“I stalk certain words... I catch them in mid-flight,
as they buzz past, I trap them, clean them, peel them, I set myself in front of
the dish, they have a crystalline texture to me, vibrant, ivory, vegetable,
oily, like fruit, like algae, like agates, like olives... I stir them, I shake
them, I drink them, I gulp them down, I mash them, I garnish them... I leave
them in my poem like stalactites, like slivers of polished wood, like coals,
like pickings from a shipwreck, gifts from the waves... Everything exists in
the word.”~ Pablo Neruda
This is
one of my favorite quotes. I love what it says about language, about the
relationship(s) between words and feelings and imagination and us… The first
word I fell in love with was “defenestration”—so vivid, so specific, so different
from “skibidi”, which according to a super delulu friend of mine is the
coolest word in the world. But you know what they say, there’s no accounting
for taste. Just kidding. Maybe… *cough*
Anyway,
whether you like skibidi or not, language evolution is an interesting topic to
stir or shake or gulp or even garnish our writings with. So, with that in mind,
my dear poets and storytellers, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you
to write poetry or prose which explores (or includes) the following
words: delulu, lewk, broligarchy.
As always,
add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant,
please. 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. Fill
their comments with your favorite words on their words.
next week, we will invite you to “tell us something good”. We know
the world is full of a lot of bad, at the moment. So, any good (even
if tiny) would be great to read about.
Recently our local art gallery had an exhibition of spiders (who are also weavers) – a particular kind of spider called Maratus or Peacock Spiders, which are very tiny, about the size of a grain of rice. They were photographed by Maria Fernanda Cardoso using special techniques to magnify them greatly, showing their incredible beauty. They also dance! That is, the colourful males do, to attract the females.
Google explains:
The photographer most known for capturing images of Maratus spiders, also known as peacock spiders, isMaria Fernanda Cardoso.Her photographic series, titled"Spiders of Paradise," focuses on these tiny, vibrantly colored Australian spiders.The series is part of a larger exploration of the intersection between art, science, and nature, showcasing the unique beauty and sophisticated behaviors of these creatures.
Cardoso's work is not just about photography; it also incorporates video and installation, further highlighting the Maratus spiders' mating rituals and overall place in the natural world. Her collaboration with Geoff Thompson, a scientific imager at the Queensland Museum, has resulted in detailed, magnified photographs of the spiders, revealing intricate details of their anatomy.
These spiders were also featured nationally on a recent TV episode of Gardening Australia (Friday 8 August) where a young naturalist explored them. If anyone has access to our ABC iView, you can probably still catch that program for a while.
Here are a couple of my own photos of the Cardoso photos, taken at Tweed Regional Art Gallery (where it is allowed so long as one doesn’t use flash).
For your optional prompt this week, I’m asking you to write about something small but beautiful. (You may choose to write of these spiders, if you like – even in these particular photos, which would make your piece ekphrastic.) Alternatively(or simultaneously) you might like to present us with a piece of writing which is itself very small and also beautiful.
Guidelines: Old or new writings, poetry or prose, on prompt or not – your choice. 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes). One post per person, and link to it at Mister Linky, below. Please look at what others submit and leave them some encouraging comments.
A suggested form –
I’ve just caught up with the fact that there is now a thing called flash poetry. Some writers use it as the new name for prose poetry in general. Others insist that it is a distinct kind of prose poetry, and must be characterised by ‘flashiness’: emotional intensity, immediacy, sharply vivid imagery, the capturing of a moment rather than a narrative.
It need not be as short as a piece of flash fiction or such verse forms as haiku and tanka. But brevity and conciseness are features. And it is set out as prose, not in lines of verse. Here, used with permission, is a brand-new example by my dear friend and soul-sister, Texas poet, muso and artist Connie Williams, whom I met on my poetry tour of Texas in 2006:
Here is my wish list: A Santa Clause wish list to the magical man himself, like Daddy: I’m gonna be a gold girl now list, tell me it’s not too late list, I want my piano tuned and regulated, I want to play Debussy with my passion Clair de Lune and have the moon rippling across my living room. I’ll pull back the curtains and only the shadows will hide the beams as my fingers follow the notes already imprinted on my mind I want a big PC computer and printer full of life to dig my fingers in and pull out my brains hidden inside my heart, to throw it doesn’t matter to the wind and bury all the mistakes on the white papers begging on their folded knees to be filled with my stories And tickets, tickets to all the places I have never gone and the one I want to go back to that has everything already. It was put together on sight. Who would have guessed. My last words are borrowed, this: If I could put time in a bottle. I am listening hopefully. All aboard.
(Note: 'gold girl' is intentional. I thought it was a typo, but Connie told me: 'Good girl is trite. Gold girl is new, fresh, original.')
Of course you may use any form you like (or none) for what you share with us here. But this week you might like to try writing it as a flash poem. I think that would actually fit well with our optional subject prompt.
And always, our final suggestion, whether we say so or not, is: Have fun!
Next Week: We shall invite you to write poetry or prose which explores (or includes) the following words: delulu, lewk, broligarchy.
Hello, word artists and admirers! As a tea person, I've learned to adore all the seasonal changes throughout the year. I'm loving the sound of cicadas as I walk my corgi and the late summer vibes that have settled into my part of the U.S. But I'd also be lying if I didn't say that a part of me isn't dreaming of cooler weather and Halloween in the fall. So why not appreciate both at once?
Say hello to Summerween! It was first mentioned on a cartoon called Gravity Falls, but has started taking off in popularity in recent years. Summerween is all about blending summer things with spooky vibes. You could make an argument that summer camp slasher movies were doing Summerween way before Gravity Falls. But I'd argue that Japan led the pack, celebrating summer spookiness since before the Edo Era (about 400 years ago).
I was unprepared for the amount of horror beach music that exists
--and how much fun they are!
So for today's optional prompt, I am suggesting getting into the Summerween spirit, writing something with both spooky and summery themes. I'm taking fiction and non-fiction, poetry and prose. Just be sure to keep your pieces to 369 words or fewer, and one entry per person, please.
Next week, our optional prompt shall ask you to write on something small but beautiful.
“The most important step a man can take. It’s not the
first one, is it? It’s the next one. Always the next step…”~ Brandon
Sanderson
Some years
ago, when I first read those words, in Branden Sanderson’s Oathbringer, my
answer to that question was, “The first step”. But after having to start over again
and again and again… I agree with the character in the book. First steps are vital—if
we don’t start, nothing ever happens—but what really makes a difference is
taking the next step, the one that says, This is me moving foward.
So, my
dear poets and storytellers, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you
to write poetry or prose which explores the same question: What’s the most
important step a person can take?
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,
and take the next step: Let your words show them how their words make you feel.
next week,
we’ll invite you to write poetry or prose inspired by Summerween (or scary
things that happen in the summer).
“Scars are stories, written on the body.” ~Kathryn Harrison
The other day, while waiting to see one of my
doctors, two boys got into an argument over which of them had the most impressive
scars. They were both scarred on the face and neck (that I could see) and
trying to figure out which would make the best superhero, by reason of scar
placement. I had been having a rotten day—my body was in pain—but the scar/superhero debate made it all better. The boys look so animated, so happy, so willing to just be.
Few things make me happier than seeing people
making the best of the bad life has served them. And because I wish to
cultivate that feeling, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to
find a scar on your body (or in your mind/heart), and write poetry or
prose inspired by it (how it happened, how it makes you feel, what it means
to you...). If you don’t have any scars (hey, it could happen!),
then find inspiration in the concept of scars.
Please,
add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant.
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 contributors.
Comment on their words.
next week,
we will invite you to write poetry or prose which explores the following question:
What’s the most important step a person can take?
