Category: writing prompt

books, dreams, family, Poetry, reflection, writing prompt

Alternate poem for Na Wri Mo Po

Arlene


Photo by Gordon Williams on Unsplash

Alternate poem from Na Wri Mo Po
a poem that recounts the plot, or some portion of the plot, of a novel that you remember having liked but that you haven’t read in a long time.

Across Time and Death

In this springtime when death and rebirth
are prominent thoughts with many
I think of Jenny Cockell and her memoir:
Time and Death, remembering dreams
of an earlier life, of leaving young children
behind, without

it brings to mind my own earlier lives
lived and passed, loved and not
times throughout the ages to learn
but have I remembered the lessons
did I carry them with me or not
where, when

Poetry, reflection, writing prompt

April PO MO prolific pulse challenge

Arlene


Write a poem inspired by the colors and sounds of spring.

Spring to Me © arlene s bice

To see the first brilliant yellows
burst from the ground in clusters of jonquils
to see the soft pinks gracing tree branches
in surrounding gardens of the neighborhood
to see the lavender of red buds grace the highways
stirs the soul, faith overflows, birds come back
to sing that Spring has not deserted us
but returned to restore and rebirth us all.

anthology, family, journaling, reflection, Uncategorized, women, women writers, writing, WRITING MEMOIR, writing prompt

What’s Your Story?

Arlene

Overlooking My Ancestors

You know, we all have one. It’s different from everyone else’s. When I first began to write down my story in 10 years of writing classes during the IWWG (International Women’s Writing Guild) Annual Conference, I begrudgingly let out one incident at a time. Like I was sharing a favorite candy bar as a kid. Not wanting to give away too much. Things I hadn’t talked about in years. Things that were stuffed way down inside me like I was hiding a treasure that no one else knew was there. And no one did because I never talked about those things. Hah! Once I began writing, all those stored up memories came tumbling out. Boy! Did it feel good! Like unloading a heavy sack of potatoes off my shoulders.

Has anyone informed you how satisfying it is to write your story? It’s wonderful to write about your ancestors, too. You will get to know them, especially if you have never met them. Unfortunately, there is a lot you can only surmise between the recorded facts. Their personalities will show up as you write. Information may even come to you in dreams where our loved ones sometimes place ideas and messages. Really. It is true. Trust it.

But it’s also true that you are the only one who can tell your story as you experienced it. Your thoughts, impressions, joys and sorrows remembered as only you can. It is a trip back into your past where the pains aren’t so awful as they once were, and the joys are even greater. If you don’t know how to start or where to begin…just write anything, the ABC’s even and your pen, pencil or computer will take over. It’s like opening the flood gates. Remember to write how you felt. I had trouble with that one. I’m still shy about it sometimes.

Poetry, reflection, snow, Uncategorized, writing prompt

SNOW, NO HYPE, JUST BEAUTY

Arlene

DSCF4083

It’s been a few days now, that we have been snowed in. Isn’t it lovely? Once you know you can’t get to the workplace, you can relax and enjoy it. I hope you have. Here is a little poem that reflects how I learned to accept what Mother Nature sends to us, since I moved to the forests of North Carolina.

Arlene S. Bice © 2016.1.22.

It was only last year
the nine years previous, too
when I looked at the sky to know
that it was going to snow

and when I woke
the ground covered in white
peace blanketed the entire day
lovely to spend it this way

no need to run out
for eggs, bacon, and bread
the fridge is full, pantry, too
no emergencies to do

so I can use the day
with music thru the house
making biscuits, lots of butter
writing words to softly mutter

a day of staying in
enjoying it without the stress
just gazing out the window
reading, singing, about snow

without the TV hype
the day shows up different
positive, homey, no employ
a day of beauty to enjoy.

writing prompt

WRITING PROMPT: HE ENTERED THE ROOM LIKE HE

Arlene

DSCF3078  This picture of my old car after two deer ran into me is meant to grab your attention. Opening lines to a story must do the same thing. If the writer doesn’t have you locked in by the end of the first paragraph, you will be moving on to someone else’s story.
Even I wonder what story follows this beginning. Alas, it is just a beginning meant to grab your attention. I may continue one day, who knows what comes from just a beginning.

WRITING PROMPT: HE ENTERED THE ROOM LIKE HE. . . .
In the middle of the cocktail party, where glasses were clinking and low murmurs of laughter rumbled through the room, he entered like he was on fire. A door banged shut somewhere behind him. Long strides carried him across the tiled floor, through the open French doors, and into the garden. There he found the apparent object of his fury. With hands clenched into fists hanging from his sides, he stopped, nose-to-nose with Alicia.

His jaw muscles were taut, working. Words barely more than a whisper spat out. “What have you got to say to me?” The veins in his neck stood at attention. The redness of his face showed the pent-up anger ready to burst.

“Darling, why are you so upset?” she answered his question softly with one of her own, cooing each word. The coolness buffered his heat. Her smooth face was the opposite of his contorted one.
“Shall we move into the library to continue?” It was as if she were asking the time of day. “We can speak privately in quiet. There’s no sense in creating gossip for the morning papers.”
She glided back through the room crowded with people, glasses in hand, now silent, ears straining to hear. He followed her lead, rigid with anger. All eyes followed them.