Guten Tag, Reader,

My parents are buried in a forest. They call it Friedwald here in Germany. Peace Forest. Or Ruhe Forst. Resting Woods.

I took some time today to sit below their tree.

Really the only reasonable thing to do outside in Germany during the current heatwave: Sit on the ground below a canopy of beech and oak. Listen to the blackbirds. Allow the memories to float up through the soil, the body, the brain.

Notice.

Today I caught a memory about my father. A game we used to play where I would would write down five words on a napkin or a waitress' notepad and he would make up a story on the spot. Sometimes we did this on long hikes, too. Car rides. Any situation in which a curious child might get bored without a story.*

As I got older, my words were only seemingly random. I would try real hard to come up with the most disparate nouns, verbs, and adjectives my young brain could conjure. And he'd deliver delight. Every single story.

And as this memory wound itself through places, circumstances, and story fragments in my brain, I realized that this "Wortespiel" (Game of Words) was very similar to one of the micro quests I just offered in the first Midlife Wilderness Basecamp Zine that went out on the solstice.

Only I called it Found Poetry there.

And so this afternoon, in the cool basement of my friends' house I grabbed the first book I could find*** and my five words were

• antwortete (answered)
• Augenblick (moment, but literally an "eye's glance")
• einmal (once)
• Kissenbzug (pillowcase, my inner child was delighted with the disparateness)
• Unterhaltungen (conversations)

And here is my quick-ish poem:

Stay cool and curious.

Liebe Grüße,

P.S. I would lovelovelove if you sent me your piece of Found Poetry. You can use my words (fun) or 5 different random ones (also fun). Simply reply to this email. Do it especially if you think thoughts like "I can't do stuff like that," or "I did it, but it's bad." I dare you...

* I sometimes hear complaints that children need more boredom, but I guess I am making the case here that parents' creativity could benefit from bored children, too.

** Registration to Basecamp is open all year. No deadlines. No pressure. Step through the portal here.

*** an illustrated version of Don Quijote, thank you for being curious.

If you found something valuable in today's letter, why not buy me a coffee? I am keeping my writing AI-free, which means a lot of creativity goes into it. You can leave a tip for me here or Venmo me @sylke-laine.