31 treasures for January

One of the greatest lessons that I learnt from taking part in the 26 Treasures project was the power of noticing – of taking the time to notice an object, and letting free whatever associations it freed inside of you.

A river of stones - www.ariverofstones.blogspot.com - is a project that invites you to take the time to notice one thing each day in January, your ‘small stone’, and write about it, in whatever form the writing or noticing takes. I did a practice run yesterday, the results of which are below, and was surprised at what lay beneath the superficial level of my noticing when I started to write. If you are looking to limber up in January for the next 26 Treasures project, or whatever other writing you are planning to do in 2011, I would recommend a river of stones is a gentle way to start the writing flowing – along with the benefit that comes from being in a writing community.

I am going to be writing a ‘small stone’ each day in January – taking notice and observing and writing. On my way to the tube station today, I decide I need to practice. It is a 7 minute walk to the tube station, maybe 6 minutes today, as I run small parts of it, as I don’t want to miss my train. Even so, I notice – the wet, soft brown leaves, mushing on the pavement, concrete resisting their composting; the stump where there used to be a cherry tree that blossomed pink in the spring; the bright red wool hat and luminous yellow jacket of a council worker, giving out and attracting light on this gray day; the yellow lettering on the road in the bus stop bay worn away so that it now reads ‘us stop’; a baby in the warm clear bubble of his pram, incubated as he is perambulated, the father turning around to smile proudly at his - wife? - behind, catching me in the arc of his smile. And I smile back.

Until I am sat on the train, and start writing, and the sounds of words start bumping off of each other, I didn’t know that was how I saw those things – they were just leaves, a stump, a hat, worn-out road signs, a pram. In the writing, I appreciate what I have seen, and what I have been part of. I am confident now that I will be able to pick up and polish at least one small stone a day.

By Olivia