Write On #3 | Our Sacred Bodies
Today’s prompt explores writing about the most sacred part of your body.
A writing prompt to start your day. Today’s prompt explores writing about the most sacred part of your body. Embrace the wilderness in your imagination and write on.
If you’re new here, hi! Literary Liberation is an exclusively reader-supported publication. Sign up so you don’t miss anything! To support this work, and our contributors, become a paid subscriber.
Dear Writers,
Below the paywall is the third prompt in this series. Continue reading this prompt in its entirety, and gain access to all of our prompts by becoming a paid subscriber. These prompts are meant to be used in any way you wish, but please do not share them with anyone. Some will one day be published or these are currently being used in workshops.
—Sherisa
When the word “sacred” slips into my mind, I think of my son’s birth. The moment I heard his cries for the first time. The moment I looked down at him and comforted him in his first moments earthside. I knew that I looked like a blur to him, but he knew my voice, he knew my body was his first home. His mother waters. I held him and it felt sacred. Birth is beautiful and brutal. An intertwining of everything that is possible for a body to do and a way to understand its limitations.
What does it mean to be in a body?
What does it mean to be in your body?
This is an unending and infinite question.
What does it mean to write a body story? If you think of your body as a map of portals, you will have a plethora of answers. Every single part of your body has a story to tell. Portals. Your hands, feet, eyelashes, hair, belly, legs, spine, laugh lines, knees, biceps. There are stories there. They are your portals into these stories. This map belongs solely to you which means only you can tell these stories. This is a serious implication, but also a whimsical one, a vulnerable one, a joyful one.
The prompts I am offering are meant to be open, to be interpreted as you wish. Write freely. Follow the story strands that feel exciting, that keep your imagination playful, the ones that are calling to you. Create a space of 10 to 20 minutes for yourself and write.
Rios de la Luz is the author of the novella, Itzá, and the short story collection, An Altar of Stories to Liminal Saints (Broken River Books). She offers generative writing workshops throughout the year which focus on body stories, lived histories, and magic. She currently lives in Oklahoma with her son and partner.
—
Thank you for reading this edition of Write On. Before you go, leave us some love by tapping the ❤️. It offers “social proof” and lets others know there’s something valuable here. Consider becoming a paid subscriber, or sharing on social media or Substack notes! The more people become paying subscribers, the more time I can devote to cultivating this beautiful community.