Friday Writings #166: Letters / Sounds

 

Hello, dear Word Weavers

Here’s a thought –

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 prompt for 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.

 

Friday Writings #165: Torch

 

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.

Friday Writings #164: Love Is Love

“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. 

via

Friday Writings #163: Backwards, Upside Down, Inside Out

  

 

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”.