Center for Journal Therapy
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Poem of the Month: September 2004

Problems With the Story The story was too long. Before you told it, you forgot it. Before the snake unwound his infinite body from around the tree the head forgot where he was going. The story had too many beginnings. If you stepped through a door twelve others might open. Did anyone have time? The story, the story, whose was it? Did someone else own it too? The story knotted in the throat of a finch. Sometimes the story felt cold after you told it. The story might make his mother nervous. This was only a translation of the story   I heard through a small crack   while sleeping. This was not the best story. Angels and bells did not follow this story but still, I wanted to tell it. It was the only chance I had to find you. - Naomi Shihab Nye Journal prompts: What is an old story you tell? Do you want to continue telling it? Choose a story from your current life. Write three different beginnings for it. Follow one of the beginnings. What is a new story you would like to tell? Choose a beginning, and tell it to yourself. Who else would you like to tell it to?

The Poems of the Month are copyrighted in the names of the individual authors, and are reproduced here for educational and therapeutic purposes.

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