As we sat in the backyard of Fattoush Gallery in downtown Haifa, a yellow butterfly blessed us with its graceful presence. I am not a superstitiuos person but yellow butterflies symbolize love and magic for me (if you’ve read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquéz you will understand why). Indeed, our Writing Space was magical and filled with love for something we all care about: writing. Writing is this action when our words express our emotions; when they unravel unconscious processes and impressions; and when we explore an uncharted, rich place of imagination and creation.

We met this Saturday morning (3rd of Sep) in Haifa’s eclectic Fattoush Gallery and Bar. We got to know each other (there were 11 of us) by doing a round of names and naming a book that we like or we’re currently reading. After ordering our coffee, we started with the first writing exercise “stream of consciousness” that consists of writing without stopping nor thinking for 7 minutes. The first words of this prompt was “be prepared….”. My mind was so hard to restrain and i wrote gingerly without taking my pen off the paper. After the 7 minutes were over, I asked the participants how were they doing and I got the following replies: refreshing, encouraging, I feel warmed up. And this is exactly what I was aiming for.

The second exercise was really fun: each person was handed a piece of paper and was asked to write 5 things: a place, a color, a machine/tool, a feeling, a flavor. After writing our words, we folded the paper and were asked to pass it to the person on our left. After that, each one was asked to write a piece (poetry or prose) using the words written on that piece of paper. We had 10 minutes to do this challenging prompt, but it was really worth it! The results were amazing and people shared some great pieces (I will be sharing some of what people wrote later).

The third and last prompt was inspired from my thesis paper and my whole obsession with the question of space and poetry- which is exactly the essence of this poetry project (Poetry is Closer than the Sea). I read them a quote by Henri Lefebvre saying:

“the live, practical experience does not let itself be exhausted through theoretical analysis. There always a surplus, a remainder of inexpressable and unanalysable but most valuable residue that can be expressed only through artistic means” (Sturart 49)

Later, they were asked to reflect on the space of Haifa by recalling a specific place and a specific action or event taking place there. Following this, they were asked to imagine/ reflect/ analyse/ pereive the place differently: how could it have been? how was it? how’s this place lived? what’s more than material conditions of the place? This was a bit of a hard prompt because it wasn’t super clear as it allowed more interpretation and freedom (which can be both a good thing and a bad thing).

Wrapping up, we ended with taking a beautiful picture (although not all participants appear in the photo because some people left before taking this photo). After that, we lingered in the cafe and shared some writings and poems.

As soon as I got home, I sent them an email with the evaluation form along with another writing prompt. The writing prompt is to read this ghazal and to try to imitate it. I’m sharing some of the replies from the evaluation form:

Reading these responses just makes me so happy and makes these initiatives more exciting and rewarding. I’m hoping to have future events and to develop the concept of The Writing Place.