TIMED WRITING EXERCISES INSPIRED BY NATALIE GOLDBERG'S WRITING DOWN THE BONES

March 8: water (10 minutes)


sprinkler on in the garden, tropical seeds, trees with big leaves like purple hands, flat finger, splayed out spread wide. water bottle, bottle of water, plastic taste, hint of mint from the oil I put in it. blue-white water bottle, blue-white water in a cool stream, wet rocks, happy frogs. bugs dart on the surface of the water, legs wide, body jacked up high in case a wave comes along it won't take them down. water drop on my glasses lens, left lens, everything I see is focused around a blurry drop of water. cat drinks out of the shower tap. water bowl, water goes stale, I change it out when I fill up the food side. wake up early to water the garden. watering during the day you risk evaporation, water at night, you risk mold. mold in the cracks of the shower tiles from the showers we take. water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. who said that? waterworld was a movie where the world was entirely under water. I don't know this for sure, I didn't see the movie. maybe there's a little bit of land. the top of kilimanjaro and other tall mountains, surely. the ice caps are melting, we're heading toward a water world. but I think a lot of it will just evaporate. but does it really evaporate forever, or does it just go into the sky and hang out in clouds - form clouds - till it's time to rain? I am thirsty. A glass of water would be good. A sip of water. Turn water into wine. Ugh! I'm not thirsty for wine. I had a beer last night and not enough water and I feel dehydrated today. Dehydrated and sleepy. I heard that Mother's Cafe on Duval burned down. Lot of water to put out that fire. I'm gonna go do laundry over there - more water - and look at the remains of the building. That's sad, I only ate at that restaurant once and I liked it. I can picture the glass of water on the table in front of me---