My old friend Roy has changed his name My indignation over the loss of indigo Has boiled to the top; Oh! The spectrum of his shame He joins the passenger pigeon and alas, the fated dodo And don’t get me started on how Pluto Completely takes away My Very Excellent Mother’s ability To bring us an extra-large pizza with mushrooms and cheese Somehow, it seems, there is a failure when I decorate Or while picking through my bounteous box of ninety eight Didn’t there used to be a greater variety The lack of color options is certainly an impropriety! One last word on this most tender of subject Then I will rest my case and my thoughts collect Whatever will become of both the bunting and the mood Who have lost their hue connection to indigo for good? © Jilly's 2016 In honor and regret over Roy G Biv and My Very Excellent Mother Just Brought Us Nine Pizzas :) Join us over at dVerse for a wallow in mistakes!
Month: May 2016
Writing Prompt #1
“I am like a leprosy.”
~ John Steinbeck
This line from The Pearl has been dancing around in my head for days now. What does it spark in your writing mind? Poetry? Fiction? Let me know!
Cheers! Jilly 🙂
In the Midst of Battle
Sea breezes tracking Like coastal scouts Followed by Angry radar lines Brawling where they meet At the front Raging war of hot air Throwing spears Cannon fire In a volley of ire Run for cover Pour the wine Draw the blind Rainy season Arrives © Jilly's 2016
Bjorn is tending bar over at dVerse Poet’s Pub tonight
where we are writing quadrilles that include the word ‘breeze.’
Should be a piece of cake, or a …. 🙂
Join us!
Mining For Lines
In search of a muse, the lines of other writers often provide inspiration in the most remarkable ways! When I read; whether a novel, poetry, drama, or non-fiction, I like to use an index card as my bookmark. When memorable lines of inspiration show up they are written down. (I also write down things I want to reference later, like new words or intriguing ideas.) Other times, when I want to be writing but don’t find the inspiration, I pick up whatever is on the coffee-table, and there are stacks, and just leaf through. I am looking for a turn of phrase or anything that jumps out with imagery. These get jotted down in a notebook and become the jumping-off point for something new. I highly recommend it!
This begins a new category on Jilly’s 2016; a place to put writing prompts and a clearing house for what I dig up in my mining expeditions. If you find some inspiration here, please let me know so that I can read your words and celebrate the visit of the muse with you!
28 Days of Unreason prompts, using selected lines from Jim Harrision’s Songs of Unreason, have been connected to this category. Good stuff!
Cheers! Jilly 🙂
Adagio for Seacrest Beach
Coffee, we two, upon the sand mind dancing in the sea spray, the sky sings a symphony of sunrise, the soft night subsides, warm voice surrounds the clouds of vastness, stars, a universe of fading fish and the fiddle crabs compose naked poetry to please the breeze. Life worships and whirls sweet on our still skin, quivering like the rip tide that will burst in on the wake of dolphins who would remember the honeyed music of time if we but ask them to run toward the liquid kisses of dayshine. We, the water, watch the beat of the ship’s shadow passing above our heads, turning to rust in our coffee cups. © Jilly's 2016 Day 28 of 28 Days of Unreason
“Why does the mind compose this music well before the words occur?”
~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason
Day 28
How quickly, and yet, how slowly, the 28 Days of Unreason draws to a close. These lines from Songs of Unreason by Jim Harrison have been some of the most powerful writing prompts I have encountered. This adventure represents a larger version of what I call ‘Mining for Lines’ in my daily life. Recently, while sitting in my favorite coffee shop, I picked up a coverless, battered copy of the short novels of Steinbeck and flipped through the pages for lines to offer potential inspiration. One of those lines lead to my first attempt at Flash Fiction (Geraniums Grew Among the Weeds.)
Thank you to Charley for joining in these 28 Days and writing some amazing lines of his own! 🙂
Here is today’s post prompt:
“Why does the mind compose this music well before the words occur?”
~Jim Harrison
Out in the Open
It is life’s work to recognize the mystery of the obvious
~ Jim Harrison
Swim without water Whisper without words Watch without eyes See the dream in gorgeous Technicolor Paint the light Soaring in the picture of language Beneath the breath of the lion’s roar Between lonely and forever When the soul sang the garden into being And the moon was a berry worth picking © Jilly's 2016
Day 27 of 28 Days of Unreason
Day 27
Post Quote
28 Days of Unreason
“It is life’s work to recognize the mystery of the obvious”
Tireless the Night
Mars Ruby Hidden by Distance a furtive Orbit in mere Crayola Shades of red-orange imprecise lines Stepping from behind his warrish veil Bald-facedly inviting All fools and tourists To cast their Fate Oh! Rye on Slings and arrows Miss my fortune with thy Bow, thy dagger dangling careless Beside thy exhaustingly expansive Stride across that grand divide of Spring sky hunt my weary Eyes that search dark Skies for June
© Jilly’s 2016
Day 26 of 28 Days of Unreason
“On some clear nights in the country the stars can exhaust us”
~Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason
Day 26
Post Quote
28 Days of Unreason
Jilly's 