Soda Crackers

We talk about writing through the pain. We talk about healing through words. We emphasize the therapeutic benefits of expressing ourselves and re-telling our difficult memories to make meaning of our lives. It's all good.

But where's the fun? We all need fun. My 86-year-old mother plays Skipbo for fun. My 13-year-old son plays soccer. I have friends who swim for fun; friends who go to church for fun. I like to hike and write and eat.

When it comes to writing for wellness, it's important to have fun with that too. There are gazillions of poems and stories about grief and loss out there, and many are quite good. But what about the ones about fun?

Do some hunting. You'll find there are poems about hips and stories about headlights. Essays about flyfishing and memoirs on parenting. There are writers like Ron Carlson and Lorrie Moore and Anne Lamott, and even David Sedaris, who can lighten the most serious subjects and let you have some fun.

One of my favorites is Raymond Carver's poem about soda crackers. It's called, quite profoundly, "Soda Crackers." Here's how it starts out:

You soda crackers! I remember/ when I arrived here in the rain,/ whipped out and alone./ How we shared the aloneness/ and quiet of this house.

Carver discovers how the simplest of foods has helped him through a difficult time and now things look brighter, and my guess is he had a little fun with that poem.

So let's take a break, shall we, from all our serious worries, and write something a little lighter. Think about a body part, a favorite food, a childhood memory, and write for the lightness. Write in humor, or in gratitude, or maybe even in irreverance. Just write to have a little fun, and see what turns out.