Words Down, 20th Feb 2023

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.

Words Down Writing Prompts - 12th Dec 2022

All prompts from The Wife of Willesden by Zadie Smith

Speed Writing Prompts

1. And a lot of what you said made me feel a bit

And a lot of what you said made me feel a bit melancholy, to be honest. I mean, I know you're happy with all the things you've done and all you've achieved, and I'm happy for you, I really am, but I just can't help but compare all your success with all of my, by comparison, abject failure and it just ... made me feel a bit shit if I'm completely frank. I mean, go you, but also fuck you and your perfect life.

2. You want to think you’re a saint

You know, doing a nice thing for someone does not immediately make you a good person. It doesn't make up for all the stuff you've done before that ruined lives and took away people's happiness. You've found a new purpose in your life now and maybe you've learned something but you want to think you’re a saint and you've got a long way to go before people will think of you as anything but a bastard.

3. Man owes a debt to his wife

(A dodgy sequence of dodgy haikus)

Wife gives up her job
Focuses on home making
Changes all her dreams

House is kept lovely
Man owes a debt to his wife.
Works hard, always out

Wife then gets lonely
Wife finds better things to do
Man finds self alone.

4. You’ll pay in cash; it’s the wages of sin

We have a few special offers this week, and there's a menu on that wall over there. If you take up any of the special offers of course, you'll pay in cash; it's the wages of sin, quite literally. We can't be putting these things through the books now can we? HMRC think we're a proper legit therapy studio. 

5. But then she come to

(more dodgy haikus. I struggled with some of these prompts)

But then she come to
The world all as she left it
All so familiar

Looks around the room
Decides she will slumber more
Here worse than nowhere

Unconscious again
Dreams can be terrifying
So can reality

these places take turns
At first being the escape
and then the nightmare

Fifteen Minute Prompt

Tell the story of a relationship with multiple voices telling the story, like a multi person monologue, based on a section of "The Wife of Willesden" where Zaire and Alvita are discussing Alvita's relationship with Ryan and how it went bad. 

I tackled this by imagining it was me and my partner talking to someone else about a big issue seller that I know.

K: 

So we saw her again, she was there in the square

with her big issue bag looking hopeful...

H:

                                     ... but yeah

By the time we walked past with some cash for her though

She was gone.

K:

             Her train might have been late in the snow.

When I first talked to her she looked cold as the night

So I bought her a scarf. It was fluffy and white 

And now when I see her she always says hi

H:

She's probably hoping you're going to buy

A big issue.

K:

             I doubt it. A very long time has gone past

Since I bought one of those. I just usually give cash

Or sometimes a sandwich but she likes to chat.

Her husband's a wrong-un, and his dad's a twat.

Though she'd never say so. I found out this all

from the girls on - you remember that old sandwich stall?

H:

Yes that's gone now too, which is a proper shame.

They did lovely butties.

K:

                         Cheap too, so that came

To be where I would get the sandwiches we had.

It was those girls who told me the creep was her dad.

H:

Her dad's got another pitch just across town.

Did he once ask for money?

K:

                           Yeah I turned him down

Cos he asked me for two hundred quid for their rent

I was dropping off kids stuff cos she was pregnant.

It was cheeky at best.

H:

                       That's a generous word

He's a creepy old git and a bit of a turd.

But she always seems lovely.

K:

                             She is, you'd be right

But her horrendous life makes her deal with such shite

She gets pregnant each year despite taking the pill

So she's always with child or if not she's just ill

H:

But she's been there forever, she's a fixture of town.

She's outlasted businesses, loads have closed down.

If the market is open she comes on the train

To stand there and sell in the sun and the rain

K:

She just calls me "man", she's forgotten my name

But I've known her for years now, she's always the same.

So if you see her, just by the greengrocer, looking

around just remember she has basically nothing.

Buying her mags could be the difference between

Her kids going hungry or being warm and clean.

Words Down Writing Prompts - 5th Dec 2022

Speed Writing Prompts

1. When they took her away

She was still protesting her innocence when they took her away. She was bundled into the van by two men each of which was twice her diminutive size and weight. They threw her to the front part of the cargo space and slammed the doors, abruptly cutting off her cries and her indignation. The two men put away their batons, got in the cab, and all that was left was the smell of exhaust smoke as it sped away towards the rectification centre.

2. You dream a hundred choices. Each one of them, you know, is no more successful or more likely than the last but you dream them anyway because your comatose body cannot achieve anything at the moment so all you have is the dream. Ultimately you can choose any of them, but it will make no difference as nobody will know. Maybe not even you. You vaguely hear the sound of a voice. They have come back. You're not completely sure who "they" are.

3. Dialogues you keep like train tickets pass through your mind. You have no use for them any more. If anything they clutter up the space and allow for detritus to hide behind them. The dust and fluff of unwanted thoughts hide between layers of dog-eared conversation, long gone and no longer changeable no matter how much you may wish to. They stretch the bounds of your mental wallet, reducing its stability for storage of more important things. Facts. Considerings. Logic.

Prompt 3 was from "Not everything is true" by Salena Godden

4. It's just you feeling feelings again. That is, after all, what you do best. You can always do that regardless of what else is going on. In fact you wish you could do it less. You never seem to stop. You have no control.

5. Pessimism is for lightweights. Look at all the true heavyweights in the world. We're not talking boxers or wrestlers here. We're talking giants of business. Of politics. Of social change. What do they all have in common? They BELIEVE that they can accomplish whatever it is that they set out to accomplish. They are optimists. Even in the face of failure, they set out to try again until eventually they succeed.

Fifteen Minute Prompt 

Based on Mrs Death Misses Death - a chapter from the point of view of a wooden desk.

Write something from the perspective of an object.
Suggested materials:
Sand/sea to glass
Wood table/guitar/ wood
Cotton / clothes/material
Stone / volcano
Metal in ore/ felt tectonic plates shifting

Suggested openings
I could have been …
I remember the tree that I once was …
I learned very early on that …
Over the years I have …
All I know is this, …

My Idea:

Fur coat. Sense of animosity towards the person wearing it. Ineffectually planning to harm them in some way. Memory of being a mink in a fur farm.

-----------------------------------

I suppose I would have been dead by now, had my life not been taken from me by them when it was. The existence I had wasn't a great one, if I'm completely honest, but it was a real life. I had a family. I had many many others of my kind nearby. I could hear them all day and all night as I grew into the creature I was destined to become, then suddenly, blankness. I have a window of time indeterminate during which there was nothing, then air and noise and warmth and the sensation of being touched by many ... somethings. A bit like noses, but longer and thinner and warmer and not wet, and lots of them with different smells. Well I say smells, but not having a nose, or eyes, or ... well any sensory organs, if we're being accurate ... the sensations of sounds and smells landed differently than they did when I was younger.

After a while the different nose-things disappeared mostly, and I was only ever touched by the same few, which I came to realise over the years, were something called fingers, on something called a woman. The woman who was always taking me places, she smelled of mothballs and bitter flowers and mint and old sweat. I hated her then and I still do. How dare she do whatever it is that she's done such that I'm now doomed to stay draped over her shoulders, getting wet in the rain while I keep her warm and dry. When it's not cold and not wet I'm confined to a dusty and stuffy wooden cupboard until it's cold enough for her to need me again. There's more to me than just me, but I cannot detect any sense of the identity of my, presumably similarly unwilling companions. I cannot decide if they, or I, are the lucky one. Maybe they are like me, and they too are lonely. Maybe they can sense me, but I just cannot sense them.

The place I grew up was a dirty place of concrete and steel with "people" around who were apparently charged with my welfare, and that of my fellow creatures. Welfare is a low bar in these places it seems. We had enough to eat, we were kept clean, but we never had space to run. My family were not my parents and my offspring but the chosen family I found within the place. They were like me, with the same fears and the same very limited joys. Sometimes some of us would be taken from our home and we would never see them again. We liked to think they had been taken somewhere better where they had more freedom. More happiness. More light. I now realise that this was not the case for any of them. The ones who constantly tried to escape, who some of us used to look down on for the chaos they caused, were actually the only ones with the right idea. My own fate likely awaited every creature I have ever loved. I am now bonded with an unknown number of the dead, and this one woman who now uses their corpses and my own body as a status symbol. If she needed us such that she might stay alive in the cold perhaps I would not begrudge her that so much, but she spends her whole life in the warmest places and I spend much of my time in those places hung on an uncomfortable rack, pressed up against various types of garment including some made of creatures, some of plants, some shiny, some soft and furry like me. Occasionally I can sense a consciousness there but we have no means by which to communicate so we just wait, peripherally aware of one another's existence, for our jailers to collect us and take us home again.

Here we go now. I am draped loosely over her form like a thick layer of snow on a bulbous mountain. I hear loud noises as something large goes past, belching out a choking smell that I can feel settling on my fur. She even steps back from that. As I always do, I sense the danger of the place where the loud thing moves. I try to push her towards it. I have no power, but I hear her talk sometimes of the power of thought. Of belief. If I can just work out how to use that, perhaps I can bring my own power to bear. Perhaps I can make her take just one more step, into the path of the loud thing, and then she and I will be done with each other forever. It may destroy me as well, but after all this time, I think that would be welcome. I push. I push. She seems to stumble... have I finally done it? No. She's stooping into something warm and fragrant and dark. There's a thud as the door closes then another one, and movement. I shall not have my freedom this day. 

Words Down Writing Prompts - 6th November 2023

 All prompts based on the work of Brenda Shaughnessy.

1 Minute Speed Writing Prompts

The baby's father is Sleepy

which makes him Happy.

It was delivered by the Doc

Dopey thinks that Sneezy is the real dad,

and he's not Bashful about saying so,

but I think he's just being Grumpy.

I suppose I could blame God

for making me do the things I do,

failing in the way that I have.

If I were a religious man

It's an easy get out,

But this time, me being me,

I can only blame myself.

What began as a wildfire

Became an adventure

Tables in the forest, tents in a field,

New friends and new challenges,

Games in an arena

Joy in our lives

I wish I had more sisters

Ideally younger than myself.

Someone to protect.

Someone who would look up to me

and I would keep them safe

Until they got older.

Then I'd just worry instead.

15 Minute Prompt

I am dreaming of a house, inspired by "Visitor"

I am dreaming of a house,

Perhaps in a similar situation to this one,

With life and light streaming from its heart.

A river of animal warmth 

flowing through every room

into the garden

around the furniture and the toys

and back, up the stairs

to bed and safety.

Come spend some time.

There is warmth to share,

Food to sustain you.

You are welcome

If you bring with you whatever

light and warmth you are able.

If you have plenty you can complement our supply.

If you have little or none

then we will try to send you on your way

with more than you brought.

Like our detritus,

our hearth's heat spills over through our lives

and our interactions.

Please gather some up

and carry it with you.

Words Down Writing Prompts - 17th October 2022

Lies

The reference piece was an extract from "All the things I lied about" by Katie Bonna, a one-woman fictional show where Katie Bonna talks directly to the audience about the main character's habits of lying to everyone.

One Minute Prompts: Write lies to elaborate or respond to the following prompts.

Is he like this normally?

No, actually. To be fair he's in pretty good shape today. By this time on a Friday he's usually chair-bound and barely verbal, so inappropriate epithets is actually an improvement.

It's not you, it's me. I...

... found out when I was 12 that I was horribly allergic to lizards and when you said that about wanting a pet I knew you meant a reptile and and I just thought, I can't limit your happiness like that. I was going to suggest that we get a nice tank and get some frogs and some toys for them but I dunno. I even thought we could get them a slide, but it's a slippery slope,

A reason that you're late, involving a tree

It's not my fault. I was bang on time but then my uber driver stopped the car when he heard something hit his roof, and he got out and started kicking off with this group of kids for throwing stones, and by the time I noticed that it was just a conker falling out of the tree we drove under, I was already late.

Isn't it lovely to be here again?

Yes I mean it's always lovely to see Steve and catch up on the people he hates and his latest favourite stereotypes. I've got a little book I collect those in. I'm trying to get the full set.

Fifteen Minute Prompt: Write a Liary (A diary of lies)

For this one I adopted a caricature of an unpleasant self-centred person as my "protagonist" and considered the lies they may tell throughout the day.

Lie 1, 6:25am. Wife asked me if I slept well and I said yes. If I'd said no then she'd have wanted to know WHY and WHAT WAS ON MY MIND and I just couldn't be arsed with all that,

Lie 7, 7:45am. A homeless man just asked me if I could spare 10p. Of course I could, but, LOL, nope.

Lie 12, 8:69am. I just managed to get the last of the filter coffee ahead of Rob by saying I was allergic to the instant coffee. I need it more than him anyway. 

Lie 22, 11:45am. Boss just asked me if I could GUARANTEE that the project will be delivered by the end of next month. There's no way in hell that's going to happen, but it's bonus time at the end of THIS month, and next month when it comes to it I can pin it on Richie or Mike. I'd ideally like to be shot of at least one of those two anyway.

Lie 41, 4:30pm. My daughter being ill and me needing to go to the pharmacy for medicine is a much more acceptable reason for an early finish than needing to catch the vape stall before it closes. After all they're in the same place anyway.

Lie 50, 5:45pm. Just saw Jeff leaving our house. He seemed surprised to see me home so early. It's so good that Karen has such a close friend who can help her with stuff around the house when I'm at work.

Words Down Writing Prompts - 3rd October 2022

 One minute prompts

This time I ran the first three of these into one strange piece of flash fiction, whereas the other two were standalone. The prompt phrases, all taken from Audre Lorde's work, are highlighted within the text.

1/2/3: Some words are open. This time he wasn't using any of them and I knew I was out of luck here and that I should take myself, my patter, and my suitcase of stuff elsewhere. He extended his arms in a herding motion, placating at the same time. 

"Look, any other year I'd have been totally up for buying some of these and trying them" he says, and that lie hangs in his mouth as he guides me towards the door, looking distractedly at his phone. "This year I have to consider every expense. Maybe try the other shops?"

Next door was the butcher's shop. It was low end, selling offal, mostly, the spare parts of animals. I inhaled as I stepped inside. "I'm here because I remember the smell of your neck in August, and I've not been past since. You got any?" The last time I passed, they'd been cooking some meat up outside for a summer barbecue but I'd been in a hurry. The butcher sniffed; a disgusting liquid snort. "Nope. All outta turkey."

4. The difference between poetry and rhetoric is that most people claim to know what poetry means and they say they don't encounter rhetoric, when in reality the reverse tends to be true.

5. 

Do not remember me as a thorn

My pressures on you were always well intentioned.

My sharpness considered.

My pain caused unwillingly.

Fifteen Minute Prompt after studying Who Said It Was Simple by Audre Lorde

Prompt: "There are so many"

There are so many 

Reasons

To keep on fighting,

To keep on breathing,

To keep on keeping on

As the musicians tell us.

We are assailed

Daily

By all that is bad,

All that is painful,

All that is worrying.

Will that war end?

Will the money last?

Will anyone care?

But we are needed

Always

By those close to us.

Those whom we protect,

Those we care about,

Those we love.

To abandon the fight

Stubbornly

Is to give up on them,

To give away our dreams,

To give in to

The things we can't control,

The things we don't understand,

The things we didn't want.

Find your

Reasons.
There are so many.

Words Down Writing Prompts - 26th September 2022

 A Recipe for a Poem

1. Repeat a word three times

2. Use a simile that pulls something from the sky

3. Ask a question

4. Put an animal in a uniform

5. Repeat a word four times

6. Include your greatest fear

7. Take it somewhere illogical

8. Give it a four word title

9. Delete a line

Leads to:

The Departure of Dairy

Cheese Cheese Cheese

Yellow dairy plastic glowing like the sun in spring.

What is it about your wondrous texture

that so bewitches me?

While the cows stand in the field,

in their military camouflage fatigues,

yet still clearly visible as black and white are rare

in the meadow at least.

Mooing

Mooing

Mooing

Mooing

What if cheese were to be banned, 

or cows were to go extinct? 

Or just leave?

I ponder the horror of never again tasting Jarlsberg.

Of their jetpacks screaming 

as the bovine master race leave the world they shaped,

destined for the next.

I wish I could go there.

15 Minute Prompt : A poem loosely based on Dear Life by Maya C Popa

A poem in the form of a letter to something or someone, but where it's not immediately made obvious that it is, in fact, a letter.

Community Spirit

A constant battle

not between good and evil

or right and wrong,

but between good people on this side

and good people on the other side

(and a smattering of assholes on both sides).

Ideas are fermented and fomented,

then cemented, presented and resented

by one or other

or sometimes both.

Agreement cannot happen

between these factions.

Positions are too set,

Ideas too deeply rooted

until an old woman, whom none of us have met,

dies, not unexpectedly, in her palace

and all are united in performative grief.

Dear Society,

Why are you so divided on what matters

yet in such unity around that which cannot and does not affect you

while those with the power; the TRUE power

use it all as a distraction

to make us eat the dirt

and pay for the privilege.