Friday Writings #130: About that Quote…

Greetings, word lovers. I hope you are having a very good day. Mine isn’t too bad. I’m home after spending some quality time at the hospital, my garden is starting to bloom, my pain isn’t as debilitating as it was last week, and being on bed rest meant that I could listen to audiobooks for as long as I was conscious—silver linings and all that. Now, if I could only write in the same way… Sigh. Dictation is a bit problematic for me. I’m a chronic reviser, and my speech-to-text program is not good for that. But you know what it’s great for? Saving quotes! And I so love me a quote (or 100).

Speaking of reading and quotations and other awesome things, for today’s optional prompt, I invite you to write poetry or prose inspired by a quote from the last book you read. Please share the actual quote and book title at end of your post (because effective quote hoarding takes a village).

Required: 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.

Optional: You may share old or new pieces of poetry or prose, and you may write to the prompt or to a topic of your choosing.

Requested (not compulsory but strongly recommended): Visit other poets and storytellers. Read their contributions. Share your thoughts on their words.

for next week, Rommy will be asking us to repurpose. She wishes us to write poetry or prose about something (someone? 🤭) we’ve recycled or repurposed in our lives.

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Friday Writings #129: What Do You Hear?

 

Hello again, dear Word Weavers. 

I trust you're all well and happy. Now – listen up! 

Going  through my old files recently, I came across the following poem of mine, which then inspired this week’s prompt:


SILENCE
 
is nonexistent.  Deep night
contains the crackling fire
the pop of swelling boards
my dog’s breathing.
Sometimes a frog
or a choir of crickets.
The fridge creaks and whirrs.
 
Listen deeper, and hear
the hum of the air-waves
outside, not quite subliminal;
a message we ignore.
And the pump of my heart
excited, loud in my ears.
 
Silence is the condition
of being still enough
to hear all we never hear,
to hear all the small
important sounds that break
the silence. If there were
silence.
 
© Rosemary Nissen-Wade 1989
First published Yarra Valley Writers.
Also in my collection, Secret Leopard (now only available as an ebook from Smashwords).

So, for your optional prompt this time, I invite you to explore the question, 'What do I hear?' You may definitely include what you do not hear! Other possibilities include what sounds (human or non-human) you hear around you, what you hear on the news or in the street, what your heart tells you, what messages the past may have, and so on.

Guidelines: One post per person; poetry or prose, old or new; not exceeding 369 words (apart from title); add that post on Mister Linky below; when possible, please read other people's posts and leave an encouraging comment. And of course you are free to ignore the prompt if you like, and give us some other treat from your pen!

Next week, Magaly will invite us to write poetry or prose inspired by a quote from the last book we read. And she wants us to share the actual quote and book title at end of the post (because she’s an interesting quote hoarder).

 

 

This photo of an attentively listening cat is by Zane Lee on Unsplash