Inspired by works by Charles Simic
"The purpose of poetry is to return that which is familiar to its original strangeness" - Charles Simic
The above points to quite a surreal week as it turned out.
Speed Writing Prompts
Prompts were taken from various poems by Simic.
The prompt for each is also the first line.
Spider on the wall,
sitting,
your many legs gathered tightly
around you, your attention
focused
arrow-like
on the signal strand. Waiting.
Still.
Waiting.
I appreciate your service.
Gods disguising themselves as
mundane items.
My chair a god of inactivity,
My desk a god of industry,
My pen and paper
the gods of communication in vain.
Over a darkening plain
flies the remnant of my motivation
destined for distant climes,
or for oblivion, who can tell?
The shadow passes over others
and robs them of their momentum.
Time to sleep now. Tomorrow
Is a new day.
The woman opening a red umbrella
The man beside her
brandishing a black patent briefcase
as if it were a talisman.
A flurry of activity from the hyenas
and their camera flashes
and into the leathery interior
and away.
On their sofa
sits the creature.
He sips his tea, finger extended
like Maud at the church coffee morning.
"You see" he says in his deep voice
"It matters not at all,
that you did not intend it.
To summon me is its own reward
and punishment
like so many things in life and death."
15 Minute Writing Challenge based on "Fork"
Brief: Start with "This strange thing must have crept", come up with a metaphor to represent an everyday item, and lean into it.
Hairbrush
This strange thing must have crept
out from a long forgotten lair,
Its head both spiked and rough haired,
Its tail dragging along behind it.
Even now it lingers on the surface
waiting, for a human hand
to come close
and seize it by the neck.
Delighting in the terror and pain
of young girls
who are already late for school.
Afterwards it falls, discarded
but sated,
for now,
back onto the dresser,
To enjoy its spoils
and await its next feed.
