Friday Writings #181: Music for the Muse

 
 

 

Hello, dear Word Weavers –

This week I’m returning to the theme of poetry being inspired by, or commenting on, another art form. During this April's NaPoWriMo we were often asked to focus not only on visual art, but music as well, in some specific way in which it had impacted our life. Or we were asked to let a piece of music influence the poem in some way, e.g. by sound or rhythm. I found that referencing the music was often enriching to the writing.

We were usually asked to relate how a specific piece had impacted our everyday life. Musing on that just now, I found myself thinking of how I thrill whenever, as I'm walking around town, I hear a busker break into some tune I know and love.

So, as your prompt this week, I invite you to think of a piece of music which affects you emotionally  whenever you happen to hear it played – whether it warms your heart or brings back different reactions – and tell us what this particular piece has meant to you in your life. 

Guidelines: Link your ONE piece on Mister Linky, below. 369 words maximum (excluding title and notes). Old or new writing, poetry or prose, on prompt or not. Enjoy each other's responses!

Next week, we'll invite you to explore anger as healthy fuel.

 

 

 © Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2018

 

(One of my friends likes reminders of angelic music in her back yard.)

 

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 #123: April

 

 

Dear Word Weavers (someone called me that recently and I loved it) –

It's April again! Who else remembers that song from the original 'Moulin Rouge' movie? Or we might think of April in Portugal, April in Paris, April Fools … not to mention April showers, and all those poems about Spring.

Though here DownUnder, we’re well into Autumn and our showers this year have often been heavy and prolonged.

For me and many others, including some of you, April is poetry month when we all write a poem every day, at least one, either privately or in participation with others doing likewise, and read even more poetry than usual. Every year I get to a point in April when I think I must have been crazy to do this. Yet every year I come back and do it again!

This year I decided to combine the NaPoWriMo (aka GloPoWriMo) prompts, which I’m doing for the first time, with the Poem A Day ones at Poetic Asides. It works quite well most of the time, as the NaPo prompts are very specific and the PAD ones quite broad.

Both sites specify that the prompts are optional, and that people are welcome to follow them ‘quietly at home’ without participating with the others who are doing them. I’m not participating at the Poetic Asides site this year – it was only after we were a little way into April that I made the decision to include those prompts – and unfortunately I’ve only had time to participate minimally at NaPoWriMo, but the posts there will remain accessible, so I can go back and read later and explore at leisure all the online poetic resources they alert us to as well.

So anyway, you guessed it, the optional prompt this week is April. You can allow that to inspire you in any way you like – or, if you are writing a poem a day this April, we’ll accept any one of them as fitting the prompt too – which is what I'm doing myself rather than try to write anything extra just now. 

And of course feel free to give us something entirely unrelated to April if you prefer.

Guidelines: Poetry or prose, old or new, one piece per person, 369 words maximum (excluding title). Please link, below, to that particular post in your blog.  If possible, also read other people’s posts and  leave an encouraging comment.

Next week, Magaly will invite us to write poetry or prose which includes 3 (or all) of the following words: consume, heartless, inflamed, peculiar, teeth.

Weekly Scribblings #63: Trees

Hello, word artists and admirers! It’s early spring where I live. One of the things I like doing at this time of year is watching the local trees as they slowly begin to wake up after their winter sleep. Since my mind is already on the trees, I thought it might be nice to write about them too. So this week, I’d like you to use the word “tree” as a seed for your word art. The tree(s) in your piece can refer to literal or metaphorical ones. I’m taking poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction. But please be sure to keep your prose pieces to 369 words or fewer.

Afterword from Rosemary:

April Poetry Month aka NaPoWriMo will be upon us any minute. We don’t offer prompts here to help you write a poem every day, but in case you’d like to give it a go, here are a few of the online places which will. (And of course we’re happy to read any results you care to share with us here, on Sundays or even – if they fit – on Wednesdays.)   

   April PAD Challenge at Poetic Asides. Prompts from Robert Lee Brewer.

   Poetic Bloomings run by Walt Wojtanic and Marie Elena Good, using Robert Brewer’s April prompts and poeming alongside Poetic Asides in a smaller group.

   NaPoWriMo / GloPoWriMo group on facebook.

   Also look for Kerry O’Connor @skyloverpoetry on Instagram, find her post ‘April is the Cruellest Month’ and swipe to see her wordlist of prompts plus instructions how to use them. (There are various options.)

Please let us know, in the comments below, of any others you'd like us to be aware of.

Writers' Pantry #13: April, here we come!

Avocado and Egg Toast, Joseph Gonzalez, Unsplash

"April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain." — T.S Eliot.

Greetings everyone! Hope you are safe and well! This is Sanaa and I am back with another exciting Writers' Pantry this Sunday.

Here we are, in this changing canvass of global turmoil. Perhaps for the first time the entire world is under lock-down. Which makes April ever the more welcome as we plunge into Poem-a-day challenge. Lets take this as an opportunity to band together and make use of our time by doing what makes us happy. Eat healthy, catch up on sleep, live, love and laugh (lots of it) the days will fly by and before we know it, we will have eclipsed COVID-19.

Announcements and Reminders:

The topic for next Weekly Scribblings is "All The Small Things." There are times when we seem to notice the small things more. The tiny blessings we are grateful for, the little things whose absence hits us harder than we expected. Which is why Rommy would like us to create a new piece of poetry or prose that incorporates the idea of  "small things."

Rosemary delighted us with "Wild Fridays #12: Roving the Web," where she shares and discusses topics close to our hearts. Do scroll back and check it out in case you have missed it! This one is an absolute treat!

Remember, you have one entire week to participate in prompts now. Just keep in mind that some people may have moved on to their next project after a couple of days, so entries posted later might not receive many visitors.

For now, I invite you to share your entry as Poets and Storytellers United welcomes both poetry and prose (i.e. stories, essays, articles) feel free to link anything old or new and relish in the work of others. Also, if you opt to share prose then please keep it to 369 words or fewer.

Pierre Bamin, Unsplash

And now, without further ado, let us dive into the Pantry! Looking forward to grabbing a cup of coffee and reading you all! See you on the trail! 💝