Weekend Writing #46: This Is The End

TGIF, writers/readers! Your editors are hard at work putting together the fall issue of The Green Light, but in the meantime, we wanted to give you all something to get the creative juices flowing! This is the last real weekend of summer here in WI, so we want to do one more summer-themed prompt.

First, we want you to make a list. Just go with us here. We want you to list the first 10 words that come to your mind when you think of “winter.” Don’t think about this too much. Just get a pen & paper (or open up a word doc) and jot down the first 10 words that come to your mind. No requirements or restrictions here.

Once you’ve got your 10 winter words, we want you to create your piece. Set in summer. That’s the only setting requirement. The other requirement? You must use all 10 winter words you came up with. Be creative. Try something as a verb that isn’t usually, etc. Stretch your imagination, here!

We would love to see what you came up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece to our next issue!

Happy Listing!

Weekend Writing #45: For All the Photographers!

Back again, so soon, writers/readers! We really love seeing what you guys come up with for these prompts every week. Some of our favorite prompt responses have been photographs! So, this weekend, we’re doing a photography-based prompt! We encourage everyone to take a shot (get it!), but feel free to expand this prompt into whatever art form you are most comfortable with.

This weekend, we want you to live it up! Really. We want you to do as many things on your summer to-do list as you can get done. As the summer comes to an end, we want you to spend this weekend enjoying your time as much as possible.

Okay. Done? Good. Now, we want you to capture the feeling of this weekend (or, the whole summer, if you weren’t able to enjoy the weekend), in one photo. That’s all you get! One photo capture the entire weekend (or summer)! We really hope you have only positive feelings/emotions about this weekend(summer), but if it has been tough for you, we want you to try and capture that in the photo as well. Like summing up your season in one word.

We really can’t wait to see what you do with this one! Tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or submit your piece to our next issue!

Happy Living!

Weekend Writing #44: From Whence You Came

Greetings, writers/readers! We’re here again and it’s the weekend! The school year is rapidly approaching, so we want you all to do a little research this weekend.

We want you to create a piece centered around one of your ancestors. This can be someone you’ve actually met, or you can dig a little deeper. We’d prefer you to write about someone you don’t actually know. Ask your family about their history. Do a little genealogy research! Figure out what life would have been like for one of your ancestors.

If you don’t have access to any of your family history, make it up! Imagine someone in history who may have been your ancestor. Own it! Try to make the piece as realistic as possible. Focus on the senses: what does your ancestor see, hear, smell, taste, feel?

We’re interested to see what you guys come up with for this one! Tag/mention us on Facebook, tweet at us using #weekendwriting, or submit your piece for our fall issue! Deadline details on our submissions page. And don’t forget about our “Refer a Friend” giveaway contest happening until 8/23/19!

Happy Researching!

Weekend Writing #43: It’s Been How Long?!

Here we go again, writers! The weekend is here! We’re ready for it! Are you!? This year, believe it or not, your editors Ashly & Caitlin have been out of high school for ten years! Since it’s the season for reunions, we want you to explore that a little this weekend.

We want you to create a piece that takes place at a reunion. You decide: high school, family, some other group? The only requirement we’re giving you is the reunion must take place  ten years since the last time the group saw each other.

There will, likely, be a large cast of characters in this piece. Make sure you spend enough time with each character to really create a vivid picture of this event. How have the characters changed? What is bringing them together again? Are they happy to be together? You get it.

We’re excited to see what you do with this one. Any non-fiction writers out there have any good reunion stories? We’d love to see them! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece for our fall issue! Deadline details on our submissions page and don’t forget our “Refer a Friend” giveaway contest going on until 8/23/19!

Happy Reunioning!

Weekend Writing #41: In a Tree

Happy Friday, readers! This weekend, we want you to write about a tree.

First, we want you to set a timer for 15 seconds and quickly make a list of every tree name you can think of. After the timer has gone off, pick one of the trees on your list and do some research. Spend about 30-45 minutes finding out everything you can about the tree you chose. Mythology, etymology, habitat, wood uses, etc etc.

Once you have compiled your research, we want you to create a piece from the perspective of that tree. You can pick any setting, within the constrictions of your tree, and go wild! Be as realistic or fantastical as you like. Try to include as many facts from your research as you can.

As always, we would love to hear what you came up with for this one! Tweet at us using #weekendwriting, tag/mention us on Facebook, or submit your piece for our fall issue!

Happy Researching!

National Poetry Month: Day 30 (2 of 2)

A Journey

by Michelle Tapia

 

Rushing past I can smell the trail of whisky on your breath
I inhale
I exhale
You whisper what sounds like a lullaby of love
What I’m hearing is simply the winds inaudible language
Resonating in my mind, memories stick like melted honey-
Sweet and succulent you are- seducing my soul as it aches for satisfaction.
I gasp
I cry
Your eyes look hungry-
I drape you over my shoulders
Toes tapping the same trail into the dark.
Lie still as the world around us spins like thread through a loom
You plead
I listen
Underneath the covers as you struggle against sleep
Ashamed you will wake from your night terror to reality-
Tomorrow we will do it all again.

 

My name is Michelle Tapia and I’m from a little town called Las Vegas New Mexico (not the fun Las Vegas, sorry to disappoint). A whole lot of nothing happens here which renders me to try and write poetry all day long. I usually read them to my 9 month old daughter who could really care less about any of it.

National Poetry Month: Day 30 (1 of 2)

happiness II

By Rene Simon

 
when I think of happiness
__I think of
____fragile things
_______of that exquisite existence
____that in between the
closing and opening of
___my eyelids
can dissolve
____or shatter
__in slow motion
____crystalline elegance
like
the bubble
____blown from the
___pale pink perfection
__of a child’s lips
trembling in its ascent
______an angelic
________symphony
__________of opalescence
____until that globe
caught by a wild
__wisp of wind
bursts
___and nothing
______no shadow or shell
remains to show
_____it was ever really there
 
 
Rene Simon is a 48-year-old artist and writer of African-, Native-, and European- American descent.  She has been writing poetry since teenage angst first hit at age eleven, but sincerely hopes it has improved with age.  She is currently living in Madison, WI with her partner, teenage daughter, and three unruly little dogs.   You can see more of her work at https://rene-simon.squarespace.com.

National Poetry Month: Day 29

You’ve Stopped Dreaming

by Gareth Culshaw

 

I saw you last week with a pram
and tie. We nodded then smiled.
Our eyes said the things our mouths
did not. Your trousers ironed

and teeth clean. Remember the tree
swing we made and swigging cans
of coke in the sun? Today you talked
gas bills and Tesco points.

How your MOT charged a hundred
more. I saw you throwing the basketball
into the neighbours hanging basket
kissing the sister of a brother we hated.

You gave milk to your son and picked
up your phone. I watched the cars go by
and saw us doing kick-ups on the pavement.
You pushed your son away from us

and we went our different ways. I chase
the sunlight in my dreams and you
the monthly wage.

 

Gareth lives in Wales. He had his first collection in 2018 by Futurecycle called The Miner. His second comes out in 2020 called Shadows of Tryfan. 

National Poetry Month: Day 27

Earth Day Breakfast

by Jack Schoen

 

I finish breakfast,

push back from the table.

I see before me

the products of the Earth,

from silverware to traces left of OJ,

all reasons to honor the Earth,

to be glad in it,

to thank it for my being!

Jack Schoen is a retired business writer trained in physics and English literature who has just discovered the joys of writing poetry.

National Poetry Month: Day 26

another distance

by Ed Higgins

 

only after
you slipped away entirely

without any healing words
possible between us

alone again
listening to memory

like soft rain
already halfway to spring

with crocus you planted
rising in my heart

their emerald spears rooted
backward without forgiveness

and love at fault once more.

 

Ed Higgins’ poems and short fiction have appeared in various print and online journals including recently: Ekphrastic Review, CarpeArte Journal, Under the Basho, Wales Haiku Journal, and Sum Journal, among others. Ed is Professor Emeritus, English Dept. and Writer-in-Residence at George Fox University. He is also Asst. Fiction Editor for Ireland-based Brilliant Flash Fiction. He lives on a small organic farm in Yamhill, OR where he raises a menagerie of animals, including a male whippet, Mr. Toffee, and an Indian Runner duck named Duck.