Welcome to the first FMF link-up of September!
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Okay you guys . . . We’re in for a real treat this week!
It’s been a long time since we’ve had a guest post here at Five Minute Friday, and this week I am so thrilled and honored to welcome my friend Patrice Gopo to the site to share a five-minute freewrite with us.
If you’ve been around this community for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about Patrice. She and I met over 16 years ago in Cape Town, South Africa, back before either of us were really writers. Since then, she has become such a dear friend and I’m so grateful to walk this writing journey with her continual support and encouragement.
And this week we’re celebrating big time because Patrice’s latest book launches TODAY! Woo hoo!
Autumn Song: Essays on Absence, a collection of beautiful and thought-provoking essays, is now available!
In celebration of the release of this gorgeous book . . .
This week’s FMF writing prompt is: ABSENCE
And now, here’s Patrice with a five-minute freewrite guest post on the prompt, ABSENCE:Â
Absence
by Patrice Gopo
This past July, I left my plants for a week. Prior to my departure, I poured water over the soil, ensuring they had the nutrients they might need to thrive in my absence. Upon my return, I added water once more. To all my plants, except for a fern plant that I can miss if I don’t walk into the corner of the room. That first week back, I barely stepped into that space, missing what was transforming from a fern in health to a fern in need.
My fern plant is a legacy. A clipping from a clipping from a clipping that goes back to a fern plant my mother nurtured across my childhood. And that fern plant grew from a clipping a Jamaican woman gave to my Jamaican mother in the cold of Alaska. A plant that had crossed water and land from a humid island in the Caribbean to the crisp air of my Alaskan birthplace. My fern is a legacy and a survival story. And within a few weeks of the absence of water—and me—it began to shrivel and fade until a day came when I wandered near it, took in the sight of what was happening, and felt the weight of regret pound against me. How had I missed this? How had I forgotten? How had I not seen?
I added water, added a bit more the next day too. I watched in a state of uncertainty, unsure if there was anything more I could do. Would this legacy end with these parched leaves? Could my presence bring some form of healing? In those uncertain days, my listless plant reminded me that some things we can nurture along, we can care for for so very long. Yet absence is not neutral. Absence may change the shape of what we live.
Patrice Gopo is an award-winning essayist who writes stories steeped in themes of place, belonging, and home. She is the author of two essay collections: Autumn Song: Essays on Absence (University of Nebraska Press American Lives Series) and All the Colors We Will See (a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection). Her debut picture book, All the Places We Call Home, is based on one of her essays. Patrice lives with her family in North Carolina, where she enjoys walks just after dawn and thinks a perfect day ends with ice cream. Please visit www.patricegopo.com to learn more.
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Before we go, one final reminder that our next Writing Accountability Group starts on Wednesday!
Hope to see you there!
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Join the link-up with your own five-minute freewrite below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:Â
I look around the life I love,
days when I know what God meant
when He designed them up above,
but one day I’ll be absent,
and these rooms won’t know my voice,
and footprints will have blown away.
Perhaps in Heaven I’ll rejoice,
no memories placed in my way,
but from the place I stand right now,
though harder than I thought it’d get,
I really know exactly how
I would choose to place my bet
that in the grinding of the pain,
I would decide to remain.
Four minutes and a bit.
This is beautiful, Andrew. Thank you for sharing!
Lovely reminder. But what happened to your fern??
Thank you, Janis!! And yes, good point that you might want to know what has happened :). It seems to be bouncing back!! I posted a picture here on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/23rtr354
I love this legacy story for I have a legacy lily. A bulb belonging to my grandmother who lived in Miami Florida. Everyone in our family has taken a piece and moved it from Florida to different states around the US. Currently we are trying to grow our lily in the desert of California. I am curious if your bulb survived 🌸 Congratulations on your new book. I have mine in the Amazon cart.
I was holding my breath while reading this and then you left us with a cliffhanger, LOL What happened to your fern? I hope it revived..
Yes, it’s true, Sandra!! What happened??? 🙂 It seems to be bouncing back. I just posted a picture of it on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/23rtr354 . Thanks for reading!
Me too. I was curious… what happened to the plant 🌸🌱
I’m relieved that it is bouncing back!