Challenge Ended

One-Eyed Poet

'Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.' – Salman Rushdie :: What if the words you write chose you?

Ended February 28, 2023 • 8 Entries • Created by fudo

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'Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.' – Salman Rushdie :: What if the words you write chose you?

IcarusLaughed

I Am Not In Control.

I was never under any delusion that I had any power over my words.

It's teamwork in a sense

But not in the normal way one might think.

I am only a vessel; a channel between

The world they live in and the one in which I reside.

I am the only link they have from their infinity to the page to our infinity once again

And I might feel pride to say it is I that plucks them out of nothing

One by one

To spin into magic.

But I would be lying.

Even now,

The words only apparate into my mind and travel to my fingertips;

I am letting them do as they sowish.

My fingers only bring them to this reality but

I hardly begin to think them before another and another appear.

So no.

I've never been the one in charge.

I wouldn't want to be.

It's a lot more fun when you have no idea what you're running towards -

The tricky part is giving yourself the permission to simply let go.

Challenge

One-Eyed Poet

'Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.' – Salman Rushdie :: What if the words you write chose you?

Rafaelopezjr

Freeze Frame

While walking about,

images of city life

were captured by me.

The moments frozen,

becoming the storylines

for others to read.

Interpretations

as numerous as the stars.

Art reflecting life...

Challenge

One-Eyed Poet

'Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.' – Salman Rushdie :: What if the words you write chose you?

Mnezz

The Shadow Man presented by the One-Eyed Poet

The particles within the glass began to expand

Reaching out...

Slowly breaking from their natural order,

Creating something anew..

The roots of the trees

Spring forth...

Carefully making their way,

Toward a band of particles..

A band of merry creatures

Break through the glass-like prism

Ready to explore the topsy-turvy universe

That has waterfalls flowing toward the heavens-

Whispers of voices echo in the wind

Like a chorus of banshee voices informing the guests:

"Whatever you do, stay away from the shadows....

The Shadow Man does not like strangers in his world!

"Turn back now...

"While you still have the time...

"Run, run as fast as you can...,

"Or prepare to be caught by The Shadow Man!"

#TheShadowMan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4FLIwLtjaI

February 24th, 2023.

Challenge

One-Eyed Poet

'Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.' – Salman Rushdie :: What if the words you write chose you?

KGMunro

Iterations Of The Scribe

Millions of versions of verses that came before,

In different faces and forms

Athenians, Egyptians, Mayans, Aztecs, and so on

The word of creativity lives through us all,

Us writers: the bastions of literature,

Storytellers of history and the heartbeat of the industry

The words that fall into our minds like stars

An instruction from the universe

Idiots can try to erase us but they will never destroy

the power of honesty and imagination

There will be more incarnations of us

Creating fictional worlds throughout time

The only certainty, in a world of instability,

Is that we are writers, and we will continue our journey

In this life and every other

We create forever,

In the syllables of our words.

Challenge

One-Eyed Poet

'Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.' – Salman Rushdie :: What if the words you write chose you?

tinad

G-Is for String

Thirteen years in the exotic dance, strip world may have left me with emotional and physical scars. But, what it mostly left me with were stories. Tons of them. Funny, sad, frightening, and eye-opening. Being the only stripper I knew who traveled with a Remington portable typewriter in my costume case, I recorded many along the way. The rest I know by heart.

'G-Is for String' was just waiting for me to work up the courage to write it. During the busiest time of my life, while planning and executing my daughter's wedding, I decided it was a good time to begin the journey of writing professionally. In between sewing backdrops, ordering tablecloths and flowers, planning the buffet tables, and baking wedding cake layers, I started the ponderous project of putting my career in stripping down in writing.

What can I tell you? I like being busy.

The most difficult part of this process was cutting out the fluff. Anything that did not directly relate to the story had to go. As all writers know, this was a monumental task. How do you delete the words you love? Well, you send your manuscript off to an editor who is not emotionally attached to your tale. I am fearfully awaiting the return of a neatly circumcised book.

I had read previous stories about strippers and watched movies that were supposed to be about the lives of strippers. I was still in the business when 'Flashdance', came out and my friends and I laughed all the way through that movie. A welder was probably getting paid a lot more than strippers back in the 1980s, plus she would have had worker's comp and benefits. Pittsburgh, not going topless? Pfft. Not happening. Not believing that stuff.

Pittsburgh, during the 80s, was so raw I barely survived my two-week booking there. The theater I worked at had a feature who would invite the audience members up to the edge of the stage to perform oral sex on her for tips. She didn't pay them- they paid her, to be exact. Good grief. The dance scenes in 'Flashdance', were so phony, only people who had never been to a strip club would believe them. A dancer pouring water all over the stage? Nope. Not believing it. I had to follow a girl who worked barefoot and poured baby powder on the stage. The minute I stepped onto the stage in my spiked heels I slid across the surface like the Zamboni had just finished up. I was furious and the girl never pulled out her baby powder again when we worked together.

Dancers never messed with the stage unless they wanted to get their costumes shredded in the dressing room. The phony, idealistic crap about wanting to join the dance company and actually getting accepted without true classical dance training? That did not and would not ever happen. Dancers in companies had been training since toddlerhood. There is no way a dancer, with no professional training, could keep up with the demands of a real dance company. It would be like living in a foreign land and not speaking the language- literally.

The closest read to a true story about stripping was the book, 'Lonely Lady'. It captured the time between the stage and showed how the constant travel and uncertainty of the job created difficulties in a woman's life. Relationships, family, and security were all sacrificed for the stage. The cost was great for me. So, I recognized the reality of that novel.

I like to make people laugh, even though there were many sad or scary times in my story. So, I've opted for an Erma Bombeck style. If you're too young to remember the silly housewife, you might be more familiar with Lara Croft. A friend of mine suggested my writing was 'Lara Croftish'. I looked her up and he was right. I am snarky and sarcastic. I always have an observation, which I think everyone should read because I am just that smart...assed. That style, hopefully, will soften the harsh parts of my story.

It may be a good read- or it may not. In writing it I've realized just how fortunate I was to get out of that lifestyle alive and am hoping that readers will enjoy it and perhaps gain a bit of perspective on their own lives.