Journal Exercise: Journaling through a poem.

Journal through a story, article, or poem that you have written. To do this, reread your manuscript/poem. Write up to three pages discussing every emotion, thought, idea, and fact that comes to your mind regaurding the manuscript/poem. When finished, reread your journal entry. List any insights that will help you revise your manuscript/poem.

Poem I’ve selected:

The Promise           April 23, 1995
Her heart sings
Her lovers name
Without him there
It’s not the same

Shielding Wolf
Went far away
But he’ll be back
Again someday

White Phantom sits
Beside the shore
Her heart aching
She loves him still more

He promised he’d come back
To be with her
Her handsome young brave
Wrapped in his wolf fur

She dreams of his arms
His warm embrace
Soft tender lips
That caress her face

Inside her
Her desire grows
For more than
He even knows

They vowed to wait
Until the right time
When they are shown
By some kind of sign

When they know it is love
Not just young lust
Until they fed it
Wait they must

She’s promised not to betray
A vow to herself
He is her warrior
She, his wild elf

When darkness comes
She will go to sleep
Waiting for him
Her heart she will keep

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The young Native American girl misses her lover. He’s been gone off hunting for game, new homestead site, etc. And it’s been quite a while since she’s seen him. Her heart literly aches from missing him.

She misses the things they use to do together; long walks, canoeing, swimming, exploring the wilderness around them.

While sitting on the shore waiting for him, where is canoe will return to when he returns, her heart aches even more, as she is reminded how long he’s been gone, and how much she misses him.

She remebers how handsome he is, and can not wait until they are reunited. He promised he would come back, and that promise contiues to give her hope, even when some among her people have told her she should give up and move on. She knows he would never break his promise to her.

Her dreams, both sleeping and waking, are filled with memories of their time together. She can still remeber how it felt when he held her in his arms, and how it felt when he would kiss her face.

In his absence, her love and desire for him continues to grow, to the point she feels like she could very well explode.

Despite using the term ‘lovers’ they have not gone to that point in their relationship. They had made vows to each other to wait until they could be united properly in a marriage cermony. Promising to wait until the spiritual word has gifted them with some kind of sign that says it blesses their union. This is something that is very important to them. They want to know that it’s not just the fact that they are young, and their own urges are getting the better of them. They want to know that they have staying power, and will last. Neither of them wants to be stuck in an unhappy relationship. (Possibly one of both of their parents have been arragned marriages, and the couple(s) had never managed to find the love in the relationship, so they are together, but unhappy. The young couple wants happiness and love to fill their union.

Despite the time he has been gone, she still continues to pledge her heart and soul to him. She will not betray him and his love, despite the fact that other suitors have come to call apon her. She turns them away, she has no interst in the pretty words they attempt to whisper to her, of the gifts they try to leave her. She refuses them all, and continues to say she will wait for her lovers return.

He is a strong and brave warrior. He’s promised to always protect her, and she belives he will one day return to do just that.

Even without him though, she is a strong and capable maiden. He had taught her how to hunt, and fish, despite that usually being considered ‘mans’ work. She is young and adventureous, and could probably outrun, out shoot, out track, ect. most of the other braves of her tribe.

Each day, she returns to the shore, hoping and waiting. She goes their in the early morning hours, in the middle of the day, and again twords dusk, hoping that he will soon come into her sight. When she’s not there, the younger children of the villiage, who adore her, play near the river area, promising that if they see any sign of him, the will come find her, so she can be there to greet him.

Once darkness falls, she returns to her family’s teepee, as she knows she needs her sleep (as she knows she must continue to go about her daily chores, or risk being overcome with lonliness from missing her lover, and waste away on the riverbank). While she sleeps, he is there in her dreams, holding her once more, telling her he will return to her as soon as he can.

She would wait for him for as long as it would take. Her heart is his, and his alone.

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The story could start out with either White Phantom sitting on the shore, in one of her day dreams, or sleeping wth an actual dream, remebering the day that Shielding Wolf left. The vows and promises they made that day, and his telling her he would return to her no matter what.

There can be bits of memories scattered throughout the story, images of the things the couple did together. Sheilding Wolf teaching White Phantom how to hunt and track, how to fish, the two of them walking along the paths throughout the woods.

Alternatively, there are scenes of the other suitors coming to pay visits to her. They offer her gifts, and attempt to pledge their love to her. White Phantom will have none of it, and continues to send them away.

Her parents worry she will never marry. But they are also sympathetic, as they had an arragned marriage, and their hearts have never found their way to one another. They care for each other, and love their daughter. But before their marriage, they were in love with other people, and they never got over this love. (His parents may face a smiliar issue…but are even less happy in their marriage. These are factors in the couple wishing to be shown a sign before they unite. Wanting to know that they are truly meant to be together.)

There will also be moments showing White Phantom going about the daily chores, as well as her time in the woods. (Showing that she is capable of taking care of herself.) Also times with the children of the villiage. Her playing games with them, and teaching the younger ones the skills she has learned.

There could be a scene where she is waiting by the river as the night is falling, and her mother comes to tell her it’s time to return to the teepee. They could have a mother/daughter talk. Her mother expressing her concerns, and White Phantom telling her she understands, b

ut she can not go against her heart. Her mother understanding because she was forced to go against hers, but still saying she worries she will be left an old maid with no one to care for, and no children to carry on.

At the conclusion, Shielding Wolf could return. I think it would be a more dramatic return if it was during one of the times that White Phantom is working on chores, and one of the children go to fetch her, and she rushed from where she is, through the villiage, and to the river to meet him.

Apon their reuniting, the sign they have been waiting for is revealed to them. Their love has endured his absence, and the pursuit of other suitors, and it still thrives. There is a wonderful marriage cermony, joining the couple together….blah, blah, blah…Happy Ending.

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Creative Writing Challenge <——————— Tis that away still.