One Quote + One Note + One Question January 3, 2024
One Quote
Parenting is hard, but art can help. One Parenting with Art™ practice I've done with my family for the past several years is to ask everyone to Bring a Poem! to a meal. I give a few days' notice, and they usually complain, but then I remind them that they always complain and end up enjoying it. (Kids complain sometimes. It’s fine.) Before or after our meal, everyone reads their poem. I ask questions like: Why did you choose that one? What do you like about it? Have you read anything else by that poet? This Bring a Poem! practice is one simple opportunity to put kids (and parents!) in the way of art. It helps the entire family flourish and broadens our belongings to ourselves and one another.
- Charlotte Donlon, Instagram
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One Note
We had our makeup family Christmas meal and celebration last night because the flu disrupted all of our original plans for the holidays. It’s still Christmastide, which is nice for those of us who had to cancel all of our holiday gatherings due to illness or other reasons.
I asked everyone to Bring a Poem! to the meal because I do this sometimes. The kids complained a bit because they do that sometimes. Then I told them they had to do it because I said so. I ask so little of them, and they can take a few minutes to pick out a poem. I reminded them they would probably enjoy it more than they think.
I won’t share all of the details about our poems last night because my third book will be about Parenting with Art™ and I need to save some stuff for a chapter on our Bring a Poem! practice, but I will tell you that the poem I brought is Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo.
(You should go read the poem real quick.)
This poem has been a huge influence on my One O’Clock Central practice over the past several months. When I pause at 1 p.m. CT most days to explore how my belongings to time intersect with my soul, mind, body, places, work, and relationships, I sit at my dining table.
“Perhaps the World Ends Here” has become a sort of prayer for how my table helps my family, friends, guests, and me inhabit time and belong to all of the things of life that occur during these hours and days, weeks and months, years and beyond.
Also. You can learn more about Parenting with Art here.
Until next time,
Charlotte
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One Question
If you were coming to my house for dinner and I told you to Bring a Poem! which poem would you bring?
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One Monthly Birmingham Gathering Starting January 14th
Paris Avenue Writers’ Group with Tania De’Shawn
One Recent Photo of My Dining Table
This has table has held our meals and so much more since 2007. (And I know Celsius is bad for you. It’s just so great for super long writing sessions at the dining table. I try to limit my intake. Sigh.)
Charlotte Donlon’s writing and work are always rooted in helping her readers, audience, and clients notice how art and other good things help them belong to themselves, others, the divine, and the world. Charlotte is the founder of Thoughtful Books Etc.™, One O’Clock Central, Spiritual Direction for Writers® , Spiritual Direction for Belonging™, and Parenting with Art™. Her first book was The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. Her next book on Spiritual Direction for Writers will be published by Eerdmans in 2024 or 2025. Charlotte’s essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and a certificate in spiritual direction. To receive Charlotte’s latest updates, news, announcements, and all kinds of good things, subscribe to Thoughtful Readers Etc. + Five Good Things.