Greetings, dear wordsmiths! Today I'm feeling inspired by one of our regular participants.
‘Human arrogance is boiling over’ said Rob Kistner in a comment to a recent Writers’ Pantry, after writing a moving poem about the need for poets to speak out about environmental damage; this poem, which I invite you to read now if you missed it before.
I replied to his comment that it was such a good line, it deserved to be used in a future poem. So, right now, let’s all use it as inspiration – not necessarily the words themselves so much as the idea. (If you do use the actual words, please add a footnote to say you're quoting Rob.) With that inspiration, let’s use our poetic voices now to speak for our earth and its inhabitants.
Can this do any good, really? Possibly not – but keeping silent will assuredly have no effect. We do what we can, and what we can do is write poems and stories. Let's have our words boil over!
When we’ve written them, what then? Maybe submit the finished piece to a literary journal, either online or off? Perhaps send it as a letter to the editor of the local paper … or to one of the major nationals, why not? Print it out and stick it up on a public notice-board (signed or unsigned, up to you)? Recite it at poetry readings? Email it to all your friends? Post it on Facebook or Twitter?
For starters, please use Mister Linky, below, to link us to it at your blog.
It can be poetry or prose, newly written especially for this prompt, or something recent which addresses the subject. (We need prose pieces to be 369 words maximum, excluding title). Older pieces are acceptable too if substantially rewritten. Do of course have a read of each other’s, and if any of them make you go, ‘Wow!’ maybe you could share the link on your social media? Let’s spread the word!
Image by damnikia, freely available from Unsplash.
Happy Wednesday, everybody!
ReplyDeleteHow embarrassing – when it came to write for my own prompt, I had trouble. Let's just say I've written better haibun and they have included better haiku. But it's my prompt, so I felt I must produce something, no matter how flawed. Hopefully I got the point across, anyway.
I had trouble with the prompt, too. I found it difficult to get into; not so much that I couldn't come up with ideas, but that I was hard to write about the things the line inspires without getting really, really, really angry. We haven't been doing all that great, we humans...
DeleteI'm looking forward to reading your piece.
Thanks for hosting, Rosemary love!
I wojld love to see really, really, really angry Magaly. A lot more people need to get a whole lot more angry, about many important issues. I start with the housekeeping of our spaceship earth. I don’t stop there, but if we wipe ourselves out, the rest kinda become moot points.
DeleteGood morning!! My alarm is set for seven, I've been sitting on the edge of the bed writing. Now there's time for a short nap. We all want a voice here but "What should I say?" I tried a two-verse Severling, not quite balanced good but it's done. I may add a bit of my preschool history later on my Muse's whisper. She's good to me, very forgiving. Like you, Rosemary, thank you for hosting this again.
ReplyDelete..
A forgiving Muse is a great treasure!
Delete@Jim, what Rosemary said!
DeleteMay she rest in peace. My mother passed away this morning (91 in May). She lived with my sister Chris who took good care of her.
ReplyDelete⚘⚘⚘
gillena
Oh, Gillena! I echo your prayer for her, and thank you for sharing this news with us. Take gentle care of yourself!
DeleteDeepest condolences, Gillena.
DeleteHi Rosemary. I am both humbled and honored you found my poem inspirational. It was written in a moment of peak frustration over the madness I constantly read in environmental headlines, or hear in news broadcasts. If “We Weep” can inspire others to keep the volume of awareness turned up — then let’s get it up to full blast. Gary Snyder is a top three favorite poet if mine. He loves, like I love the natural world. His simple beautiful works inspire me. We are abusing the earth’s ecosystem mindlessly. We must all do our part, in our small personal way. And keep the pressure on the big abusers. Will we save the ecosystem into which we are so tightly stitched, and which we depend upon for our survival — I hope so. But if we sit by silently and inactively, then it’s our children’s, children’s, children who will likely pay a grave price.
ReplyDeleteYes, Rob, I absolutely agree!
DeleteI looked for somewhere to contact you privately via your blog to ask permission for using your words. But I didn't find it, and decided that you had made the words public anyway, so...
PS Tsk! I see I didn't finish linking to your poem on my blog post. (Got interrupted.) I've done it now.
DeleteRosemary— Please consider any “comments” I print publicly to be usable. Linking to any of my poetry, with credit given, also always fine. 👍 Reprinting anything I have copyrighted, please ask first. 🙂
DeleteOf course! But how does one ask, apart from by comment on a particular piece? I couldn't see an email function on your blog, for instance.
Delete