Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! It is really chilly where I live right now. I think my dog is the only one who appreciates it this cold, but even he will cut evening walks short if its too cold. (Thank goodness for long underwear and thick mittens!)
Most of my activity involves dancing around my living room. It takes a fair bit of dancing to hit the 10,000 step mark on my Fitbit. But fortunately I'm good at finding music that gets me up and moving. Got any tune suggestions to share?
So this upcoming Wednesday, Rosemary will invite you to write about turning into one of your parents – or about resisting that possibility.
On to the word wonderfulness! I'm taking words old or new, poetry or prose, fiction or non fiction. Just be sure to keep all prose to 369 words or less, and just one entry per person.
Greetings,
dear poets and storytellers. I hope your day began with a smile. Or, at
least, with a promise of some mirth to be had. Humor, I feel, makes
life a bit more pleasant. And goodness knows we can never have enough pleasant
these days.
Today’s
prompt was inspired by something I’ve heard a lot lately, from a particular group
of friends who are finally noticing certain truths (which I thought were right in front of their eyes all the
time).
They keep on saying things like, “If I had known A and C, then I would have
never said or done X.” I don’t know how I feel about the whole thing, so… I thought it
would be nice (and quite interesting) to explore the
idea of “If I knew then what I know now”.
So,
for our 54th Weekly Scribblings, I invite you to write new poetry or
prose, inspired by the phrase “If I knew
then what I know now”. You are not required to include the actual words in your
piece, but you certainly can if you wish.
As
always, this prompt will remain open for a week. We welcome fiction and
nonfiction, short and long(ish) pieces—if you go
for prose, let the word count be 369 words or fewer. Please add the direct link
to your contribution, and not just the link to your blog. Do take a moment (or three) to visit other participants, and share
your thoughts on their words.
Like
hindsight, “ifs” can be so tricky. Don’t you think?
By now, I expect, you know these lines by heart. And what stirring lines they are! A message to be embraced! If you’d like to read the rest of Amanda Gorman’s poem on the page, as a change from hearing it so beautifully recited as it was on Inauguration Day, you can find it here.
I
love the (comparatively recent) tradition of poetry being recited at
American Presidential inaugurations. Hard to imagine it happening back
here in laid-back Australia. But then we have a different system, not
being a Republic, and nothing really comparable to that ceremony.
The whole inauguration was splendid, I thought. I watched it in replay some time after the actual event, as there was no way I was getting up at 3am our time – though I believe many Aussies did. It lifted my heart, as I'm sure it did many, many others.
One of our
big national celebrations here, Australia Day, is coming up on January 26th –
a day marked by some controversy, as many of our Indigenous people regard it as
‘Invasion Day’, to be mourned rather than celebrated. This year, I'm glad to say, the events planned will include much
greater recognition of our Indigenous culture, the oldest civilisation
on earth.
Of
course, in this time of pandemic, audiences for Australia Day events
will be strictly limited; most of us will be watching on TV (which in my
case, not being a city dweller, is no different from usual). It looks as
if we'll have good weather; finally, after an unusually cool,
wet summer so far. But we're not complaining; this time last year our
skies were thick with smoke as much of the country burned.
So, after the many trials and traumas of 2020, we can indeed see some new rays of light, the possibility of a new dawn.
Speaking about her poem while it was still being written (Washington Post tells us) Amanda Gorman said she planned a message of hope ... without ignoring “the evidence of discord and division.” I think that’s an excellent reminder of what poets can do: bearing witness to what is so, even the worst of it, whilst also asserting the vision of a brighter future.
Dear wordsmiths, whether you are feeling discordant or alight just now – embracing a new dawn or still climbing the hill – this is your opportunity to share any writing you wish, old or new, poetry or prose, via Mister Linky below. You know the drill: one link per person, please, and we'd like prose pieces of 369 words maximum (excluding title). The link will stay open all week – but the early birds catch more readers.
Speaking of early birds, for
next Wednesday, Magaly would like us to create new
poetry or prose inspired by the phrase, “If I knew then what I know now”. We can
include the actual words in our contribution, but it’s not a requirement.
Enjoy each other’s contributions; I know I always do!
Hello Word Artists and Admirers! In Japanese tea ceremony,
it is customary to give your tools special poetic names. Part of the ceremony usually
includes sharing the names of any special objects with your guests. The tea
scoop used should have a name that reflects the season or time of year.
Since many of us students don’t have fancy scoops with
special names, we’ll often just pick a name that works. For instance, in my
last lesson of 2020, I called my tea scoop toshiwasure, which means ‘forget the
year’.
For this week’s prompt, I’ve selected a few poetic names
from Bruce Hamana Sosei’s book, 100 Beautiful Words in The Way of Tea. Pick the
English version of one (or more if the mood hits you) to shape your words around.
Zuiun – clouds that predict good fortune
Shitamoe – plants sprouting under last year’s dried grass or
under the snow
Hatsuyume – the first dream of the new year
Uzumibi – buried fire
Ryokuin – green shadows (sunlight filtering through green
leaves)
Hotaru-gari – go searching for fireflies
Tsuki-koru – the moon freezes
I'm taking new word offerings of poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. Just be sure to keep all prose offerings to 369 words or fewer, and it'd be helpful to me if you indicate which phrase you're going with someplace in your post. Thanks!
Greetings,
dear poets and storytellers. I hope you and your muse are having a good day. If
not, well… then let us make each other’s day a bit better through words.
One
of the gazillion literary trivia sites I follow informed me that today is Anne Brontë’s birthday. Yep, if she had still been with us, she would’ve been turning
200 (and very likely be suspected of vampirism). When I was
done reading about her accomplishments—novels, a book of poems with her
sisters—I realized that I have never read anything by her. I shall remedy that
soon. I just have to decide if I want to start with Agnes Grey or The
Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Have you read them? If so, which would you
recommend I read first?
In
the meantime, here are some of the lady’s words:
“The ties that bind us to life are
tougher than you imagine, or than any one can who has not felt how roughly they
may be pulled without breaking.” ~ from Agnes
Grey
“Oh, Youth may listen patiently, While sad Experience tells her tale, But Doubt sits smiling in his eye, For ardent Hope will still prevail!” ~ from “Views of Life”
And
because today is also the second anniversary of Mary Oliver’s death, here are a
few lines from our beloved Mary (which
brighten my day whenever loss shrouds it in gloom):
“maybe death isn’t darkness, after all, but so much light wrapping itself around us” ~ from Owls and Other Fantasies:
Poems and Essays
Now,
the Writers’ Pantry is open for word yumminess. Add your poetry or prose, new
or old, short or long(is), jolly or growly; the choice is
always yours. If you choose to delight us with your prose, let the word count
be 369 words or fewer.
Please
remember to add the direct link to your contribution, not just the link to your
blog. That way we can find your post easily, especially if it takes us a few
days to visit you. Take a moment to visit other participants, and let them know
what their words do for you. As always, Mr. Linky will remain open for a week.
- for our
next Weekly Scribblings, Rommy would like us to create new poetry or prose using
one (or as many as we want) of the poetic terms she selected out of
Bruce Hamana Sosei’s book, 100 Beautiful Words in The Way of Tea, which we
can find in this link.
Let us write. Let us read. Let us grow and grow (with words).
Anne Brontë(at age 13) sketched by her sister, Charlotte Brontë
Hello, dear wordsmiths. It was good to have our little holiday over Christmas and New Year – very refreshing – and it’s good to be back!
One of the things I did in the break was lots and lots of reading. And one of the things I read, cover to cover, was Dream Work by Mary Oliver – many people’s favourite poet, and definitely one of my favourites. I don’t think there could be a Mary Oliver poem I would dislike, just not possible!
This is one I like especially:
Prompt:
I invite you to choose a line or phrase from this poem and use it to inspire a new piece of your own writing.
You don’t have to use those actual words in your piece, though you certainly may.
Reminders:
As always, we welcome both poetry and short prose. Prose is limited to 369 words max, and may be either fiction or non-fiction.
Do tell us, in a note on your blog post, which of Oliver's words inspired this piece of writing. (Even if you quote from them – to save us having to check back.)
We’d love you to link back here in your post, and to leave us a quick comment below.
Please visit other participants to read their work and leave an encouraging comment.
This Mister Linky will stay open for one week.
Material shared here is presented for study and review. Poems, photos, and other writings and images remain the property of the copyright owners, usually the authors. (Older material may be out of copyright).
Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Welcome to the first
pantry of the new year. As much as I’d love to cleanly shake off all the dreck
from 2020, I know that things don’t work that way. It’s like when you go to
finally organize a drawer, closet, basement that got way out of hand. When you move
stuff around, it all looks worse than when you first started. But clean-up is necessary
and so are those first shaky steps. Hopefully the break gave us all a chance to
catch our breath so we can go one with what needs doing.
This Wednesday, Rosemary will ask us to write something
based on a line or phrase from the poem “Landscape” by Mary Oliver.
The pantry is now open for business. Share your words old
and new, fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose. Just be sure to keep your
prose to 369 words or fewer. I know we all get a bit busy from time to time and it's so easy to forget when there's a lot going on (*gestures at the mad state of the world*), but it really is a huge help to us when folks stick to the guidelines as much as possible (for instance, adding the link or the title of the prompt you are responding to somewhere in the post) . Thanks, and happy writing!
Welcome back, my dearest poets and
storytellers! Did you enjoy your break? Did you take a break? Since I did a
considerable amount of lurking around your cyber-homes, I know many of you just
kept the words brewing into being—don’t feel too bad, I couldn’t take a real
break either. I spent the last days of December 2020 and the first days of
January 2021 reading (Soulless by
Gail Carriger, Dawn by Octavia E. Butler, The Sun and Her Flowers
by Rupi Kaur,Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer…) and rewriting my own work (I took a page out of Chrissa’s book,
and decided that 2021 would be a year for “finishing drafts”).
Did you read
anything interesting while we were on “break”? Have you made any writing plans
for 2021? Go ahead, tell us… we are listening (and reading, of
course).
Now, while the
topic of looking back and writing forward is still dancing in our minds, let me invite
you to revisit our 2020 Weekly Scribblings selection, and write new poetry
or prose using one of our old prompts. Please add the title (and link, if you can) of your chosen prompt to your
post. Don’t feel like searching? No problem. Here are some choices:
Again,
welcome back, and I hope that 2021 is a year of healing and growing for all.
This
prompt will remain open for a week. One link per participant, please. If you go for prose, the word count should be 369 words or fewer. Let us write
(and read)!
photo
by Toa Heftiba, on Unsplash “Inhale
the present, exhale the past and the future.” ― Leticia Rae (and
write what happens in between)
