It's time to play and this is your sand box—climb in and kick some sand around. Do you ever have that longing, the urge to write, but don't know where to start? Here's that place. It may be a simple 10-minute free write that you put away and forget about or it may be your entry into that novel that's been knocking around in your brain. Once the pen starts moving across the page (or words find their way onto the screen) you never know where you'll end up. Visit this page often. The theme and prompt are changed around the first of each month. I'd love for you to send me your writing if you feel comfortable doing so. I'm a gentle reader and love to read responses to the prompts. Also feel free to send any suggestions for prompts, themes, or other ways to enhance this page.
July Theme
Summer is a time when life seems abundant. We move out of closed dark spaces into the expansive outdoors where there is such a profusion of blossoms and colors it almost seems excessive. Who could have made up so many variations of color and arrangments of petals, leaves, and blades of grass? We walk out the door unencumbered by coat, hat, gloves, and umbrellas into the warm sun and open our arms wide to take it all in. Yet this summer has been clouded by the passing of old friends. It reminds me that death is also a part of life, as natural as the leaves turning in the fall. The sadness I feel is sweet because the people who have departed all helped make me who I am. Each one taught me something about myself or about the world I live in, thereby making my life richer.
Prompts
More prompts from the poems chosen for "Poem-A-Day" at www.poets.org during National Poetry Month.
1. In times like these...
2. Forget the times we...
3. It was the first day of...
4. I'll never forget the day I...
5. I remember my friend...
6. My perfect home would be...
Write a piece using all the following words:
Forget
Remember
Perfect
Abundance
Longing
Forgiveness (or forgive)
Beauty
Sorrow
Joy
Lindy LeCoq's Response to June's Prompt:
It's no secret I'm excited to have the school year draw down to its conclusion. Though I still find joy in my work, truth be told, I'm getting tired. I used to be an architect; I built programs, infused meaning into high school counseling, was fired up and influential. That momentum, lost in politicians' back-to-basics push, and forgotten in this economic downturn, lies peacefully dormant in me.
I'm a measured person today. Not quite an artifact yet. More like a rediscovered gem; someone found at the back of the jewel box slightly tarnished, but still a welcome friend.
