Reference no: EM133607980
Natalie Goldberg
Be specific. Don't say "fruit." Tell what kind of fruit- "lt is a pomegranate." Give things the dignity of their names. Just as with human beings, it is rude to say, "Hey, girl, get in line." That "girl" has a name. (As a matter of fact, if she's at least twenty years old, she's a woman, not a "girl" at all.) Things, too, have names. It is much better to say "the geranium in the window" than "the flower in the window." "Geranium"-that one word gives us a much more specific picture. It penetrates more deeply into the beingness of that flower. It immediately gives us the scene by the window-red petals, green circular leaves, all straining toward sunlight.
About ten years ago I decided I had to learn the names of plants and flowers in my environment. I bought a book on them and walked down the tree-lined streets of Boulder [Colorado], examining leaf, bark, and seed, trying to match them up with their descriptions and names in the book. Maple, elm, oak, locust. I usually tried to cheat by asking people working in their yards the names of the flowers and trees growing there. I was amazed how few people had any idea of the names of the live beings inhabiting their little plot of land.
When we know the name of something, it brings us closer to the ground. It takes the blur out of our mind; it connects us to the earth. 11 I walk down the street and see "dogwood," "forsythia," I feel more friendly toward the environment. I am noticing what is around me and can name it. It makes me more awake.
If you read the poems of William Carlos Williams, you will see how specific he is about plants, trees, flowers-chicory, daisy, locust, poplar, quince, primrose, black-eyed Susan, lilacs - each has its own integrity, Williams says. "Write what is in front of your nose". It's good for us to know what it is front of our nose. Not just "daisy" but how the flower is sin the season we are looking at it - "the days hugging the earth/in August". Continue to hone your awareness: to the name, to the month, to the day, and finally to the moment.
Williams also says "No idea but in things." Study what is "in front of your nose". By saying geranium instead of flower, you are penetrating more deeply into the present and being there. The closer we can get to what's in front of our nose, the more it can teach us everything. "To see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower...".
In writing groups and classes too, it is good to quickly learn the names of all the other group members. It helps to ground you in the group and make you more attentive to each other's work. Learn the names of everything: birds, cheese, tractors, cars, buildings. A writer is all at once everything - an architect, French cook, farmer - and at the same time, a writer is none of those things.
Questions for Analysis
Who is the audience for this essay? How do you know?
Aside from listing specific names to exemplify her claims, she also cites a personal experience about how she learned names. What purpose does that experience serve?
She concludes by claiming that a writer "is all at once everything . . . and at the same time ... none of these things." What is her point, and how does it relate to claims she has made earlier in the essay?