• About
  • Good Deed Weeks!
  • Upcoming Writing Workshops, and Creative Prompts
  • Watch and Listen (videos and audios)
  • Wedding Poetry
  • Writing Prompts – The Elements

wordsthatserve

~ Breathe, read…smile

wordsthatserve

Tag Archives: international womens day

Wednesday Writers’ Well

08 Wednesday Mar 2017

Posted by harulawordsthatserve in Poetry, Uncategorized

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

creative writing, creativity, gratitude, imagination, international womens day, joy, miracles, nature, rwanda, soul food, well, well being, writing prompt, writing workshop

img_1608

“The aspiring poet is constantly lowering a bucket only half way down a well. coming up time and again with nothing but empty air. The frustration is immense. But you must keep doing it anyway. After many years of practice, the chain draws unexpectedly tight, and you have dipped into the waters that will continue to entice you back. You’ll have broken the skin on the pool of yourself.”

 – SEAMUS HEANEY

Beatha and her boys

This is my friend Beatha Munganyinka, with her three boys.

You can find out more about Beatha by following the link below

https://beathaandherboys.wordpress.com/

Before I dive in to the regular Wednesday post, I’d like to (re)share a poem I wrote a while back, in recognition of the fact that today is International Women’s Day. For inspiration I turned my thoughts to my heroines…the mothers of Africa, or more specifically, the women in Rwanda who have been such friends and sources of inspiration to me. For more about International Women’s Day, follow this link:

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme

She bears a year old child upon her back

Her body oozing sweat in vicious heat

A child beside with nothing on her feet

Walks in silence down the dusty track

No waste of precious words to voice her lack

The woman’s rod straight back shows no defeat

Her head held high she stops to meet and greet

For all are friends who walk this dusty track

A car pulls up to offer them a lift

She feels the soothing air conditioning

Her daughter waits to see what she will do

The man inside is offering a gift

He’s smiling now and beckoning them in

They walk on by, thank God her mother knew

 

And now, a belated welcome to this regular slot each Wednesday, which I call Writers’ Well because: it’s intended to be a source of nourishment and inspiration for the writer in you, it expresses my belief that creative writing can benefit our well being on many levels, and…I love the above quote from Seamus Heaney. It gives me goosebumps every time. It also resonates with my own intention when leading writing workshops. It’s not about producing good writing, it’s about brave, real writing. Writing that goes down deep within to draw up something unexpected.

Writing Prompt:

Each week, I share one of the writing prompts used the previous Friday in my weekly workshop, along with an example of what was written in response. Today’s prompt (allow around 15 mins in total) is called…Mundane Miracles

Begin by making a list, speedily and spontaneously, of about 10 things/experiences, you consider to be little everyday ‘miracles’. If you’re doing it in a group, you can pass your list round to the right after each item and add to each others so you get some creative cross pollination of imaginative ideas.

Now, with your list for inspiration, though you do not you have to use everything on it, nor are you limited to the things on your list(s), write a poem. Here is what I wrote:

 

I believe in miracles

the daily, mundane kind

no need to wake from death

or fly with pigs

just smile

smile with heart and soul on show

and you catch me in that glow

and I feel that joy and lightness

grow in me too

watch that wild thing following freely

with nothing to gain

but a moment of connection

unspoken friendship that neither asks

nor wants but flies away

as lightly and spontaneously as it came

colour, that child of light

ever changing as the day births,

grows and dies

spilling a vast palette

from an ever changing sky

onto a receptive world below

that forgets blue is so much more

that a single four letter word

nothing need change

for life to become

a series of mini miracles

it’s all already there

just waiting to be noticed

 

 

May your day be Miraculous 🙂

If you enjoyed this prompt, then you can find more here:

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/upcoming-writing-workshops-and-some-prompts-for-you-to-play-with/

and here:

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/writing-prompts-the-elements/

 

 

 

Form Friday 5!

08 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by harulawordsthatserve in Poetry

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

africa, beauty, creativity, earth, imagination, inspiration, international womens day, life, nature, poetic form, poetry, rwanda, sonnet, villanelle, women, writing

An Italian (or Petrarchan) Sonnet was my task for this week, and once again I have fallen in love! So now the Sonnet is my favourite! Only last week I gave my poet heart to the Villanelle, but now my thoughts are for sweet Sonnet alone. Is a poet permitted to be so fickle with her forms?

On a more serious note, it being International Women’s Day today, I turned my thoughts to my heroines…the mothers of Africa, or more specifically, the women in Rwanda who have been such friends and sources of inspiration to me. For more about International Women’s Day, follow this link:

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/theme.asp#.UTjS9Tez6Sp

For more about me and my connection to Rwanda, visit my other blog:

http://beathaandherboys.wordpress.com/

A sonnet it usually written in iambic pentameter. I grew up in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare, so I lived and breathed this meter for years. A sonnet has 14 lines in total. There are various forms, and rhyme schemes that can be applied, and these are often different for the first 8 lines and the last 6 lines. I’ve gone with ABBAABBA CDECDE. You can find more details about the background and structure of Sonnets here:

http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm

And here’s my attempt, in celebration of mothers, women and Africa! Enjoy:-)

She bears a year old child upon her back

Her body oozing sweat in vicious heat

A child beside with nothing on her feet

Walks in silence down the dusty track

No waste of precious words to voice her lack

The woman’s rod straight back shows no defeat

Her head held high she stops to meet and greet

For all are friends who walk this dusty track

 

A car pulls up to offer them a lift

She feels the soothing air conditioning

Her daughter waits to see what she will do

The man inside is offering a gift

He’s smiling now and beckoning them in

They walk on by, thank God her mother knew

 

And if you write a Sonnet yourself, do share it in the comments section, or send me a link.

See you next Friday for: A Rondeau

And here are links to the four previous Form Fridays:

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/form-friday/

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/form-friday-2/

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/form-friday-3/

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/form-friday-4/

Recent Comments

harulawordsthatserve on First they came…
Jonathan Mason on First they came…
harulawordsthatserve on First they came…
Jonathan Mason on First they came…
roughwighting on Writing Prompt: Thirty

Recent Posts

  • Writing Prompt: Thirty
  • Writing Prompt: Twenty-nine
  • Writing Prompt: Twenty-Eight
  • Writing Prompt: Twenty-Seven
  • Writing Prompt: Twenty-six

Archives

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blogs I Follow

  • Botanical
  • Poetry Film Live
  • melaniebranton
  • Stay-at-Home! International Literature Festival
  • Jason Disley
  • COVID-19 & Freelance Artists
  • Jacqueline Saphra Poetry
  • Emma Lee's Blog
  • Burning Eye Books
  • Children's Poetry Summit

Buy my poetry collection, Ignite

Blog at WordPress.com.

Botanical

Poetry, Plants & Planet

Poetry Film Live

a new way with poetry

melaniebranton

Stay-at-Home! International Literature Festival

Jason Disley

COVID-19 & Freelance Artists

Jacqueline Saphra Poetry

The Poem and the World

Emma Lee's Blog

Welcome to occasional reviews, comments and news from this Leicester, UK based writer of poems, stories and book reviews

Burning Eye Books

Never Knowingly Mainstream

Children's Poetry Summit

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • wordsthatserve
    • Join 1,340 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • wordsthatserve
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...