Friday Writings #229: Wonderful! Which No Longer Fits…

A couple of weeks ago, an old friend invited me to The Tulip Dig, an event that involves a bunch of New Yorkers digging up tulip bulbs from certain areas in Park Avenue. I declined—the stitches from my last surgeries were still fresh (and angry). Also, playing in dirt (fertilized with manure) is not the most intelligent of activities when one’s immune system is not 100% reliable (um… probably, not even 85%). Anyway, last week, a mutual friend of the “old friend” called me to ask about my depression, since they were told that “she (meaning moi) no longer enjoys the things she used to love doing. And everybody knows what that means.”

I’m not depressed (thank goodness). But after surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and more surgeries… my flesh and bones and immune system and I have never been quite the same. I’ve had to make a lot of changes, be selective about my priorities, and find fun replacements for many of the things I used to love (which my body and energy levels no longer accommodate well). I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Time, circumstances, location… and all sorts of things force us to change how we approach life and living. Right?

With that thought in mind, my dear poets and storytellers, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to find inspiration in the idea of letting go of something that used to be wonderful, which no longer fits in your life. 

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Add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant, please. 369 words maximum. 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 offerings.

next week, We shall invite to write about a time you surprised yourself.

Friday Writings #228: A Dead Tree

 

Oops!  

Different time zones can be tricky to navigate. To get the post published at the midnight between Thursday and Friday, I have to set it to go live at 2pm my time. (This time of year, that is; it varies with the different times of Daylight Savings between here – Australia – and the USA, what with opposite seasons and all.)  But to do that, I have to (at this time of year) make the time 14 o'clock in the settings. This week, I forgot and pressed 2. Which means the post appeared many hours early, as our Magaly has just notified me, and for you in the Northern Hemisphere it's a day early! Never mind; if you saw it – Helen certainly did! –  please consider it an extra bonus just this once. Well, we hope it's just this once.

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I used to drive past a particular dead tree on my way into and out of this town from my small suburb. I always thought it beautiful in its starkness and shape, its slender grace. I always looked out for it, cherishing the quick glimpse.

‘I must photograph it one day,’ I told myself often. But, on that stretch of road, it’s really hard to find a park. Years went by, of appreciating it and not recording it – until one day I had a very strong feeling that I really must do it at last. 

I had to wait until I was coming back out of town; no parking at all the other side, and anyway I’d have had to cross the road in that case, in a spot with fast passing traffic and no provision for pedestrians. As it was, I had to drive some distance past the tree, pull onto a narrow nature strip, then walk back.

I was pleased with the shots I got, particularly this one (© Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2019):

Next time I drove into town, the tree was gone! WHAT??? Going back home, I slowed to pass the paddock where it used to be, and saw what looked like a pile of neatly felled logs. How could someone cut it down? I asked myself. But perhaps the owner of the land had some other use for it.

Nothing happened; months went by. Finally I slowed one day to take a longer look and saw that the pile of wood was not really so neat. I realised that the tree must have been felled by one of the big storms we’d had shortly before I saw that it was gone. Mystery solved – and beauty still lost! I am SO glad I had such a strong urge to finally stop and take my photos.

This week, for your (optional) prompt, I invite you to be inspired by this dead tree, or any other dead tree you’ve seen or imagined. Or by the idea of beauty in death, or last-minute actions that turn out to be important. Or anything else my story and/or picture suggests to you. Or, you may simply ignore the prompt and write anything at all.

Guidelines: Poetry or prose, old or new, on prompt or not, 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes), one post per person and link to that post below. Please link to us here at your post, please read what the rest of us submit (not forgetting to check back for those who arrive at the end of the week) and leave us some encouraging comments. You are of course welcome to make comments or ask questions here too.

Next week: We will invite you to find inspiration in the idea of letting go of something that used to be wonderful, which no longer fits in your life.  

Friday Writings #227: As You Wish

 

Hello, Word Artists and Admirers! Many of you probably have one (or a few) movies that you could easily identify just by hearing a quote from it. For me, Princess Bride is one of those movies. The thing about that movie is there are so many quotable lines!

So for this week's optional prompt I'm asking you to draw some inspiration from one of these four (or any) quotes:

1. “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” 

2. “Mostly dead is slightly alive.” 

3. “We are men of action, lies do not become us.” 

4. “True love is the greatest thing in the world... except for a nice MLT—mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe.” 

I'll accept poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. Just be sure to keep your pieces to 369 words or fewer, and one entry per person please.

Next week, we'll ask you to be inspired by a dead tree—whether it's one you've seen, seen pictured, or imagined.

Friday Writings #226: Inappropriate Laughter

Greetings, my dear poets and storytellers! 

How is life treating you in your bit of the universe? I hope things are as wonderful as they are for me in some ways (my immune system isn’t trying to kill me at the moment), and not even close to as horrible as they’ve been in other ways (I need more surgeries than prognosticated). It’s all about balance, right? And, if we’re lucky, also about a wee bit of decorum. I haven’t been all that fortunate in the decorum part. 

My latest bit of indignity involved puking all over a surgeon and then bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Which, of course, brought to mind today’s optional prompt: I invite you to write poetry or prose inspired by a moment of inappropriate laughter. Need an example? Here are 3: Raucous laughter at a funeral, giggling during a root canal, explosive cackles when a priest uses the phrase “friendly intercourse with your classmates might help”. 

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Please add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant. 369 words maximum (excluding title). Let your poetry or prose be old or new, inspired by the prompt or by a topic of your choosing. Visit other contributors. Read their writings… and comment. 

next week, we’ll invite you to be inspired by one of the following quotes (or any quote) from The Princess Bride: 1. “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” 2. “Mostly dead is slightly alive.” 3. “We are men of action, lies do not become us.” 4. “True love is the greatest thing in the world... except for a nice MLT—mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe.” 

Friday Writings #225: If These Bookshelves Could Talk (or Write)

I love bookshelves, book piles, books leaning (interestingly) against unexpected places. I have 5 bookshelves in the room where I spend most of my time. I also have books on top of dressers, on windowsills, on plant stands, and pretty much everywhere I can get away with. I love looking at my books, dusting them, rearranging them, playing with them, pulling them out to smile at a particularly loved passage… 📚🥰 📚

So, my dear poets and storytellers, since I know I’m not the only one who LOVES spending time with a favorite bookshelf (or 13), for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to find inspiration on your bookshelves. Interpret this any way you like (take a picture, explore the titles, the arrangement of the books... and write on).

Add the direct link to your response to Mister Linky. One post per participant, please. 369 words maximum. Share old or new poetry or prose, write to the prompt or to a topic of your choosing. Visit other writers. Share your thoughts on their words. 

next week, we shall invite you to write poetry or prose inspired by a moment of inappropriate laughter. Need an example? Here are 3: Raucous laughter at a funeral, giggling during a root canal, explosive cackles when a priest uses the phrase “friendly intercourse with your classmates might help”.