Talking on Empty

“Many of our friends are no longer alive or we don’t see them anymore. [Writing poetry] is a way we hold them.” Natalie Goldberg reflects on the end of the year and on friendship by looking at the work of 8th Century poet Wang Wei who lived during the Tang Dynasty in China. Natalie reads several of his poems that capture the “evenness” of Wang Wei’s mind and the deep importance of friendship in Chinese culture at this time. Referencing one of Wang Wei’s poems, she asks, “All that heartbreak, what do you do with it at the end of the year?” Natalie concludes with a Wang Wei-inspired writing assignment, the admonition to “become dumb,” and the encouragement to reach out to our friends.