Esther Spurrill Jones's Blog, page 7

OctPoWriMo 3 - Barren

Today's prompt is womb. This one was a little painful to write for me.

Image by Marion Wunder from Pixabay

Barren

“There is nothing more important to society than the raising of children, for its very survival requires it.”

Desolate
Empty
Dry and dead
The wind cries across the arid expanse
Seeds don’t sprout here
Rain doesn’t fall here

Nothing but sand and bare rocks as far as the eye can see

“...they have many of the collateral features of marriage, but they do not have its inherent feature, as they cannot commit to the natural procreation of children.”

Natural
Real
Creation
But nothing grows here

“They cannot therefore be married.”

My womb is empty, dry, and dead
I do not have the inherent feature

~
All quotes by Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada

OctPoWriMo 2 - Changeling

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Changeling

What if I was someone else
And I didn’t know?
The child of gremlins, fairies, elves,
Switched so long ago.

And, if I never learned the truth,
Would it amount to naught?
A human copy so exact:
A flawless counterfeit.

So, who am I? And what am I?
And what does ‘human’ mean?
Am I a bag of meat and bones,
A flesh and blood machine?

Or am I made of stars and dust,
A spirit wrapped in skin?
An immortal soul who has
Only just begun?

Does it matter what I am
Or where my genesis?
Who I am is who I am
The rest irrelevant.

OctPoWriMo 1 - Change My Mind

Today's prompt is "Dark Night of the Soul." There is no suggested form, so I chose one of my favourites, the English sonnet.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Change My Mind

I look for myself in Mom, in Dad, in friends;
I look for myself in art, in love, in God;
But all I find is bits of odds and ends.
Is there a me? Or am I just a fraud?

And yet, each piece I find is part of me
And, piece by piece, I fit myself together
Just like a jigsaw puzzle, and I see
Some pieces join to be, not whole, but closer.

The dark night of my soul is when I find
A portion of the picture is something
That I don’t want to be. And yet my mind
Is mine. So this is me, despite the sting.

If I accept and integrate that part,
And change my mind, then I can change my heart.

New Project

Since I published my newest poetry collection, I've been looking for a new project to work on. I think I'm going to start putting together some of my short stories. I know they say it's easier to sell a novel, but I haven't written one, and who knows if I ever will? I write short things.

I know I read short story collections, but I've noticed some things about them that bug me. Usually, they are all one theme, which is good, but the stories don't seem to fit together logically at all. Does that bother anyone else? I guess most of the collections I've read are multi-author, so it would be hard to make the stories fit together.

I'm actually reading a short story collection right now, and I really enjoyed the first story, which was  lighthearted fun and very short, but the second story was long and slow and dark and just gross. They were the same theme/genre, but had nothing else in common.

I need to go through my stories and see if I have enough to make a book of all stories that have the same feeling/tone as well as genre/theme.

Book Release - The Corners of My Heart

I finally finished putting together a collection of poetry about all the secret parts of my soul that I usually hide. These poems hold up a light to things in me that I usually don't share.

Amazon | Smashwords | GoodreadsI wrote the poems in here over several years, and through finding myself. The more I've written about myself, the more I've learned about myself.

I've dedicated this book to my sister, who is my best friend, and always encourages me to be myself.

OctPoWriMo 31 - A Step

Step out into the strange uncharted zone—
The road you walk goes ever on and on,
And though, at times, it feels you walk alone,
New companions come with every dawn.

Dawn is breaking as you reach a peak,
And night is falling as you tramp the plains.
Oft times, you feel you won’t find what you seek:
Losses along the way outweigh the gains.

Gains are often small, but you must know
That they are all important to your road:
No matter what you do or where you go,
Whether you are spurred, or when you’re slowed.

Slowed you may oft be, but then again,
Turn a corner, find a little pep;
Under sun, or through the wind and rain,
Your journey starts and ends with just a step.

Image via Pixabay

OctPoWriMo 30 - Dance

I've never done a pleiades before, so I had to try it.

Image via Pixabay

Dance

Do you fancy a dance?
Dipping, spinning, stepping,
Daring two left feet to
Do something like rhythm.
Dazzle me and make me
Dizzy. Put your toes in
Danger. Hold me closer.

OctPoWriMo 29 - They Count

Vegas59
Pulse49
First Baptist26
Tree of Life11
A safe placeWasn’t safe
2014 - 12,486
2015 - 13,536
2016 - 15,108
2017 - 15,643
2018 - still counting
They count

OctPoWriMo 28 - Opposites

Light, dark, dusk, and dawn
Twilight slowly fades into
Night or day

Black and white and grey
Fifty shades and more between
The ends of the spectrum

Male and female too
Are not so different.
There are no opposites.

OctPoWriMo 27 - Rainbow

Colours bowing in the sky,
Reaching over all below.
Spectrum dancing in my eyes;
Colours bowing in the sky.
I tip my head and stretch out my
Senses, welcoming the glow.
Colours bowing in the sky,
Reaching over all below.

Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash