-and-writing retreat with yogi, writer, and teacher Anne Cushman. If you don't know Anne's work, I highly recommend it, especially her recent memoir, The Mama Sutra: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Path of Motherhood. The day (on-line, of course) was billed, "Write Your Way Home" and began with a period of movement practice, followed by a number of timed writings and sharing of our work in small groups. The very first writing prompt, "I write because....," unleashed a flood of emotion in me and the two other women who shared their work with me and witnessed mine. In this time of global dissolution, grief and fear, how poignant it is to free one's own voice; to share pain, hope, memory with other women, strangers who swiftly become comforters, confidantes, and mentors; to bless one another's words and tears.

I write because

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