Esther Spurrill Jones's Blog, page 18

OctPoWriMo 8 - Be Brave

Today's prompt is porous. On the prompt page it says we don't have to use the word in our poem, but "it's about where the word takes you." Then they give the dictionary definition, which includes "permeable to outside influences." This got me thinking about being influenced by others, standing strong in who I am, being brave. This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. In my real life, there are only two people who really and truly know me: my husband and my sister. They know everything about me, while my other friends and family know different levels of who I am, but not the whole picture. I don't know if this will ever change, or if it should change. But sometimes I kind of wish I could be brave and just show the world who I really am.

I used the suggested form today: the Rispetto. It was a lot of fun to write and what I wanted to say fit perfectly into the rhyme and metre.

Be Brave

“Be yourself! Be real! Be true!
Stand up tall! Be brave! Be strong!
Let me see the honest you
Singing, shouting out your song.”

I smile and nod, and yet, I hide
I don’t (yet?) have enough pride.
I’m afraid to let you see
Everything inside of me.

OctPoWriMo 7 - See the Voice

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8
Today's prompt is taste and the suggested form is the Rondel. The above verse has always been one of my favourites and it was the first thing that came to mind. I have always loved the idea of tasting to see something. I am not synesthetic, but as a poet, I like to imagine how a colour might sound or a sunset might taste. And the idea of tasting God is a fascinating one. I would almost call it irreverent if it wasn't right there in the Bible.

See the Voice

Oh, taste and see the voice you feel
Singing softly in your soul
Sweetly, gently, He cajoles
All you have to do is kneel

Bring your hurts to Him to heal
He will mend and make you whole
Oh, taste and see the voice you feel
Singing softly in your soul

Hear the singing, ringing peal
Read the words upon the scroll
Surrender to His kind control
Sit back and let Him take the wheel
Oh, taste and see the voice you feel

OctPoWriMo 6 - Taste Your Lips

Today's prompt is tantalizing and the suggested form is Loop poetry. I can't remember if I've tried this form before, but I like it. It's fun.

I have been married 7 years last month, and I still think of my husband first when I see prompts like this. I crave his touch, and I believe that I always will.

Aren't we cute?

Taste Your Lips

Let me taste your lips
Lips that smile so sweet
Sweet and soft and warm
Warm me with your heat

Hands and fingers tangle
Tangle me with you
You and I together
Together rendezvous

I am yours forever
Forever we are one
One flesh, one heart, one love
Love me—I’m undone

OctPoWriMo 5 - Sharp

Today's prompt is sharp. Also today, we had our first snowfall here (it didn't stick around much, but it's wet and chilly and windy). The chill in the air made me think of sharp, biting wind. However, sharp is also an antonym for dull or flat, which are not good things. I don't want my life to be dull and/or flat. Sharps are the highs in the peaks and valleys of life and, while they aren't always good, they are necessary to keep life interesting.

Sharp
My front steps today
The bite of October’s first snow
The feeling when you have to go
A half-step above
The loss of first love
A cry in a dark, quiet night
A sudden, surprising fright
Something that smarts
A lemon is tart
A man in a suit and top hat
Nothing at all dull or flat

OctPoWriMo 4 - Monsters and Magic

Today's prompt is purple, and the suggested form is the Cascade. I thought about it for hours before my sister suggested (mostly joking) that I write about Hawkeye (Clint Barton) because, in the comics at least, he wears purple. I decided to write about Clint and Natasha (Black Widow) because their role as the humans among gods and superheroes fascinates me. If you've watched the Avengers movie, this poem will probably make more sense than if you haven't, though you might be able to follow along anyway. I'm not sure.



Monsters and Magic

I’ve got red in my ledger.
Monsters and magic—
Nothing we were ever trained for.

Nat goes to the villain,
Conjures some tears:
“I’ve got red in my ledger.”

Clint wakes from the nightmare again and again
Where he served the
Monsters and magic.

We stand shoulder to shoulder with gods and heroes—
Only our wits and skills to face
Nothing we were ever trained for.

OctPoWriMo 3 - Star Shine

Today's prompt is sparkle. I decided to try a form I haven't tried before: the Essence. It's a very short form of only 12 syllables in 2 lines, so I doubled it to make 4 lines. The short, quick lines, and the internal rhyme in this form make me think of sparkling bubbles in champagne or ginger ale. I think it's a very appropriate form for the prompt.


Star Shine

She sings, stars shine o’erhead,
And wings are ever spread.

She smiles, and all is right.
The trials end. There is light.

OctPoWriMo 2 - Tinnitus

Today's prompt is The Void, and the suggested form is the Kyrielle. I decided to write about silence, and how losing much of my hearing has affected me.

Tinnitus.

When I was twelve, my eardrum burst.
It healed, yet always, since that day,
My world is muffled, and the worst:
The ringing never fades away.

My hearing comes and goes, and I
Sometimes wish it just would stay.
“Good” days hurt, all amplified;
The ringing never fades away.

If all around is calm and still,
It grows and grows—I can’t downplay
How high-pitched, and e’ermore shrill,
The ringing never fades away.

OctPoWriMo 1 - What is Time?

Today is the first day of OctPoWriMo 2016. The prompt today is "time." A couple of days ago, I found this article about the physics of time, and thought it was a fascinating look at how science views time. What does "now" really mean? It's an ephemeral concept that is constantly changing. While I write this, "now" is a different time than the "now" when you read this, yet they are both "now."

I decided to use the form Minute Poem today, since it's crafted to be a reflection of the measurement of time, so I figured it's appropriate. With 60 syllables, it's meant to take about a minute of time to read. Though, of course, I'm a super fast reader, so it takes me around 30 seconds to read it. And it took a lot more than a minute to write.

What is Time?

To say you live within the now—
Well, really, how?
When, oh, so fast
It is the past.

What is time? Can we explain?
Can human brains
E’er apprehend
And comprehend?

Always moving, never still;
I swear I will
Take time for rest
To ease the stress.

Review of The Thirteenth Hour by Joshua Blum

The Thirteenth Hour by Joshua Blum

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

In a lot of ways, this book is cool and different, taking overused fantasy tropes and turning them on their heads. However, it is also quite tell-y. Some of that could just be the style, but it always rubs me the wrong way while reading something that tells me instead of showing me. The spelling and grammar are mostly smooth and well-done, with a few typos scattered throughout, however the characters don’t talk like real people. Huge sections of beautiful prose are interspersed with awkward, poorly written, sections.

Each time the POV changes, the text colour changes too. While this makes it much easier to follow than some books I’ve read that are full of annoying head jumping, I personally found the different coloured text to be distracting and affected. Also, several times pages end in the middle of a scene… or even a sentence. This tells me that whoever formatted this into an ebook needs to do a bit more work making it read smoothly.

Besides the dialogue sounding like they’re constantly quoting something, many of the conversations are very difficult to follow. With only dialogue and no ‘stage directions’ it’s hard to keep track of who’s saying what, especially if there’s more than two characters in the scene. However, there are a few lines that I really liked. For example: ‘he held up a finger as if to say, “I’m not finished yet,” which had always seemed like an asshole move to me.’ Yes, I’ve always thought that’s an asshole thing to do.

The epilogue is pretty much an elongated moral like at the end of Aesop’s fables. I think the story would be better if the epilogue was cut back a lot or trashed completely. This could be simply personal taste, though. Maybe there are people who like to read a long moral at the end of a book. I found it boring.

Overall, this was a pretty good story, though it could use a good edit to tighten it up and cut a lot of the words. It took me a lot longer to read than a book of this length usually does, and I think a good cut would make it easier and faster to read. However, if you like a fantasy but are sick of the tired old tropes, this would be a good choice.




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Why You Gotta be so Mean?

I really don’t understand why anyone has a problem with caring about others’ feelings. When I speak up in favour of other people, I’m labelled a Social Justice Warrior (SJW) which is somehow a bad thing for some reason. Well, let me tell you something: I would rather be an SJW than a jerk. When did justice become a bad thing anyway?

My brother told me that ‘racist’ and ‘racism’ are buzzwords that don’t mean anything. Well, I don’t agree (and neither does the dictionary). I think if you are cruel to someone because of their race, then you are being racist. And yes, not all bigotry is racism, but that is not the point. Racism is a real thing, and it’s a huge problem.

My brother likes to claim that he’s simply being rational and accuse me of being emotional. I’m human. A big part of being human is having emotions. My emotional response tells me that being cruel is wrong, and I trust that. You can pretend all you want that you don’t have emotions but you do, and if you are cruel to everyone you will alienate them and when you need emotional support there will be no one there for you.

Cruelty leaves you alone. Being kind costs you nothing. Being cruel costs you friends and makes you enemies. So why wouldn’t you want to be kind?