Words Down Writing Prompts - 12th September 2022

 All prompts taken from Lucille Clifton poems

One Minute Prompts

A woman precedes me

A woman precedes me as I head through the door of the skyscraper. In my mind I feel bad for what might happen to her but I push that aside; if we are to achieve our goals I can't worry about any collateral damage. I pull my focus back, checking mentally that I've done everything I need to; feeling the weight of the tools in my pockets.

If he could have done better

If he could have done better I'm sure he would have done so. He had always done his best for me so even when he fell short, I appreciated the effort. This was my chance to do something in return and make his life easier for an instant or an hour.

There was such music in her

There was such music in her

She danced in the silence

She moved with the shifting of the fog

To the sound of the traffic

The changing of the lights

The passing of the day

She still has the music but

now it is muted.

She can barely hear it

though we still do.

It still radiates from her,

the volume blaring when she smiles.

Occasionally she still smiles.

I am imagining rejuvenated bones

"I am imagining rejuvenated bones" she said, waving her hands over the smoking pot of herbs. I was sceptical of this but it was worth a try. Anything was worth a try. The pain was such these days that if a random drug addict in the street offered a solution, I would try it.

Something in their psyche insists on Elvis

Something in their psyche insists on Elvis. "But that's a stupid name for a fish!" I protest, "Especially when the other ones are called Pickles and Steve!"

"Nope! Gotta be Elvis!" they insist. Sighing, I nod my acquiescence. "Elvis it is!" I say. "Now let's go choose an ornament."

Fifteen Minute Prompt

Based on won't you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton

Won't you celebrate with me

for here I stand

while others cannot stand at all

in my home

which millions may not claim to match

observing you with my sight and my hearing,

experiencing the world through touch and smell and the taste of good food and fresh water

with no fear of men or of beasts,

my family but a call or a message away,

the sum total of the world's knowledge

in my hand

on a device that I use to watch cute hedgehog videos and argue with strangers.

Here on this bridge between poverty and opulence

I have the choice of comfort;

warmth when it gets cold,

shelter when the storms come.

Won't you celebrate with me

the privilege

of my normality.