Tuesday 11 April 2023

2023.4 Might as Well

No prompt used this time – this comes from some free-writing while testing out the Sprinto bot in a discord app. Took literally 2 minutes to write; the first part is almost entirely free-written, then I realised it looked like a haibun, so finished up with a senryĆ«.

I am writing some words that will never be heard in a blank space dictated by the amount of time it takes to make this assonate internally, eternally grateful to all the way the Maker shaped me for verbage. I’ve learned it’s impossible to ignore the awesomeness of your own spirit, mauled though it might be, it shines through duly, unruly and grime-streaked though it might be, it speaks, drifting in infinite wonder, sundering itself to beauty and the press of helpful flesh again and again. And though it might be lost for a while, or its light dimmed, its flicker will never be diminished as long as its name is spoken in its own, secret, holy tongue.

Once more I find it
shining in the eyes of a
friend, beckoning love.

Black & white photo of actor Jim Carrey, a middle-aged, clean-shaven, white guy, gazing pensively upwards and being quoted as saying 'You can fail at something you don't want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.'

[Image description: Black & white photo of actor Jim Carrey, a middle-aged, clean-shaven, white guy, gazing pensively upwards and being quoted as saying 'You can fail at something you don't want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.']

Tuesday 4 April 2023

2023.3 Anything Goes

Taking my own prompt from Allographic, this turned up this morning:

I’ve defied the promise of my youth;
I feel the loss, but cannot spur myself.
And is it wisdom now to tell the truth?
I’ve redefined the promise of my youth.
To act ungrateful now might seem uncouth,
but I don’t mind the dust on this warm shelf.
They deified the promise of my youth;
I feel the loss, but cannot spurn myself.

Picture of a young, black child with long, reddish-brown, curly hair, standing against a yellow backdrop, holding up a book with Einstein's face on the front so that his profile merges onto theirs.
Image source: Today's Parent article Why being gifted isn’t always a gift

[Image description: Picture of a young, black child with long, reddish-brown, curly hair, standing against a yellow backdrop, holding up a book with Einstein’s face on the front so that his profile merges onto theirs. End image description.]

Sunday 2 April 2023

2023.2 Berger

Another Allographic prompt, this time to write a tetractys about a favourite seat. 

sat
watching
everything
go by so fast
I am ice-struck, stuck in sucking comfort.

Miserably comfortable, unshifting,
sifting icebergs
skittering
on slow
drifts.

fast,
crawling,
vast landscapes
are unfurling
while I sit, prisoner of my sorrow.

Image source: Wikimedia montage image of what a whole iceberg may look like... 


Saturday 1 April 2023

2023.1 Shazam

Taking a nudge from the Allographic prompt today, starting with an Abracadabra:

Sometimes joy and labour are reversed, it’s true.
No matter how you try, the truth comes out.
High and dry, I find that I’ve no choice:
my options dwindle, one by one;
this sandbar looks like ending.
When did I fear wet feet?
I might get over
my head but, well,
there may be
no real
choice

A watercolour painting of a dark brown, wooden rowing boat pulled up in the shallows of a tropical-looking beach just under a cluster of three palm trees. The sun is bright, but storm clouds are massing, and there is nothing else in sight, just the sea, beach, trees, and sky.
Image found via the Know Your Phrase article about the phrase "high and dry"

[Image description: a watercolour painting of a dark brown, wooden rowing boat pulled up in the shallows of a tropical-looking beach just under a cluster of three palm trees. The sun is bright, but storm clouds are massing, and there is nothing else in sight, just the sea, beach, trees, and sky. End image description.]