Morning Rituals
Jen Thorpe
In the dark my son announces ‘I am here’
A small bid to be seen
I turn on the light and his face appears
Outside all is quiet. Serene.
A small bid to be seen
Although the stars still dust the sky
Outside is quiet, serene.
Since he’s awake, so am I.
Although the stars still dust the sky,
(He calls them ‘up aboves’)
Since he’s awake, so am I
Though tired, so filled with love.
He calls them ‘up aboves’
One day soon I’ll try and recall
(Though tired, so filled with love)
When he was ever so small
One day soon I’ll try and recall
How in the dark my son announced ‘I am here’
When he was ever so small
Like a light, his face appeared.
“So much of early motherhood is a series of small moments - day to day things that don’t feel like much as you’re doing them.”
Interview by L. Valena
Via Email Oct 4 - 13, 2023
Can you start by describing the prompt you responded to?
Jen’s workspace
The prompt I received was a square of beautifully stitched fabric, in light blue, grass green, and red. The stitching was delicate and reminded me of the white froth at the tips of waves.
What were your first thoughts and feelings about that?
At first I thought it might be a wallet, but the more I looked at it the more uncertain about its identity I became. The beginnings of a short story crept into my mind as I was looking at it initially, but the more I tried to fit the image into a 'wallet' box, the less the story wanted to fit. It was almost as though it was saying to me 'I am more'. So I looked again, and I started to see the earth from up high. Oceans and waves. Land. Fires. On a creator-level I found looking at the prompt very intriguing. I thought the patterns were interesting and the stitching beautiful.
What happened next?
I'm more of a fiction writer and blogger than I am a poet, but something about the tightness of the poetic form felt appealing for this prompt. Thinking about the outside world felt too overwhelming so I turned to the small moments in my day that I felt meaning and safety and simple pleasure in. I have always liked the pantoum for its repetitive structure - it felt soothing the way white noise is when you are sleeping. So I started to play with that.
Is this how your process usually works?
My process for writing is really dependent on what's going on in my life. Sometimes life is chaotic and I'll pop myself an email with an idea, or write it down in my handbag notebook. Sometimes I have large swaths of time to sit and write. When I sit down I do my best not to have my phone nearby (hard!) and to zone in. I like to play (mostly) classical music that mirrors the tone or energy that I'm trying to capture with a piece of writing. And I go from there. But with this type of poetry I also had to think a lot about rhyme, and the future stanzas of the poem, and how each line would make sense alongside the other. So that was really fun.
I love the focus on those gorgeous small moments that make life feel so rich. Is that something you've always focused on, or is it something new?
I do like focusing on the small moments and trying to be specific about them. So much of early motherhood is a series of small moments - day to day things that don't feel like much as you're doing them. But if you think about it, over time those small simple moments equate to someone's childhood, and that's a pretty big deal.
What are you working on next? Any other projects you want to talk about?
At the moment I'm working on the 6th season of my podcast - Living While Feminist, and I'm working on a first draft of a short story.
Do you have any advice for another artist approaching this project for the first time?
My advice would be to keep your heart open. I was set on writing a short story in response to the prompt, but a poem came out, and ultimately that felt right.
Call Number: M82VA | M84PP.thoMo
Jen Thorpe is a feminist writer and researcher. She writes novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction books. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa, with her husband, son, and their cat.