A writing manifesto

I will make words to feed us. 
Yes, I will write and write words that drip like honey into the heart; 
words like nectar feeding life with story, meaning and beauty; 
words who when gentle fly elegantly and carry Grace on their song,
and who can slice through and batter battalions when strong.  

Yes, I will talk about the pain I've felt and harm I've seen.
But I’ll send these vulnerable children of the alphabet into the world
with messages of hope under a passion-lit ensign. 

All creation comes with a chance to heal or harm. 
Sometimes the artist’s craft is messy 
and harm weeps from the wound before it can heal. 
These things are difficult to spell let alone tell. 
The truth has teeth and clarity claws.
Do I dare to write, and you to read, words that will rip us apart
and smash through the barricades we've built around our hearts?

“The truth will set you free”, it says. You've heard that. We know that.
But did you know that Truth has twins? Freedom is only one of them. 
Because the truth is, the Truth will set you free and Truth will break you. 
We can't sever this Truth and banish breaking with a “begone!” or a wizard’s curtain. 
The jig behind that trick is up.

No, when we are set free all the children of our fears and pains spill out
across the wastelands we've made across our lives
and they are hungry, desperate howling creatures trotting at our heels,
every second, in every ordinary moment. 

What can we do? 
What can we do with such orphans of
our missed opportunities, disappointing mistakes and lost dreams?  

What will you do?

I have no idea of a right thing to do. 
But I know of a writing thing to do.
So I'll gather the orphans and children of lost dreams and tragic despairs
and tell them a story of twins:
​Harm and Hope, the children of Truth. 
I'll light a hearth and gather them even closer. 
And I'll open my heart and hold their hands - Atone! 
And I know we’ll write a better ending together
Than I ever could alone. 

My Writing Manifesto, by Jane Moynihan (2018)
​