"to the gods of unnecessary labors"
Ruhl & Pechuël-Loesche
May you receive the gifts meant for you.
May the path you walk turn, swerve, open, kink, bend, dance.
May you feel free to do nothing sometimes.
Eduard Pechuël-Loesche, “Purple Light in Regular Development. (Evening) — South Atlantic Ocean, December 2nd 1884.”
Addressed to the gods of unnecessary labors
by Sarah Ruhl
Some say: to do the necessary task is greatness;
I say: do the least necessary thing first.
I don't want a frozen living room,
a room where nothing happens.
I don’t want my labors tied in string,
a prelate hovering over, declaiming.
I want a treasure I did not ask for
the way I didn’t ask to be born.
I want your arms and legs to be happy;
I want my arms and legs to be warm.
I want us to lie there, while the sky overhead
vigorously, vigorously does nothing.
from 44 Poems for You by Sarah Ruhl. Copper Canyon Press, 2020
Creative Invitation
1) Consider: did you ask to be born? Did you want to come into this world?
2) Imagine the answer is yes: you did ask to be born, as yourself, when and where and to whom you were born. What did you set out to learn by that experience?
3) Begin a poem or letter titled “Addressed to the gods of…” and then decide which gods you wish to address. Gods that come to my mind are: the gods of kitchen appliances, the gods of codependency, the gods of elections, the gods of elderly cats, the gods overseeing sidewalks, waterfalls, and garage sales; the gods of nascent birds still inside their eggs. Which gods come to your mind?
4) Draw a picture of the place you came from before your current human birth.