Ordinary alchemy

finding magic in the mundane

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Good morning, friends. We've been here four weeks together already! It feels like it couldn't possibly be that long and also like it's been longer, somehow. Creating the space for regular, intentional writing has really slowed time for me, which I'm so grateful for.

I'm tempted to let the poem I'm sharing today stand alone - in part, because it's a bit longer than many of my other poems, and also because it's more expansive - but I also want to talk a bit about it, because it's one of my favourites. I don't want to scare you away, so we'll start with the poem and get to a bit of commentary after.

**Please be sure to check out the polls at the bottom!**

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I've always been drawn

to the idea of magic

of powers

and potions

and spells

but the real magic

rests in the mundane

in the everyday threads

of a life woven with

intention

joy

comfort

love

passion

a tiny sprout

emerges from the earth

yawns open its leaves

reaches upward

drinks in the water

soaks up the sunlight

grows deeper as it grows up

a tiny baby

laughs for the first time

uncontainable joy rises

smile spreads

giggles bubble up

belly jiggles

feet and hands flail

a ray of sunlight

peeks out from behind a cloud

touches raindrops

bends into an arc

bursts into colour

bows to the earth

lingers just for a moment

a sleepy cat

meows and jumps up

curls into a ball

nestles in a warm lap

nuzzles outstretched fingers

kneads its paws

purrs in contentment

a breeze drifts by as

coffee brews

bread rises

chocolate melts

onions caramelize

soup simmers

flowers bloom

someone falls in love

for the first time

or again

with a person

or a place

or a story

or a craft

a hand

or a moment

or a note

or a landscape

or silence

or skin

s t r e t c h e s

the snow and

the rain and

the leaves

fall and

the seasons change again

and again

and -

a poem forms

out of a simple word.

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I think you can probably tell how excited I was by the prompt¹ for this poem, because even reading it back makes me feel breathless.

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Writing this poem really felt like magic.

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As with anything, writing can sometimes feel like a slog - this was the opposite of that.

I took my time writing this poem, starting with the base idea of mundane magic and dumping notes as they came to me, really savouring the process of compiling ideas before sifting through to find what would stick.

Unlike many of my poems, though, the ideas kept coming, and almost all of them stuck, at least in some form. I wanted imagery that really engaged the senses, and I found it in so many small moments throughout the day.

Most of the actual writing of the poem consisted of grouping things from my casual brain dumps and expanding on certain ideas to fit the seven-line stanza format that my brain decided to follow - apart from the last two lines.

In response to a kind comment under my poem that day, I had replied, “This one felt like an inevitable echo of some of the other poems I've written this month, like I was just waiting for the word.”

Similarly, the overall flow of the poem and the conclusion of the last two lines felt like an inevitable echo of the process of writing it.

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The poem itself is magic. Words are magic. Something that feels mundane can become magic, under the right circumstances, from the right perspective.

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Like many, I've been trying to be mindful, and look for small moments of joy, and live in the moment, and be in my body, etc. And all of those things are important and helpful, but oftentimes they feel oversimplified and unattainable, and sometimes the accompanying mindsets can diminish our struggles.

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I really love the idea that even on hard days, I can look for, and sometimes create, small moments of magic; not as a cure-all, but as a comfort.

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And I can savour these moments, the same way that I did writing this poem.

If you'd like, please share your favourite example (or just a recent one) of mundane magic in the comments.

And, in the spirit of finding magic in the mundane, I would really love to regularly share some of my favourite things with you - perhaps a once-a-month roundup of links to other poems or essays I've found, books I've read, projects I'm working on, etc.

If you chose the first option, I'd also love feedback about what types of things you'd like for me to share about. Do you want to see more writing, or what I'm watching? A section for snacks/recipes I'm loving, personal photos of my garden/home/knitting projects? Highlights of whatever made me happy? Let me know!

Also, would you want to receive this as part of our regularly scheduled programming, as an extra post, or should I make a separate section for it entirely (like my Divine Rewilding newsletters) so you can choose whether to subscribe?

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1. I wrote this poem during

   Kaitlin Curtice
   's Poem a Day in May this year. Each day, she shared a prompt word and her own poem. I will continue to mention this, because it's largely the reason I am here, publishing my own newsletter. You can find the magic prompt and take a look at others' poems from that day here:

   magic.

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