Quick Write with Rich 6/21/12

Pet’s Cemetery

Dead bodies kept showing up on my doorstep.  This time it was a woman I had seen in the city. She had sat by me in the subway, and I remembered her because when I entered the train car and sat down, she had looked up from her newspaper and smiled at me. She certainly wasn’t smiling now.

I darted back into the house and threw up in the kitchen sink. Kitty kept bringing me all these victims like presents, and I was at a loss of what to do to stop it. I knew that if I tried to confront her, my dead body could end up as a gift in somebody else’s porch.

But I had to do something about it, and soon.

I washed the sink and forced myself to get the wheelbarrow. One more grave to dig in the back yard. Soon there would be no room left.

Found Poem 6/13/12

A Ray Bradbury Original

Found Poem by Elsa Pla

From “A Martian Joined Ray Bradbury and Me for Dinner in Paris” by Henry Fountain,

New York Times, Tuesday, June 12, 2012.

He was a masterly writer,

a bit dressier than most

and so passionate about the subject.

That, it turned out, was no obstacle.

He wrote at least a thousand words a day,

and the wine kept coming.

A prolific signer of autographs,

funny, effusive, and genuinely friendly,

he carried around some felt-tip markers

just for that purpose.

So it didn’t really surprise me

when he knocked over his wine glass

on the white linen of the small square table

in a bistro on the Left Bank.

“My! That looks like a Martian!” he shouted

and opened his sport coat,

revealing five felt tips of different colors

lined up neatly in the inside pocket.

He added a couple of antennas

to the purple stain seeping across the tablecloth

and an alien face appeared—

A Martian in Paris.

He signed it and added the date for good measure.

It didn’t really surprise me

when a month or so later, I stopped at the bistro

and there was the tablecloth,

prominently framed on a wall

like a canvas from Picasso.

Writing in to the day with Rich:

This time it was a woman I saw in the city.  She hung on the wall staring complacently out at the world.  Her eyes beckoned and her body language was inviting.  The bottle she held was luxuriously draped in blue velvet, the color of the sky when intimate secrets are shared.  She was dripping in diamonds that only the one percent could afford.  "Luxury," her speech bubble said, "is not only for the rich."  I thought about this as I drove home.  Later, sitting on my patio, the grill giving off the enticing aroma of chicken and roasting corn, my dog on the grass, my husband singing in the kitchen, and an ice cold can of PBR in my hand, I thought, "Now THIS is luxury!"

Writing leads with Jenna:

It was quiet in the woods.  Here, twilight lingered and peace reigned.  the canopy of trees was tall and majestic, protecting the earth and sky like a gossamer veil.  here and there, thin shafts of sunlight illuminated the undergrowth, highlighting the ferns like lace.

This is one of my favorites!  From the Book of Qualities:

Doubt

Doubt is a little imp who sits in the back of your mind, always just out of your line of sight.  doubt waits patiently until a comment is made--usually in jest--then rushes forward to stand tall, arms wide, ready to leap in to the abyss, and take you with him.  He likes to stay there for as long as you like.  Doubt travels with you, though sometimes you don't notice him.  He can jump from mind to mind and replicate himself like a cell.  He is a parasite who feeds on your past and regurgitates your future, never minding the present.  Sometimes, Doubt looks out through your eyes at the world around you.  Doubt likes to throw big parties sometimes.  his favorite friends are Fear, Uncertainty, and Worry.  the four of them stay up late into the night creating instead of solving the world's problems.  Doubt and his friends also like to argue sometimes with Faith, Trust, and Confidence.  When they show up, Doubt shrinks back until eventually he and his friends move on.

Lee had us playing games and writing about characters from cards in a game.  Here is mine.

James loves to say "I put the fun in funeral," and he really does.  The ever present, huge headphones, Batman shirt, and "skull" cap all make you think that James is living in his own world, but he is the go-to guy for whatever is new and hip and cutting edge in town.  James is known in our circle as "Norm," and we all shout that as he walks in to any room like on Cheers.  Like Norm, his acerbic wit and spot-on commentary of what is happening in the world make us all laugh hysterically.

Corey had us pick a narrative genre--I tried Steampunk, and Lee said it was OK.

She stumbled down the dark alley, gasping for breath.  Her full heavy skirt was soaked with rain and her boots were muddy from running through the cemetery over fresh graves.  The rain poured down the sides of the buildings in sheets, pooling at her feet, creating a river of filth and debris down the narrow passage.  She pulled out her pendant and pushed a small button on the side.  Gears clicked and whirred as it transformed itself into an intricate mechanical bird, wings spread.  she unclipped it from the heavy chain around her neck.  "Home." she whispered.  The mechanical bird chirped and flew down the alley, dodging fire escapes as it went.  she followed quickly, tracking the bird's path as she held her head up to the rain.