February 16, 2017
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Looking Out of Practice
Most activities fall into one of two categories: "use it or lose it" and "like riding a bike - you never forget". I've had my share of "use it or lose it" activities. I took 3 years of Latin and 5 semesters of Russian and I can't utter more than a couple phrases. I played the clarinet for 5 years and can't play a thing. I doubt I can even get a note to come out of the instrument without sounding like a strangled duck. I played the organ for a year and a half and have retained "chopsticks". However the other category still holds a few things that I can still manage even though I'm out of practice. I can still ride a bicycle. Yep. Even use the hand breaks without flipping myself over the handlebars. I can still drive a manual transmission even if my car is now an automatic. I can sew on a button and put in a zipper though it has been about 25 years since I last had to replace a zipper. And I can still write poetry. You do get out of practice. I feel a little rusty with my rhymes. I used to do a short story once a year but it has been more than a couple years since I started one. Even if it has been a long time since I made it a priority to write at least once a day, I think I need to get back in practice, to supple my writing muscles in order to be ready for April's National Poetry Month. Thus I present my own writing prompt:
Scavenger Hunt Winter 2017
1. Use the phrase “Stronger every day”
2. Use the words: hawk, therapy, window, peach, comfort
3. Include a dragonfly
4. Discuss something in a frame
5. Use the words: technology,
6. Use the words: heat, merit, blue, aardvark
7. Include the phrase “If you’ve ever wanted”
8. Use the words: poke, cascade, pause, gold
9. Mention a famous composer.
10. Write about love
11. Write about a treehouse
12. Use the words: biscuits, beat, choices, pink
13. Write about death
14. Discuss religion
15. Use the phrase “Curiosity killed the cat”
16. Include the life cycle of an insect
17. Use the words: trivia, sunglasses, stratosphere, petulant
18. Discuss shaving your head
19. Include a quote from Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet”
20. Include a disease
21. Use the words: cozy, lock, spite, iris
22. Discuss a closet
23. Use a dressing room
24. Use the phrase “I’ve never been good at parallel parking”
25. Include a broken promise
26. Use the words: prospect, scroll, fringe, glasses, flash
27. Discuss a distraction
Comments (12)
You can do those in poetry? How fortunate you are.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. Some of the prompts are easy and others will be a big challenge. Rhyme isn't always necessary for poetry but many folks immediately think of rhyming and throw their hands up saying that they can't do poetry... I bet you could do these too.
You studied Russian and Latin! Wow. I'm impressed! I took Spanish a few times and I can't really understand most of it. Maybe we could study mime and be understood in every language!
Playing charades is often what it comes down to. Even sign language differs from country to country and region to region. The ability to understand goes back to that tower of Babel...
@BLB: You and me were typing at the same time!
Mcbery how did you know?
Are there rules for this (time frame, poetry/prose/photography, fiction/non)?
Nope - no rules at all! Join the fun! I'm planning to finish before April 1st so that is about 6 weeks.
Maybe I'll give it a try.
Ooh! That would be great! I'd love to see what you come up with. You do have a nimble brain!!
Interesting list.
We used to always say "Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back." Does that qualify as a poem? I think it's a limerick. I not only have never been good at parallel parking, I refuse to do it. If there are 2 spaces and I can drive in and don't have to back up I can handle that. Otherwise I find a parking lot, or go around the block again 'til I find an end space.
I've never been comfortable with parallel parking. I'm always afraid that I'll clip the other cars! I think that is an adage, aphorism, proverb, or maxim - that is a short pithy statement/observation of a truth... I like that and there is great satisfaction in those nine lives of the felines.