The Wisdom of Squatting
and some other stuff about online writing workshops
Photo by Martin Jernberg on Unsplash
In this newsletter, you’ll find the link to a poem about squatting by Robert Morgan and a short piece I wrote from it, an invitation to write your own response, and a list of all Write Your Way In workshops and series for the winter of 2023.
Here’s the link to the poem, Squatting by Robert Morgan
This is what I came up with:
I’ve often wondered if those men in dusty lungis and women in faded saris suffer lower back issues. They squat by the roadsides and on city sidewalks, squirting red-brown betel juice into the dirt, lengths of fabric wound and knotted on their heads, teeth stained dark red. Once, on my way to the ashram, a man called to me from a deep ditch. Something provocative in Hindi or a local dialect. A flirtation or a summoning while taking a shit in a ditch. Maybe his back didn’t hurt.
When my son was small, I watched with keen interest how his body moved; how, when he stopped to observe or play with something close to the ground, he dropped easily into a squat. When he fell, he pushed himself first into a squat before standing up.
Our western world is obsessed with comfort. Comfort at the expense of our backs and our bowels. Ironic as it is, our chairs, cars, and toilets designed for ease, weaken our legs and pelvic floors.
The people in India who squat by the roadside and squat to defecate, are the ones I’ve seen carrying pans of hot asphalt on their heads or hauling rocks without the aid of machinery. The untouchables, they were called and perhaps still are, are strong, sinewy, and supple, but of course, this could be all shot from my own personal projector—a magical version of the poor.
One afternoon on the far side of the Mulla River in Poona, two very weathered, sun-beaten women with creased faces and missing teeth, walked side by side. They wore no blouse under the worn fabric of their saris. The nearby workmen hooted and hollered, and women cast scornful glares. The thing was, barely a suggestion of breasts showed under the discreetly draped saris. My friend, Neelam, told me that the blouses, or choli, Indian women now wear were an English introduction from the 1800s; that traditionally they didn’t exist and women who covered their breasts were once thought to be impure.
When I was in India, many homes I visited, and all of the newer ones, had western toilets, whereas, in smaller villages and older homes, one could find footholds on either side of holes, and if you were lucky, there would also be a “bum squirter.” But that’s another story.
If you have a story of squatting for any purpose, one of an inability to squat, or anything else inspired by either the poem or my little wander through the subject, I’d love to read it.
You’re welcome to put your response in the comment section or send me an email.
Write Your Way In programs and individual workshops are up on the site for the new year. No experience is necessary and workshops are open to all.
I hope you’ll join me!
*note: These Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) sessions are limited to 6 participants which allows for ample writing and feedback time. All workshops are open to writers at all levels of confidence and experience, and each workshop features unique prompts – no repeats!
You can find all the details on each of the following here.
Here’s a sampling of what’s available:
· Every Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. Eastern, enjoy two hours of generative writing and supportive feedback.
· Starting January 6 for six alternating Fridays, enjoy a series of poetry workshops from 12 – 2 p.m. Eastern.
· If Fridays don’t work for you or if you want more poetry time, starting January 7, from 1 – 3 p.m. Eastern.
· On the alternating Saturdays, starting on January 14 at 1 p.m. and running for 6 series, you can enjoy open prompt workshops.
· A six-session series on alternating Monday evenings starts on January 16 from 7 – 9:30.
· For four alternating Monday evenings starting on January 23, we’ll explore the four pillar archetypes: Child, Victim, Prostitute, and Saboteur.