For Day 10, A Poem About Suffering

Henri Théophile Hildibrand [see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s subject for Robert Brewer’s blog is suffering. Click on the link below to read the contributions of the community and add your own. Mine is below. Don’t worry about me, LOL, the speaker in the poem is suffering. I am fine. I wanted to get inside the feeling and went back to periods in the distant past when I experienced it.

2013 April PAD Challenge: Day 10 | Write a Poem a Day Until May | WritersDigest.com.

Suffering

I am

at the bottom

of a well.

I have

always

been here,

though

I suspect

I have not.

When I look

up, the

night is

starless

and I imagine

clouds.

The stone

walls of my

prison are

slick with putrid

moss. I

can see

no hope.

I can see

no hope.

Advertisement

From Jonathan Gunson: How to Stop Fiddling and Finish That Book

Here’s some great advice about overcoming fear and rediscovering the joy of writing.

How To Beat Writer’s Block Forever | Bestseller Labs.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 3 | Scary Poems | WritersDigest.com

In going back through my poems to create a chapbook manuscript, I find that I did not start posting them to this blog until well into the month. To make it handier for me, as well as sharing these great prompts with you, I will put up the missing ones as I find them. They may be in no particular order. This one is a “poem that scares you.”

The link below will take you to responses from other poets on Mr. Brewer’s site.

2012 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 3 | Scary Poems | WritersDigest.com.

Mine addresses the vagueness of things so many of us fear.

The Terror

It had not

taken form

and remained

a threat

without outline

in thin light

between night

and dawn.

Some sensed

it, an off scent

in the air

an odd buzz

in the near

silence

and their efforts

to reason

with their pounding

hearts were

driving them

mad. It was

not easy

as once

it had been

and something

undeniable

was coming

slowly

closer.

Frozen with Fear or Having Fun? Just Let Go

Some people are struggling to come up with ideas for Picture Book Idea Month. I understand that the prospect of coming up with thirty ideas in one month can be daunting. Here’s some advice that might help.

I write educational materials. When I have an assignment, I have to generate at least a dozen ideas a day. It’s like the centipede–if he thought about walking, he couldn’t do it. Don’t think. Don’t worry. Those are forms of fear. Who’s going to see these ideas if you don’t show them around (not a good idea for many reasons, including, and especially, creative ones). They are just for you and they can be really terrible, so go ahead and write down things that are so dumb nobody would ever be interested in them.

Set a timer and write ten stupid ideas in one minute. Then, you can go ahead and write a “good” one for today. DON”T look at, destroy or erase the stupid ones.

At the end of the month, guess which ideas will be more original, fun, and exciting.

This is the voice of experience. It works for all kinds of creative activities.

Another hint everybody–get your sleep. Your creative mind works when you are sleeping.