Thursday, July 11, 2013

If Art Could Talk

Here's an awesome writing prompt I found at http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts
        
 Think of a painting.  Any painting.  If the painting could come right out and speak to you, what would it say?  Write an entire dialogue between you and the painting.  

I chose to write a conversation between myself and this painting




I saw a painting in a museum once
Picasso’s “Old Guitarist.”
Inside was a man  in blue
Head bowed,
Clothes torn,
And bony fingers poised
On silent guitar strings.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He didn’t move.
“What’s the matter with you?”
He blinked.
“Are you sad?” 
Slowly, very slowly
He raised his sunken, lifeless eyes.
His skeleton hand fell limply across guitar strings,
VWONGGGG!
The eerie chord penetrated the painted canvas.
I covered my ears.
His thin lips twisted in a sickly grin.

“What do you want?”  I asked.
“To die.”  He said

I could tell he had once been a handsome man
Proud and tall,
With high cheek bones
and a thick head of hair
Now he was bent.
Now he old.
Now he was
Balding,
And broken,
And sad.


“Is there anything I can do?”  I asked.
Avoiding my eyes
He plucked the guitar strings
One by one.
“Nothing”  He said.
And cradling his guitar,
turned to face the wall.

I reached to put my hand on his shoulder,
But found only smooth paint
On rough canvas.
Powerless,
I turned away
From the sad, broken man
And moved to the next painting.


I'm dying to hear what other paintings inspire people to write.  If you like this prompt and decide to write on it, please share! I'd love to see what other people come up with! 

Also I could really use some title ideas for this poem.  I can't seem to find one that fits.  



Monday, July 8, 2013

It's Going to Fill the Whole House!!!


Once upon a time I was asked to draw a bath for my younger brother Joseph.  He must have been two or three years old at the time.  I started running the bathwater, but somehow managed to completely forget to turn it off.  Poor Joseph walked into the bathroom to find the tub overflowing and water oozing toward his feet.  He ran to mom in terror saying,"The water!  It's going to fill the whole house!"

Joseph was never quite the same afterward.  He supervised everyone running bathwater, and made sure they had their hand on the facet the entire time.  He kept saying, "That's enough!  That's enough water now!"  The poor kid was paranoid.   

Joseph just turned 16 years old today.  Fortunately he's gotten over his fear of running water, but I wouldn't be a proper older sister if I didn't remind him periodically of his goofy, embarrassing, childhood fears.  Happy birthday Joseph!  Sorry for leaving the bathtub water running all those years ago.  

Monday, July 1, 2013

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

This story was written for Susanna Hill's "4th of July Secret/Mystery Writing Contest."  To see contest rules or read other fantastic entries visit http://susannahill.blogspot.com/ There is a 400 word limit and I managed to finish mine in 389.  This contest has been a challenge for me.  My first two story ideas turned out to be failures, and I almost gave up. Then this story occurred to me out of the blue as I was walking to zumba.  I had a lot of fun writing and painting the illustration.  I hope you all enjoy and I greatly look forward to reading all the other entries!  



BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM!


         Belle the big, black poodle disliked loud noises.  Baby squeals made her jump, high-pitched whistling from the teakettle made her howl, and thunderstorms made her tremble head to tail.  

            One 4th of July evening Belle curled up on the warm kitchen rug for a nap.  Through sleepy eyes she watched her owner Sadie and her friends chatter around the counter tops preparing ice cream sundaes with pecans and homemade chocolate syrup.

She thumped her tail lazily in content.  Soon her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep. 

BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM!  A dreadful noise startled Belle from sleep.  She bolted up and looked around.  The kitchen was dark and empty.

DRIP.  DRIP.  DRIP.  Went the water faucet.

WHIR.  WHIR.  WHIR.  Went the dishwasher.

“Hmmm” thought Belle.  “I must have imagined the sound.”  She settled back down on her mat. 

BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM!  The noise came again! 

Belle jumped to her feet.  “What was that?!”  She thought pawing the ground nervously.  “Where is Sadie?” 

Belle trotted into the living room.  No Sadie. 

TICK-TOCK.  TICK-TOCK.  Went the clock

BUZZ BUZZ. Went the fly circling potato chips.

BOOM!  BOOM! BOOM!  Went the noise even louder this time. BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM!

Belle began to circle around and around the living room floor.  “Oh, what is that awful noise!”  She thought.  “Sadie where could you be?”   

Suddenly she heard laughter coming from the front porch.  Sadie’s laugh.  Belle ran to the door and scratched urgently. 

“What is it girl?”  Said Sadie opening the door. 

Belle whined and leaned against Sadie’s denim jeans.  Suddenly she saw flowers bursting out of nowhere in the sky.  They sparkled like tinsel on a Christmas tree.  “How beautiful” thought Belle.

BOOM!  BOOM!  BOOM! The noise came from the sky!

BARK!  BARK! Said Belle shrinking away. 

“Awww you’re scared of the fireworks!”  Said Sadie hugging Belle around the neck.  “Come sit next to me.  I will keep you safe.”

Belle couldn’t understand how such beautiful flowers could make such a terrible, frightening noise!  But she followed Sadie and curled obediently beside her. 


As Belle watched the way Sadie and her friends laughed in delight at the dazzling show in the sky, she began to feel more at ease.  Sadie wrapped her arm around Belle and together they looked up to enjoy the BOOMING flowers in the sky.



Here's the inspiration for my story.  She's an old dog that's been in the family for 15 years now.