“I have always written – poems, scripts, essays, journals. I love bringing words to life, creating worlds from words. Now that I am no longer producing films, I have become more and more immersed in writing. As I grow older, I am realizing what an incredibly rich time of creativity this chapter of life can offer us. I also enjoy sharing writing with others, one on one and in groups and through offering retreats and workshops that explore bringing the practice of contemplative writing to the journey of aging.”
Writing of the Month
An essay written February 14, 2000 from the collection included in the memoir-in-progress – A Tree with my Name on it.
Driving home from yoga, somewhere along that long stretch of road outside Westcliffe in the half-light of evening I suddenly knew the truth of suffering deep in my bones. My heart was open, vulnerable, infinitely sad and I knew, it seems for the first time ever, that life is suffering.. that birth is just a door to grieving, that no one gets out alive, not even me. It hit me hard. I almost reeled at the moment of impact. I knew that the sadness I feel now at the thought of the loss of this place is just a taste of what’s to come. I knew that death was the big one waiting patient and secure, breathing evenly, around the corner. I could feel my mind tugging away like a horse tied up, pulling back, not wanting to go, and not wanting to be here. I knew that there was no escape and I knew that always before I had veered away at that moment of knowing. This time I sunk into it like a hot bath. Time took flight. The curves in the road opened and closed, smooth and silky. The vast steel blue grey sky darkened in a long sigh and I followed my breath all the way home.
Whoosh Stripped Bare
“In the spirit of Mary Oliver, whose poems helped me forget my day-to-day problems and connect with the magic of existence, Victress Hitchcock’s new poetry book brings me pure joy, like chocolate for my soul.”
– From the foreword by Anam Thubten author of No Self, No Problem and Choosing Compassion.
“A heartful, fluid appreciation of life in and as radiant glimpses.” — Reed Bye, retired Chair of Writing and Poetics at Naropa University
A Poem from Whoosh Stripped Bare
Saturday Farmer’s Market
I love following my grandson through the Grand
Avenue farmer’s market on a Saturday morning.
He bobs and weaves dodging strollers and shopping bags
overflowing with kale and flowers, just nose high for him.
He is barely four but big for his age.
I love that he can navigate through stalls sampling
apricots and cherries, greeting the homeless man
hawking copies of Street Spirit for a dollar each.
“He’s a real little man,” the elderly gentleman
selling American flags for Veterans Day tells me
as Adrian buys one for a quarter and
marches on, waving it high. Then we sit
so I can rest, tired out from all that walking.
We watch three couples salsa dance to their
CD player and it’s fun at first but then becomes
annoying as the dancers twirl on and on,
no one enjoying it but them.
“That is a weird sound,” my grandson says
as we pass the earnest young white man
playing one of those Chinese violins.
He notices everything. The colors of the
flowers, the pigeons taking bites out of the
kettle corn he drops on the ground.
The asparagus bunches standing in rows.
I buy him three tickets for the big blowup slide
and he climbs to the top and hurls himself
down twice on his back and once head first.
“I used to be scared of the slide when I was little,”
he tells me, reaching for my hand,
“but now I’m not.”
More Poetry from Chariot Press:
Hello Honey: Eighteen Poems from the Path – A joyful collection of poems and images that celebrates fifty years of being on the Buddhist path.
“As if harkening to us through the title itself, “Hello Honey”, author Victress Hitchcock lovingly invites us into a sweet and intimate tapestry of reflections, poetry, and images.”
— Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel, author of The Logic of Faith
“The poems in Hello Honey are really unusual, even unique, so grounded, earthy, and so close to life. These are the kinds of poems I love!”
— Dr. Reggie Ray, author of Indestructible Truth
Memoir in Progress:
A Tree With My Name On It: Two Years in the Wet Mountains (working title): A memoir that chronicles the years from 1998-2000 when I lived in a remote mountain ranch and everything in my life as I knew it, changed.
INTRODUCTION
A psychic once told me I was a heart person who had spent most of my life keeping that big open pulsing feeling organ locked behind closed doors. As I drew closer and closer to my 50th birthday, I began to feel rumblings deep inside from behind those doors. Someone wanted out.
I always thought the right relationship held the key to awakening the Sleeping Beauty inside me. I never imagined it would be a place; that my prince would be a hundred year old homestead on 160 acres in the Wet Mountain range of Colorado; that I would find my heart in the middle of nowhere.
This is the story of those two years I spent at Lookout Valley Ranch prying open the doors to my heart.
The book will be ready for publication in 2021.
Screenplays:
Miss Bird and Mountain Jim is a feature screenplay based on Isabella Bird’s classic story – “A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains”. The script was a semi-finalist in the 2018 Scriptalooza Screenplay Competition.
Here is a sampling of the evaluations it has received:
This is the kind of meditative, matter-of-fact, and grounded western that smoothly bends the confines of the genre that doesn’t come along very often. It’s a brave move to take the confines of a western and turn it into a character-oriented romance that steers away from the sensationalist tendencies of both genres. The author definitely deserves kudos and attention for doing a good job capturing this tone. The dialogue is excellent. It rings true and flows organically. - Scriptalooza
Miss Bird and Mountain Jim is a compelling period romantic adventure with strong dramatic elements that explores themes of identity, individuality, survival and perseverance in 1800’s Colorado. The script knows what it want to be, what it wants to say and goes for it in a way that should resonate with fans of the genre – Blacklist
Miss Bird and Mountain Jim is seeking representation and/or a production company interested in shepherding it forward. Send me a message if you would like to discuss the screenplay.