13. New Beginnings – Georgia Clark
Our lives are always full of endings, and with them, new beginnings.
Our world has been carved in two: pre-coronavirus, and the reality we're all in now. Our lives are always full of endings, and with them, new beginnings. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the most meaningful new beginnings in my life. Here is my favorite, most impactful, new beginning.
October 21, 2013. I’m not expecting to meet my wife. I’m thirty-three and I’ve been single for about one thousand years. When I connect with a cute brunette online, I make a date at my local bar in Brooklyn, but I'm not anticipating anything more than an hour of two people politely masking mild disappointment. Still, I wear an A-game dress and I’m on time. I take a seat at the sticky bar and order the house red. A
few minutes later, I hear the soft whoosh of an opening door. A rush of fresh air makes all the little hairs on my arm stand to attention.
Swiveling around, I lock eyes with the cute brunette.
She’s smiling at me, as if we already know each other. “Georgia?”
– Georgia Clark
Prompt:
I invite you to reflect on a new beginning that was meaningful for you. You might think about a literal beginning: new job, relationship, state of being (pre-child to parent, singledom to marriage). You might think about a new conviction, habit, or a crucial choice you made: when you decided to stop apologizing all the time, that summer you actually started meditating, or the day you stopped drinking. Tell the story of your new beginning. What did it make room for? Why was it important? How did your new beginning lead you to where you are today?
Dylan Brooks
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia Canada
About: I'm a 27 y/o Canadian in practice; orbiting the planet of free form poetry/prose. What was once love letters is now a full-time creative writing passion, inspired mostly by self reflection and an outward connection to world around us. I have written nine poems prompted by The Isolation Journals project, and it's honestly THE closest I've felt to a community of artists. This has been a journey and the train won't stop here, so until it jumps the tracks, I'm grateful to Suleika and the Team for such a wonderful ride. Thank you!
Age: 27
what if i told you
what you already knew?
out of the blue and
into the rouge.
what if i told you
i have some clues.
no strings. no dues.
a pinch of power –
a tincture of truth.
are you in?
to find out where you’ve been;
you’ll need these keys to love
and a license to sin.
hear your heart – go on and listen.
what if i told you change rests in all that is sentient.
pray to the tightness in your chest.
all that was ever meant –
is here in the ever-present.
see beneath your breath and feel
for that first sense.
it’s subtle – yes – over to the left.
next to those stale notes.
hidden and well kept –
there go! grab it!
you jolt to wake.
weightless again without stake.
you start to go ahead in the rain.
what if i told you
this is strength after pain –
what if you are all it takes?