The Unforced Voice
꩜𖦹༄
I am in the process of birthing my first publication, Ayna.
And one of the threads that has woven itself into my being is that this, these mythopoetic works, cannot be forced.
I see this voice as a tap. Sometimes I have to pause mid-breakfast, replacing the toast in my hand with a pen, trying to keep up with the waterfall of words that are flowing through me.
Other times, this flow is slower, words landing drop by drop, sparse and unconnected. On these occasions, I notice my logical, human mind step in, almost tying to force the waterfall to flow once more. But the tap does not budge. Words do not work this way.
This voice is one that does not flow on demand like everything else these days. It mirrors nature in that it emerges when it wants to, when it is ready.
On me, as the poet, the vessel for this voice, falls the duty of honouring the cycles, the bursts of creativity and the silence, and always having a pen and notebook near for when the words arrive, knowing this can be at any moment.
With love,
Rachael Ball
The Hearthspace
