Second Session Handout

WORK FOR NEXT TIME

Write something about thoughts of loss. As with the previous assignment you can approach these from a range of different points of view and through a range of techniques.  You can use imagery,  conversation,  actions, ‘voices in the head’ and stream of consciousness.    The thing to avoid is the bland expression like ‘She felt devastated at the loss’ or ‘she missed him so much’   These can be used but in practice all too often sound ‘wet’       Some scenarios.

1

Loss of a person through death.    The narrator thinks about the lost person.  But how.  Try to avoid simply mentioning this or that emotion.    What does the bereaved person do?  What images come to mind unbidden?   Where does he/she go for solace?   How complicated are his/her feelings?  How would you embody ambiguous feelings such as

·                You were a terrible wife/husband but . . .

·                You never looked after me as a child, or seemed to care about me, but . . .

·                I know I should feel this but . . .

2

Loss of an object -  such as a ring,  a childhood toy,  a love letter,  a stash of money in the cellar.   The narrator had always  assumed – over decades -  that it was there – in the drawer, the cellar, the writing desk, the attic.   Suddenly they find it’s not.   Now it is only in their mind as a memory.  So part of the sense of loss is the clarity of the recollection, touch, feel, scent, and so on.    But also – and here you can be philosophical -  the thought that, well, if I’ve in fact never looked at it all this time, just had the feeling /comfort of it being there, has anything change?

          You could also spend some time here on a slightly different kind of thought process, thinking in the sense of working out what could have happened, where it might have got to, accompanied by some rummaging.

3

Loss of a job, or ‘name’,   or some other position or status.   Scenarios might be

·         Vicar caught in the store-cupboard with the secretary of the Young Mother’s Group,  you’re shamed

·         Loosing touch, you’re passed over for the younger man/woman.  Dream promotion is never going to happen.

·         False identity and  past have been discovered, but in fact you never were a paedophile/hooker/Nazi. . .

4

Loss of control of your situation or self

·         imprisoned

·         suffering from stress, 

·         signs of Alzheimer’s,  

·         extremely provoked