grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

feel the music

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GBE 2: Writing Prompt – Music

I remember how darkness doubled
giving us somewhere safe to hide.
Just two lost souls swimming
inside a fish bowl, driven
deep beneath waves,
steered by the stars.
Do you believe in magic?
Can you feel the music
shining down like water?
Take my hand, take my whole life
and save your mortal soul.
I’ll let you be in my dreams,
if I can be in yours.

This poem is in the style of cento—work composed from lines or passages from other sources arranged in a new form or order, in this case, musical lyrics of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Rush, Television, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Deee-lite, Elvis, The Lovin’ Spoonful and Don McLean…

Do You Believe in Magic? The Lovin’ Spoonful

Hairy Words

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I have crazy psycho dreams. This, I’ve already confessed in prior posts.  Lately, my dreams have involved writing. Because.I’m.Obsessed. Possessed?

In my dreams, thoughts gush from the tip of my favorite pen, flowing and filling blank pages. In my dreams, I type fluently with fingertips on home keys, tap-tap-tap, as automatic as blinking. In my dreams, I edit, slash, replace, rack my brain for precise words that combine to form a magical sentence. Prose that flows likes a favorite melody. Words that sing.

In my most recent dream, I gazed into my mother’s magical magnifying mirror, the mirror she drags on every road trip. (The mirror that weighs fifteen pounds.) I discovered my eyebrows were unruly, in desperate need of plucking. A few wild stray hairs grew here and there, undetected by blurred fifty-year-old vision. Undetected without help from the hulking amplifier.

As I studied these shapeless brows, I noticed each hair was not a hair at all. Each hair was a word. A teeny-weeny minuscule group of letters. Why had I never noticed?

As I carefully tugged microscopic words from between my eyebrows, I wondered, did other people realized these hairs were adjectives and adverbs?
With my tweezers, I plucked…
very
          suddenly
      the
 small
                  important
           was
 just
               seem
   awesome…

Growing off to the side, I removed…
          interesting. 
Stray hairs. Stray words. 
When I finished, I admired my clean, evenly shaped eyebrows.
I’ve been writing word by word, bird by bird, bean by bean, hair by hair… I’ve been editing word by word, bird by bird, you get the picture.
Today, I shall take a break and go outside to play.
talya

Musical Pairing:

I Can See Clearly Now, Johnny Nash

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” 
― Dr. Seuss

A very good year.

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Today is my 14th wedding anniversary AND the 1 year anniversary of my First Blog Post.
Yay!

Happy Anniversary to my husband John who endures my constant writing and blogging and constant talking about writing and blogging. John, who makes it possible for me to constantly write and blog and talk about writing and blogging. John, who is often the inspiration of my constant writing and blogging…

It’s been a year of waaaaay out-of-my-comfort-zone experiences.
It’s been a year filled to the brim with blessings.  
I’ve met interesting people who have become friends, mentors and/or supportive readers.
My cup most definitely runneth over. 

talya

Musical Pairing:

Happy Anniversary, The Flintstones

My blog/writing year by the numbers…

51,492 page views in blog
38,194 words drafted in novel
310 blog posts published
236 GraceGrits Facebook likes
169 pages written in novel
161 followers (blog & twitter)
45 days of journal free-writing
31 pages of prose drafted
29 zentangles drawn
22 short stories written
16 Lakewood Advocate Blog Posts published
14 contest rejections received
11 guest blog posts published
10 pounds gained
7 days spent at Dairy Hollow
5 days writing at Hemingway-Pfeiffer
3 days learning at Fearless Writing seminar
2 Outpost Magazine Articles Published
1 outbreak of shingles

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!