Writing Exercise # 31

I'll be posting a couple more writing prompts today since I'll be on the road for the next two days, and I can't leave my pals hanging during NaPoWriMo! Today's prompt has been itching in me for quite some time. I hope it gets your pens scratching.


INGREDIENTS


1. Three close-calls you or someone you love/know/have read about has experienced.

2. List five things, natural or man made, that you admire.

3. List five things about the person you wrote about in #1 that you admire. (Kudos if you're writing about yourself!)


Have I mentioned lately, how there are no rules? How you can't write something wrong, if you've written ANYTHING? How these are not guidelines, but jumping off points? Like jumper cables, only without the grease on your pants?

- - -

Write out the day of the event from #1. If you don't know by now, I am a huge supporter of atmosphere: set the tone for your poem by using objects, weather, sights and sounds. Don't forget to use the five senses as much as possible.

We are all ghosts of near-deaths. We have all survived something. It doesn't matter how big or small the event is. If you are reading this, you are still here. You can write the event itself, or the aftermath of it. Choose when your car nearly skidded off the road. Choose the drink you turned down on the first day of your sobriety. How things changed. But make sure you mention what didn't change (#2.) The beauty that remains is important. The beauty of #3 is important, too.

If you can't praise the event, praise the survival. Your/his/her quick thinking. Count the blessings. Make them gods if you want. Be a god if you want.

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(This prompt was inspired by one of my favorite poets, Aracelis Girmay, and her poem "To The (Heart) Horse.")