welcome

welcome readers & writers! in this cyber space please find: + a photo writing prompt + a place to post your creative writing response (poem, memoir, short story or the like) to the prompt + a community of readers and fellow writers excited to read your writing + morsels of genuine fiction, poetry & creative non-fiction as the blog is updated. share a response as often as you'd like. everyday discoveries from my life, captured on film, will serve as prompts. this is not a place where we will critique one another's work; however, words of encouragement or praise for writers who share their work are most welcome. writers, share your story, poem or creative non-fiction response to the photo by clicking on comments; word count is flexible. cheers! demery

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

freckled


readers & writers, welcome!
 * * *  
writers, join me in writing about today's photo prompt. click on comments below to share your poem, short story or creative non-fiction response. cheers!
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"Would you like another, miss?" Adin shaded her eyes, squinting to see the waiter standing over her in his white polo shirt and khaki shorts, holding an empty pina colada glass in his hand. "Please," she said, propping herself up on her elbows. He nodded, tossing her a wink as he turned away. 
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She sat up, stretching her fingers toward the sky and her toes in the general direction of the ocean, which rolled and shhhussshhheed just yards beyond the resort pool. She examined her arms and legs for signs of sunburn, supposing that she should put on some more sunscreen. "You'll freckle, dear..." Her mother's voice scolded faintly in her mind. How many years had Adin spent, at her mother's urging, confined to the shade circle of a beach umbrella or nearly suffocating in a 'lightweight' cotton wrap. And still she'd end her vacation covered with tiny freckles, a smattering across the nose, many more on her body, scattered like so much glitter across the surface of a Christmas ornament. They'd last a month or two then recede under the milky surface of her skin until next time. 
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But now, one week post finals, six months to college graduation, she'd finally realized that mother's voice, though it would always bob around in her sea of thoughts, no longer had a place as the voice heard above all others. Adin flipped onto her belly, resting her cheek against her soft nubby towel. "The thing of it is," she drawled, more relaxed than she remembered being for years, "I like my freckles." 
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5 comments:

  1. He’s just a little elf
    that hangs on our tree,
    Irished and moustached,
    and freckled as me.

    With pom-pom buttons
    on cap and on clothes,
    and shiny black spots
    sitting wide above his nose.

    He’s been on our tree
    as long as I can remember
    snuggled safely away from
    January till December.

    He fell off one day
    got stepped on and flattened
    and lost for a time
    ‘til the cat showed she had him
    hidden in her corner under Joshua’s bed,
    she gifted us his body
    but held on to his head.

    We patched him up with stitches and paste
    and a ribbon of fluff
    that matched the ring at his waist.
    He seems to endure no matter the climate,
    no regards to elevation,
    no circumstances can dim his expression of elation.

    He teaches us all, this freckled little elf,
    we are spirit and endurance
    and Christmas in ourselves.

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  2. Awww. I like yours AND Pauline's. Very good, ladies! :)

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  3. The thing about Christmas is that it is complicated... and I suspect it shouldn't be. The commericalism, the pagentry, crazy family, gimme giving, rampant decorations, songs and movies, religion, oh and that small babe in swaddlin' and on and on. As a person who did not celebrate Christmas in childhood, it all seems a bit much... silly... often very annoying... occasionally warm and even playful... at the best of times I find it a great lesson in giving and reflection and always is a joy with kids. And that perception is after years of sharing the day with my wife and family. And some friends. And about a billion or more folks finding their crazed way to the 25th. Ask me about Christmas 20 years ago ( or on a cranky day) and the answer would be far more acerbic.

    I look at this holiday and want to seperate out the best stuff... at least the stuff I like or tolerate the most. And I want to eliminate all the rest. Which would mostly be all the non-stop holiday marketing and incessant songs in loop. I don't know about the baby Jesus. We haven't met. Based on descriptions I would imagine much of the craze is worth it because families do gather and it seems that when they do, thoughts, eventually, turn to our better selves. And at some point, on a good day, we each learn or relearn a little something about being human in this world together.

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  4. Pauline - I love your poem, especially the spirit of the last lines. Thank you for writing wihh me!

    Linda - Thank you... Pauline is one of my best and longest time writing buddies. She and I have been writing and critiquing each other for more than a decade :) I love her writing, too.

    FilmGuy - Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on Christmas, my friend - and with such thoughtfulness and grace. So glad to be sharing bits & pieces of the season with you and yours.

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  5. INAUGURAL TRIOLET OCCASIONED BY LEARNING OF THEIR EXISTENCE AND ENCOUNTERING AND ENIGMATIC PROMPT

    It's such a funny-looking ornament -
    think we ought to hang it on the tree?
    Would its presence undermine our fundament?
    It's such a funny-looking ornament!

    Would those of celebrated taste lament
    our decorated spruce on FaceBook if they see?
    It's such a funny-looking ornament,
    think we ought to hang it on our tree?

    ReplyDelete