Thursday March 11th, 2010

The exercise:

We're going back to the random CD prompt today, so go find a song with a good first line and steal it to use as your own. Poetry and prose are both welcome, as always with this prompt.

Question for you fine folk: would you want to see this prompt become a regular one (joining Two Haiku Tuesday, Four Line Prose Friday, and Four Line Poem Saturday)? Would every week be too often for it? Maybe once every other week, once a month?

Let me know what you think.

Mine:

k-os - Crabbuckit from his album Joyful Rebellion

I took a trip on a bus that I didn’t know, hoping to see a different side of the city that I’d called home for the previous twelve years. I‘d decided that it was past time to get out of my element; to deviate from the same, staid route to and from my downtown office, to and from Jimmy’s One Stop Shop, to and from church. I was tired of passing by the same store fronts day after day, of seeing the same unsmiling faces. At least, that’s what I told myself as I got on the number 8 bus that sunny Sunday morning.

It was far easier than admitting I was tired of my terminally uneventful life.

I glanced at my fellow passengers as I moved to the rear of the bus and a tingle of excitement tap danced up my spine when I didn’t recognize any of them. I settled into the empty back row with a satisfied smile as the driver lurched us into motion, the roar of the diesel engine resonating in my bones like a primal drumbeat. At the end of the block he took us to the left and an uneasy feeling immediately materialized in the pit of my stomach. My bus always took the right turn at that intersection; I wasn’t expecting to leave behind the known so soon.

Sweat began to collect in my armpits and where my legs pressed against the seat. Swallowing became a difficult task. I could feel my heartbeat accelerating at an unsustainable rate and my breath entered and departed from my lungs in erratic bursts.

Before conscious thought could intervene, my left hand had reached for and pulled down the cord to signal for the next stop. It was another two, agonizingly long blocks before the bus pulled to a stop and I could escape its confines. Stumbling down onto the sidewalk, I paused to lean against a lamp post as I tried to collect myself.

It was then that I heard your voice for the first time.

3 comments:

Greg said...

I'm hard put to decide if I'd like another regular day. Part of me says yes, as I quite like Random CD prompt days, and another part of me says no, as half the week then would be regular prompts and I kind of like the anticipation of finding out what task you've set us today.
I'm not much help, am I? Sorry :(

That's a great story, I really liked the sense of claustrophobia that you portrayed, how people can react when they're taken out of the comfort zone. I'm glad to say I don't react like that, but I know how your protagonist is feeling!

Today I've ended up with an instrumental piece with no words, so I'll use the title, Far away trains passing by as the prompt instead.

The carriage is new and soft,
The walls are a deeper green
Than ever your eyes have been.
I sink back into my seat,
And try to share your dream.

Track rattles underneath our wheels,
Racing past us, even though,
If you ask us, we never know,
What it is we're doing here,
Or where we want to go.

Like far away trains passing by,
We briefly meet in a strangers' place,
I try to remember your face,
Holding on to it when I wake,
Just in case.

g2 (la pianista irlandesa) said...

Personally this is one of my favorite semi-regular prompts, but I think part of what I like about it is the fact that it's unexpected. You keep us in suspense, you see. If I were to suggest a regular timetable, I'd recommend monthly, but I'm for keeping it the way it is.

Anyway.
- - - - -
The Big Bang Theory Theme, BNL

"Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state..."

I inwardly groaned. We'd gone over the Big Bang at least three times: the Universe rapidly expanded at the Beginning, it's not much more complicated than that. And yet, some people are still capapble of being confused by such a simple thing as this. I lazily look up at the professor at the front of the class, his very appearance radiating boredom.

I took this class to get a different perspective of my home turf, not to be bored to death. I'd had enough.

As soon as I could I raised my hand and asked to be excused. The professor's monotone voice paused a moment, he blinked at me, then waved his hand to excuse me, continuing exactly where he'd left off.

I crossed the deserted grassy stretch, beelining to a particluar tree with a particular hollow knot. In that knot I'd stowed a simple bath towel for "emergencies" such as this. I stood back, looked up, and cicled the towel over my head in such a way that read as "SOS" in various languages. Sure enough something small and fairly invisible unless you were looking for it slipped out of the sky and landed neatly next to me.

Climbing in I told the driver, "Once around the sector, I need a break in monotony."
- - - - -
Seems like I've Hitchhiker's guide on the brain. Hm.

Marc said...

Greg - you're more help than you think :P

I'm glad you liked mine and I quite enjoyed yours as well. Very sweet, dreamy feeling to it.

g2 - I find myself in agreement with you. I think I shall leave it in its random format.

And I do so enjoy your hitchhiker's inspired posts. I'm tempted to say they should be more regular, but like you and the random CD prompt, I do believe I prefer not seeing them coming :)