Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Miss Magaly asked me to fill in for her this week and the topic of self-empathy. Admittedly, I didn't know all that much about the topic. But I'm always game to learn more! So from the article she gave as a reference:
Self-compassion involves treating yourself with the same kindness, concern, and support you’d show to a good friend.
Inquisitive person that I am, I found another article that talked about techniques to build self-empathy. I already make sure I'm around positive, supportive people, but I know I could be better about showing myself kindness.
So this week's optional prompt is to explore the concept of self-empathy in your pieces. Prose or poetry will do, as will fiction or non-fiction. Just be sure to keep it to 369 words or fewer and one piece per person please.
Next week, Magaly will return to tackle the topic of misunderstood words or misconceptions.
What if you were to start a piece of writing not with an idea but a sound? If you were to choose a particular letter of the alphabet and the sound it makes, and let the subject arise out of that? And then repeat that letter in that piece of writing, over and over? The first time such an idea was suggested to me, I chose the letter M, with its warm, soft ‘mmm’ sound. That led me to thoughts of my mother, and my childhood home, Tasmania. I called the resulting prose poem Remembrance. You can read it here.
My island home — or part thereof. (Photo taken in Tasmania by Patrick McGregor; available on Unsplash)
A hard, sharp sound might have caused my thoughts to go somewhere
very different. What mood, or subject, would repetitions of L suggest?
Or P? Or J? Or hard G? Or S? Etc. I notice all these are consonants.
Where might the vowels take us? Click here for some ideas on that.
(Incidentally, I have now found out that these sounds are known as
phonemes. In the teaching of reading, the linking of sounds and letters
is called phonics.)
Would you like to give it try? If so –
Your optional promptfor this week is to choose one letter of the alphabet, let its sound suggest what to write about, and use that letter repeatedly in the resulting piece of writing.
Guidelines: Poetry or prose, old or new, on prompt or not. 369 words maximum, excluding title and notes. One post per person. We encourage you to read other people’s submissions and leave (encouraging) comments. You’re welcome to talk to us and each other in the comments here, too.
Next week Magaly will invite us to find inspiration in Self-Empathy.
Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Perhaps because it's been so cold here in northeastern USA, I've been thinking longingly about warm things. My still fairly new to me corgi, Jelly Bean, requires lots of walks to get her used to going potty outdoors. That results in more time outside (and more large mugs of tea as soon as I get inside).
So for today's optional prompt, I'm going to pick something warm to work with--the word torch. You may interpret it in any way you wish, in either poetry or prose form. Just please be sure to keep your pieces to 369 words or fewer, and just one entry per person please.
Next week, Rosemary will ask us to choose one letter of the alphabet, let its sound suggest what to write about, and use that letter repeatedly in the resulting piece of writing.
“I think… if it is true that there are as many minds as
there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” ~ Leo Tolstoy
Once
upon a time (on a Valentine’s Day far, far away), I got
into an argument (okay, a fight) over the opening quote. Someone said there was
only one kind of romantic love. And I might’ve said that the someone in question was
an idiot to believe such nonsense. I was young, and my tact muscles were weak, so don’t
judge me too harshly. Never mind, I’m not all that young right now, and I still think
that person was an idiot, so… judge me as harshly as you must. Better yet, my dear
poets and storytellers, let’s leave that particular memory behind and focus on today’s
optional prompt:
I invite you to find inspiration in the phrase “love is
love”.
As
always, add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant,
please. 369 words maximum (excluding title). You may share old or new pieces of poetry
or prose, write to the prompt or to a topic of your choosing. Visit other writers.
Let your words show them how their words make you feel.
next week,
Rommy will invite us to use the word “torch” in our poetry or prose.
Dear Word Weavers, in late 2023 a very dear friend of many years died. I wrote a poem about that some months later, but was disappointed in it. It said things I wanted to say, but the saying seemed somehow lack-lustre. I let it lapse for a while.
Recently I was looking through one of my favourite books of exercises for poets: WINGBEATS II (the sequel to an equal favourite, just-plain WINGBEATS), edited by Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen, with chapters by a number of other poets. I came upon a chapter called ‘An Exercise in Derangement’ written by Carmen Gimenez Smith. She suggests copying out a poem backwards, word by word, starting with the final word and finishing with the first one. But that’s only the first step. Then she advises treating the result as ‘an open space’ which may be used in a number of further possible ways — turning verbs into nouns and vice-versa; or using the fractured syntax which the back-to-front poem ends up with to create ‘new and strange phrases’. Her idea is that you may make a completely new poem.
I didn’t go quite so far with my elegy for my friend — for one thing, I didn’t end up with a poem on a completely different subject, but a more interesting version of the original. Reading it through backwards gave me a new perspective. The new version keeps the reverse order, beginning at what was the end, and finishing with what was the start. In between, the ‘deranged’ sequence of words suggested ways to re-order the details: rewriting some, omitting others, adding a few that weren’t there before. It’s now a poem I’m much happier to make public. I’ll use it as my link for this week.
(In the process, I abandoned the original Sevenling form. I just now went back and tried yet another revision, much closer to the original, in couplets. I think it's better than the original, but I don't like it as much as the 'deranged' version.)
A thing that wasn't part of the exercise, but which it occurred to me to try with some other poems, is to write the backwards version (initially) as a stream of prose, omitting punctuation. I find this opens up a wider new creative space to work in.
Your optional prompt this week is to rewrite one of your not-quite-working pieces by transcribing it backwards, and then following wherever that leads you. (Tip: try it on a fairly short poem, or else it could become too tedious and time-consuming.) Perhaps you'd care to show us the earlier version too — either by a link on your post or including it there? Up to you!
Guidelines: One post per person. 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes). It can be old or new, poetry or prose, on prompt or not. Use Mister Linky, below, to take us to that post on your blog. When possible, please enjoy and comment on each other’s posts. (Talk to us here too, if you wish.)
Preview: Next week, Magaly will invite us to find inspiration in the phrase “love is love”.
Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! It's times like these that I am grateful for my tea practice. Things have been feeling jarringly chaotic of late, so time spent with my fellow tea students (or practicing an abbreviated version of it on my own) goes a long way towards helping me stay sane.
This week's optional prompt is all about finding "joy in the chaos". As always, poetry and prose are welcome, as are fiction and non-fiction. Just please be sure to stick to one entry per person and 369 words or fewer.
Next week, Rosemary will ask us to 'rewrite one of your not-quite-working pieces by transcribing it backwards, and then following wherever that leads you. (Tip: try it on a fairly short poem, or else it could become too tedious and time-consuming.)'
Brain Rot: (n.)
Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially
viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online
content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something
characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.
Such a
telling word, don’t you think?
The Oxford
Word of the Year for 2025 is a phrase. Or a two-word noun, I suppose. Whichever
way we spell it, dear poets and storytellers, brain rot casts a clear picture. And since I
am known for enjoying a word that says it (writes
it? shows it?) like it is, for today’s optional prompt, I invite
you to use said word in your poetry or prose.
Please,
add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant.
369 words maximum (excluding title), for prose and for poetry. You may
share old or new pieces of poetry or prose. You may write to the prompt or to a
topic of your choosing. Visit other writers. Read their
contributions. Let your comments show them your lack of brain rot. 😜
next
week, Rommy will invite us to find
inspiration in the phrase “joy in chaos”.
Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! How was your holiday season? It was a bit of a whirlwind for me. January looks very, very slow in comparison to my December, but that's just fine by me. The post-holiday slowdown is exactly what I need to recharge.
So this week's optional prompt is "low battery". Interpret that phrase however you wish in either poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. Just be sure to keep your response to 369 words or fewer, and one entry per person, please.
Next week, Magaly will invite us to write poetry or prose which includes the phrase “brain rot”.
I very much hope that none of our USA participants are in the middle of the horrendous Los Angeles fires!
On a happier note, I trust you enjoyed our end-of-year break. I am still partly in holiday mode, having had a very pleasant — and lazy — time of much reading, watching TV, and getting together with friends.
Writing? Not so very much. However I did embark on one strange little project.
I have long been a member of the Found Haiku group on facebook, and realised I hadn’t posted there in a while. So I began to actively look for haiku in unexpected places: some happy juxtaposition of words never intended as a haiku at all.
Here is an old one I found on my own front window. The bottom sign was there when Andrew and I moved in here at the start of 2010; the other I added some time later. Later still, I glanced at the two in conjunction and realised I had found a haiku:
warning — fairies live here (Neighbourhood Watch)
from my front window
In the last few days, actively searching, I have found some in a magazine, a book, and one in a longer poem of my own:
Feline
In the dim light he is hard to see, the tawny tiger resting in the height of the shadowy green in the sly dark.
Though his face is dark, his eyes gleam light not yellow but green, and I know he can see where I try to hide, my fabulous tiger.
And I can see, against the green of the bedroom chair in which he hides, my cat in the dark with eyes of light.
April Poem A Day Challenge 2014, day 13: an animal poem. Suggestion: use a sestina. As I am having an insanely busy April, I opted for a mini-sestina, a form devised by Aussie poet Myron Lysenko. (Published in the collaborative collection She Too, CXD, 2014).
which became:
tawny tiger — my cat in the dark with eyes of light
(Intended not as a replacement but a new poem.)
I then wondered how many more haiku I might find in my longer poems and set about hunting. It was fun, and quite exciting, and reminded me of the whole concept of remixing.
The definition of remix in Wikipedia is: 'A remix ... is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The only characteristic of a remix is that it appropriates and changes other materials to create something new.'
That suggests that one takes someone else's artwork to make one's own remix; however I don't see why we can't remix our own originals too.
Prompt: So, for your optional prompt this week, I invite you to look through your writings and see if there is anything you might remix to make a new piece. You needn’t turn them into haiku (unless you want to); there are many possibilities. Please add a link to the original piece if possible, or if not include it as a note on your new post. Guidelines: One post per person. 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes). Old or new / poetry or prose / on prompt or not. When possible, please enjoy and comment on each other’s posts. (Talk to us here too, if you’d like.)
Preview: Next week, our Rommy will ask us to reflect on the phrase "low battery".
Greetings,
word lovers! Are you excited about 2025? Hm… I almost deleted that question,
then decided to leave it. The truth is that I’m more anxious than excited about
this year. So much to do. So little time. So much turmoil. To survive—and to
thrive—we must plan and prioritize with care (at
least, I must).
With that
in mind, for today’s optional prompt, I (and
by “I” I mean Rommy and Rosemary and moi) invite you to write about what comes
to mind when you see the word “prioritize”.
Add
the direct link to your response to Mister Linky, please. One post per participant.
369 words maximum (excluding title), for prose and for poetry. Share old
or new pieces of poetry or prose. Write to the prompt or to a topic of your
choosing. Visit other poets and storytellers. Comment on their words. Wish them a Happy New Year!
for next week, Rosemary will invite us to look through our writings and
see if there is anything we might remix to make a new piece.
