• Home
  • About
  • Let’s Create Together (Creative Coaching, Retreats & More)
    • Creative Life Coaching
    • One-on-One Complimentary Transformational Conversations: Get to the Heart of Life Coaching Now
    • Retreats: Collaborative, Creative, Exactly as You (and Your Organization) Needs
    • #5for5BrainDump
  • Blog
    • Writing Tips
    • Writing Challenges & Play
  • Contact
  • #5for5BrainDump

Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

You are here: Home / Creative Process / The Perils of Being a Comma. Or a Dash, an ellipsis, a period.

The Perils of Being a Comma. Or a Dash, an ellipsis, a period.

May 3, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 1 Comment

What Punctuation Mark are You? Using a line from poetry to step into a deeper level of self discovery through meditative writing and a photo of a woman, writing, on a deck between two mountains. Purple and green.

Once upon a time I had a friend I liked a lot. I told this friend, “I am nothing more to you than an ecru comma.”

What a perilous way to be, an off white comma, a brief stop on the way to something better.

There is nothing worse than to be a comma.

A comma personified.

Ten plus years later, at times I feel like I remain a comma. Is there such a color as faded ecru? Aged ecru? Stained, torn, battered and bleeding ecru?

Let me rephrase that: I do not see myself as anything like that ten-year-plus presumed comma. I have been stained, torn, and scarred. I have bled and I have healed. I have devoted myself to presence and passion and moving forward.

Commas haven’t committed. They aren’t first or last, they are a hesitation.

As I wrote that last sentence, a meadowlark sang after she took a nibble from the mulberry tree in my front yard. Fully committed, she sang in joy and praise. Can a comma be that precise?

A comma isn’t as firm as a dash – that says – wait.

Almost a period, but not quite enough and we stand there almost falling over a comma is steady and filled with air. I imagine it is easily popped.

"Commas on her face --- a breath, a word" is a line from the poem "My Darling Turns to Poetry at Night" by Anthony Lawrence. The image is of letters made of wood or plastic scattered on a board, haphazardly.  It is in greyish-toned black and white.

I believe I chose this line “Of commas on her face— a breath, a word … “from the poem “My Darling Turns to Poetry at Night” by Anthony Lawrence, to meditate with today because I know what it is to be lost to poetry when others are around. I probably seem to separate myself into an otherworldly place at times when poetry – my own and others, scoops me up and takes me away.

As an apology for losing myself into whatever non-human experience I was passionate about, I let go of getting lost to those loves and devoted myself instead to human tasks and helps, forgetting that I was worthy of both passions and an assist and a collaborative effort from time to time.

Sometimes it is lovely to be a comma, even an ecru comma.

Now that I think about it, a peaceful smile looks something like a comma.  I will claim that, too.

Perhaps we, we humans, would be better off embracing our loves for what they turn to that isn’t us – as long as it isn’t a wall between us and them. I love poetry and theater and deep soul conversations and the occasional ridiculous television show and that doesn’t mean I want to separate myself from those I hold most dear or darling. Sometimes embracing the comma time as a place to meditate on love itself and on humanity herself would be a better choice than wall building.

In this musing I realize how much meditation is like a comma.

A breath, a word to center, a breath – more words… and then words disappear and there is breath… a comma.

A comma is a part of something bigger than herself. She is an important part of the overall story.

She is a bridge. She is a sign-post. She takes a stand for what she believes to be true.

I am proud to be a comma and more. I am proud to be a stained, shiny, torn, healed, scarred, fierce, frightened, passionately active, ecru and purple comma.

Julie JordanScott creates content to inspire creative people to lead more satisfying lives even during this pandemic. Walking and sitting at the Panorama Bluffs helps her feel centered.

Julie JordanScott has been writing since before she was literate by dictating her thoughts to her mother and then copying in thick crayons onto construction paper. She was a pioneer in epublishing and continues to reach readers through her blog, bestselling books, greeting cards and her essays and poems in anthologies. Join her for one of her upcoming #5for5BrainDump programs or an upcoming writing circle or writing for social media programs.

Facebooktwittergoogle_pluspinterest
Facebooktwittergoogle_pluspinterestrssyoutubeinstagram

Filed Under: Creative Process, Creativity While Quarantined, Meditation and Mindfulness, Poetry Tagged With: "My Darling Turns to Poetry at Night" by Anthony Lawrence, Anthony Lawrence

Comments

  1. Carla Joy Martin says

    July 8, 2020 at 10:36 pm

    Julie! I loved your Comma blog! You imagined so many marvelous things that are like a comma, both good and bad. I love your friendly, conversational style and words of wisdom. I look forward to reading more of your blog!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson & Quirky Goals Go Together
  • Those Days That Feel Like Decades: Stories & Such
  • Sometimes Opting For Quiet Integration is the Best
  • Worry or Mindfulness: where do you stand?
  • When You Fall Short, Do This Instead of Giving Up

Recent Comments

  • Adela Rubio on When You Fall Short, Do This Instead of Giving Up
  • Alice Gerard on Habits, Practices & Routines: Conscious Intention Makes the Difference
  • Martha on Habits, Practices & Routines: Conscious Intention Makes the Difference
  • Martha on Happy Birthday, Emily Dickinson
  • Kebba Buckley Button on Happy Birthday, Emily Dickinson

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • May 2015

Categories

  • #5for5BrainDump
  • 2018
  • A to Z Literary Grannies
  • Affirmations for Writers
  • Art Journaling
  • Bridge to the New Year
  • Business Artistry
  • Creative Adventures
  • Creative Life Coaching
  • Creative Process
  • Creativity While Quarantined
  • End Writer's Block
  • Goals
  • Intention/Connection
  • Intention/Connection
  • Journaling Tips and More
  • Literary Grannies
  • Meditation and Mindfulness
  • Mixed Media Art
  • Poetry
  • Rewriting the Narrative
  • Self Care
  • Storytelling
  • Uncategorized
  • Virtual Coffee Date
  • Writing Challenges & Play
  • Writing Prompt
  • Writing Tips

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
  • One-On-One Coaching
  • Retreats: Collaborative, Creative, Exactly as You (and Your Organization) Needs

Creative Life Midwidfe · Julie Jordan Scott © 2021
Website Design by Freeborboleta