Weekly Scribblings #36: “a phoenix first must burn”

How do you react when you make small mistakes? Do you scream? Do you sigh? Do you kick something while laughing hysterically? Sometimes, my reaction to committing error on the first-degree involves all of the above… all at once. But not today. This morning—I guess that it’ll be yesterday morning by the time you read this—when I noticed that last Sunday, we (and by “we” I mean “me”) announced the wrong Weekly Scribblings topic, I just nodded at the universe.

You see, today’s prompt was supposed to be about metaphors gone wild. But it seems that I had some of Octavia Butler’s words dancing around my skull, so a bit from one of her quotes leaked into our prompt; either that, or my subconscious took the opportunity to remind me not to lose it—things have been extra tough lately. And when the whole world seems to be on fire, I think most of us try to find ways to make sense of the madness. The thought that every now and again, things must get horrid before they get cool, makes a lot of sense to me—and gives me hope, too.

So, my dear poets and storytellers, for today’s prompt, I invite you to birth new poetry or prose inspired by the phrase “a phoenix first must burn”. Go literally or figuratively. The choice is always yours. If you choose to go with prose, please let your count be 369 words or fewer. One entry per participant. Mr. Linky will remain open for a week.

Let’s write. Let’s read. Let’s share thoughts.

While searching for a fiery background to display Octavia Butler’s quote: “In order to rise from its own ashes, a Phoenix first must burn”, I ran into this cover. I haven’t read the anthology yet, but I fell in total love with the title, the cover, and the premise, the moment I saw the book.