Friday, July 29, 2022

Friday Writings #37: Stay Happy and Alive

Greetings, dear poets and storytellers. I hope you and your muse are feeling well, and in the mood for creative words. My creative juices have been a bit s l u g g i s h… So, I decided to read quotes on creativity, which I’ve been collecting for a while. A quote by our own dsnake1’s, in response to a poem about doing and thinking something fresh stayed with me. He said, I think, to stay creative, is to stay happy and alive.For today’s optional prompt, I invite you to create poetry or prose inspired by dsnake1’s words.


photo by Tim Mossholder, on Unsplash

As usual, if this prompt isn’t for you, please share a piece of your choosing. Let it be new or old, fiction or nonfiction, short or longish (prose pieces should be 369 words or fewer). Share the direct link to your post. One link per participant. After you add your words, visit other writers, delight in their creations, and let them know what the product of their creativity does for you.

next week, Rommy will invite you to let your muses spend some quality time with the phrase “to burn”. What comes up for you when you read those words?

Friday, July 22, 2022

Friday Writings #36: Sunset

Hello, dear wordsmiths. What’s inspiring you lately?

Last month the photography group I belong to on Facebook had Sunsets as one of the monthly themes.  What astonishingly beautiful photos were shared! They lifted everyone’s spirits, as I think the beauty of nature always does.

Here is one of mine. We have such wonderful skies where I live that it would be hard to take a bad photo of them. (And, though some other members’ shots were even more spectacular, I don’t have to ask anyone else’s permission to share this one.) 

 

Photo © Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2016



I wonder what thoughts and feelings a beautiful sunset inspires in you? A memory? A journey? A fiction? The coming of dreams? (If you're sweltering in the Northern Hemisphere, perhaps you are wishing the sun would set on all the excess heat and rise cooler tomorrow – whereas in Australia we are shivering in unusual cold and wishing the opposite.)

The optional prompt this week is to share whatever sunset may inspire in you.

Or else, please feel free to write on whatever other topic you like.

Link (below) to your post of prose or poetry, old or new, classical or experimental or anything in-between – one post per person. Please keep prose to 369 words maximum (excluding title).

The prompt will be open all week. Do have look at others’ responses, leave a comment, and don’t forget to come back towards the end of the week so as not to miss any late linkers. We welcome any comments you’d like to make here, too.

Next week, Magaly will invite us to create poetry or prose inspired by the following phrase: “to stay creative, is to stay happy and alive.”

 

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RIP Bev 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I wrote this post I didn't know that our dear Beverley Crawford would have gone into the sunset by the time it appears. I have now learned that she passed away very early on July 15th, peacefully in her sleep. (Some of you may know this news already, as our Helen linked a rhyming post in tribute to her last week – but it came in on Tuesday, so you may have missed that.) Bev went into care a little while ago, after which she didn't keep up her blog but did still post to facebook and sounded positive and happy as always. I have left the following message on her facebook page on behalf of us all – and of course you may add your own personal messages there if you wish, and were among her fb friends:

Her friends at Poets and Storytellers United are so sad to learn that our lovely, joyous friend Bev has passed away – though glad to learn it happened peacefully in her sleep. Her poetry was always a delight, and so was she. She was much loved and will be missed. Our sincere condolences to her family and friends.

Off to the Moon

If only Bev had stayed a little longer! But perhaps she knows anyway. She and many others who contribute to P&SU have also played at dVerse, and had poems in the dVerse anthology Chiaroscuro. Samuel Peralta, whom many of us know as a poet/editor/publisher/scientist active online over the years, has arranged for this anthology to go into a time capsule for the moon, and asks those in it (including me and a number of you) to spread the word to contributors he hasn't been able to reach.

 

  The #LunarCodex inducts into the Polaris time capsule the authors of dVerse Poets Pub's CHIAROSCURO anthology, edited by Björn Rudberg and Mary Grace Guevara Polaris is targeted for the 2023 SpaceX / Astrobotic Griffin lander / NASA VIPER rover mission, headed for the Lunar South Pole.

* * Now indexed in https://www.lunarcodex.com/poetry * *

 

Friday, July 15, 2022

Friday Writings #35: Hope

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! I’ve just gotten back from a much-needed vacation. My family headed up to Maine, where we shared a cabin with some close (and fully vaccinated) friends. We mostly hung out at the cabin, reading and playing games. Though the book lovers among us just had to make a trip to the local library, both to borrow books and take advantage of the annual library sale. I picked up a copy of These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickenson by Martha Ackman.


My mind has been on Emily recently, especially on one of her most famous poems, “Hope” is the thing with feathers. I know I could do with reflecting a bit more on hope in my life. So, for this week’s prompt (if you choose to use one) I’d like you to think about hope and what word brings up for you. I’m taking both poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction. Just be sure to keep your prose pieces to 369 words or fewer and one entry per person please.

Next week, Rosemary will ask us to think about what thoughts and feelings a beautiful sunset inspires in you and share that inspiration in your pieces.



Friday, July 8, 2022

Friday Writings #34: Unsavory Topics

“Some topics are too unsavory to discuss at this moment.”

That was part of the response a member of a chronically ill forum received, after they asked why the word list they submitted for future group discussions had been rejected. I was surprised when I heard of it, but was feeling too tired at the time to participate in the debate the rejection exploded into being. Since I thought they were rather good words (and not unsavory in the least), I selected 3 of them for today’s optional prompt. So, dear poets and storytellers, if your muse and you are looking for a bit of inspiration, I invite you to create poetry or prose which includes one or all of the following terms: belief, choice, freedom.

If the prompt doesn’t speak to you, share a piece that does. Let your contribution be new or old, unsavory or pleasant, short or longish (prose pieces should be 369 words or fewer). Share the direct link to your post. One link per participant. After you share your bit, visit other writers and let them know just how not unsavory you find their words.

next week, our Rommy will ask us to write about hope.