Friday Writings #179: Starting Over (Again and Again)

 

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Wouldn't it be nice if the road to success was a neat, never wildly undulating, straight line? I'm sure sometimes it works that way, but most of the time, there's a lot of backtracking, second (third and fourth)-guessing, promising starts that ended up being side quests, and so on and so on. I definitely feel that way about my quest to lose the 15 pounds that crept up on me during the early days of Covid. But I've also found that as exhausting as starting over (and over and over) again can be, if the why is strong enough, I can squeeze out just enough energy to to take a tiny step. Then that step leads to another.

So for this week's optional prompt, I invite you to write about starting over... again and again. I'll happily take prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Just please remember that it's one post per person and keep your pieces to 369 words or fewer.

Next week, we'll be inviting you to write about something very small (a thing, a concept, a belief…) that you are very stubborn about.

Friday Writings #178: Pick Your Pic

 

Hello again, dear Word Weavers –

Maureen Thorson’s April prompts this year for Na/GloPoWriMo were complex. We didn’t have to use every aspect of a prompt – in fact the prompts were altogether optional – but when I attempted to do so, they took my poems in directions which I found both unexpected and exciting.

While we were set specific tasks to do with form, style, and subject matter, there was also opportunity for the ekphrastic (in which, as I'm sure most of you know, visual art inspires poetry). Every day we were invited to look for inspiration in particular online art museums, choosing which of a great range of artworks spoke to us poetically. 

I haven’t been very keen on ekphrastics in the past, finding it hard to summon up good poetry about particular paintings, even those I enjoy looking at. It was different this time. With the opportunity to explore vast collections and make our own choices, it was much easier to find something which set lines forming in my head. So I am offering you the same. 



Your prompt this week is to find a piece of visual art which inspires you to poetry – or prose, since here we accept both.

By all means choose something you already know, but if nothing springs to mind you might like to take an online look at one of my favourite galleries: the National Gallery of Victoria, in Melbourne – a city I lived in for many years and have visited often since. Click here to roam around the NGV and see what inspires you. I enjoyed searching particular words, whether artists’ names, regions of the world, styles of art, historical eras …

 

 Entrance to the National Gallery of Victoria, taken by moi in January 2020.
(The display alters as exhibitions change.)

Guidelines: Link your ONE post on Mister Linky, below. 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes). Old or new writing, poetry or prose, on prompt or not.

Next week: We will invite you to write poetry or prose which explores starting over... again and again.   

Friday Writings #177: Comfort Food

 

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Getting sick when the weather outside is gorgeous is a bummer. I'm rarely ever sick, so getting a stomach bug near the beginning of May was a bit of a surprise. Fortunately, it stayed pretty mild. Not enough to make me feverish or spend most of my waking hours in my bathroom, but enough to make me grumpy.

Yeah, about this level of grumpy.

Fortunately I had an ample supply of my favorite comfort food for an out of sorts tummy, oatmeal. Most people find my preferred preparation method to be strange. I like my oatmeal on the watery side, sort of like a melted milkshake, with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon. I know I've gotten some weird looks about it. But when my stomach feels off, that's the first thing I want.

This week's optional prompt is comfort food. You can opt for prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction. Please be sure to keep it to 369 words or fewer, and one entry per person.

Next week's optional prompt will ask you to find a piece of visual art which inspires you to poetry or prose.

Friday Writings #176: Slice of Life

Greetings, word lovers.

 All the days of my last few weeks have been nearly identical copies of each other: sickness, giggly gossip, exhaustion, soothing cuddling, too much time with doctors, listening to audio books, getting just well enough to sneak in a bit of house cleaning and gardening… repeat. I need a bit of variety (even if it’s just someone else’s). So, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to let your poetry or prose be a Slice of Life.

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 lovers of words. Read their contributions. Comment of the words their muse slices out of their lives.

next week, we will invite you to write poetry or prose inspired by comfort food.

 

Friday Writings #175: Stormy Weather

 

 

 

Hello, dear Word Weavers. How is the weather in your neck of the woods?

When I came to think of a prompt for this post, we were in the middle of a big storm here, with wild, noisy rain and thunder.

Also — like many others, including some of you — I was busy ‘writing up a storm’ with a poem a day during April. (I chose the Na/GloPoWriMo prompt site, where the prompts this year were complex, ekphrastic and AMAZING. I was astounded at what they pulled from me, and thrilled to read the brilliant writings others produced.)

Hence our (optional) prompt this time: to be inspired by the idea of storms, literal or metaphorical.

Coincidentally, on the last day of April another participant at Na/GloPoWriMo produced a haiku sequence which neatly sums up both the literal and metaphorical ideas of storms (used with permission; please do not reproduce):

 (This poet blogs at MY AUTHOR-ITIS, using the screen name PCGuyIV.) 

 

 Guidelines: One post per person, poetry or prose, old or new, on prompt or off, word limit 369 excluding title and notes.

 
For next week, let your poetry or prose be a “Slice of Life”.

So many great singers have sung this. I particularly love Lena Horne's rendition. But after all, no-one can surpass the incomparable Ella.