Writing as Stewardship
by Victor Klimoski
Victor Klimoski, Ph.D. is the former Director of Lifelong Learning at Saint John’s School of Theology lifelong teacher. He holds a doctorate in adult education from the University of Minnesota and works extensively as a group facilitator and project consultant. He is also author of a number of poetry collections, most recently Edged with Light, Revisited, Gleanings (contributing editor), Margin Notes, and Lamentation for the Written Word.
Writing - To use language for building up, drawing together, advancing communication
A couple months ago, I wrote a letter to a U.S. Senator about his stance on an issue I found repellant. Because I fancy my skill as a writer, I pounded out a text that would surely get his attention and bring him to his senses. Someone long ago advised me to let writing like this rest for a day or two – too cool off if nothing else. When I returned to the letter, I was appalled. The letter dripped with sarcasm and ridicule. What purpose I had in writing was obscured by my carelessness. In her book, Caring For Words in a Culture of Lies, Marilyn McEntyre issues a fervent call for stewardship of words. This seems to be at the core of our mission as writers: to use language for building up, drawing together, advancing the art of communication – even when it is necessary to correct or admonish.
Anchored in Attentiveness
The carelessness in my example is not limited to political battling. Some of my poems that address concern for the environment, the treatment of the marginalized, the centrality of greed in public life, our seeming abandonment of the common good have suffered from careless use of language. To read them was to be scorched, not engaged in reflection. Being a good steward of language, McEntyre says, is anchored in attentiveness, to being present to fullness of an idea so that we might write that others might hear and reflect.
What is it we seek to accomplish?
I am not arguing that writers must make everything pretty. There is harshness in life we need to name and do so with great clarity. But clarity is not the doorway to lashing out with little thought about the impact of our words in terms of their ultimate end. What is it we seek to accomplish that will cast light on a situation or issue affecting the well-being of humanity, the planet, the community, our relationships? Do sarcasm and ridicule cause others to reflect or defend?
In the wake of 9/11, Polish poet Adam Jagajewski wrote “Try To Praise in a Mutilated World.” In it, he struggled with whether we can praise anything in light of such as abomination as 9/11. Sometimes, we are tempted to believe that the state of the world, our country, or the temperament of fellow citizens drives out all light. We are left with little choice but to lament the thickening shadows. Jagajewski, however, argues that we must hold the tension: the reality of abominations large and small and our capacity to recall moments of beauty and joy that remain despite the evident darkness. In the poem, he is in the struggle and knows that our humanity is at stake, but we need to call up within us what gives us ballast for the sake of that humanity.
Caring for Words Series
Join me beginning October 10 for a three-part workshop that draws on twelve writing stewardship practices McEntyre offers. Each week we will write, discuss three of the practices, apply them, and explore the results. We will consider together our mission as writers to steward language in service of truth, beauty, and compassion.
Mondays by Zoom
Oct. 10, Oct. 24, and Nov. 7
7:00 - 8:30 PM Central
$80
