Wednesday April 21st, 2010

The exercise:

Your prompt today: all tied up.

Work this week has been spectacularly craptastic. I don't expect it to be much better tomorrow either. But hey, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised?

Mine:

It is a rather disorienting sensation, opening your eyes upon waking and finding no discernible difference between the black of unconsciousness and the gloom of the waking world. The feeling is only exacerbated when you realize that you are not anywhere you have ever been before.

This understanding can be brought on by innumerable things. Perhaps the bed does not feel quite right, or you notice that the clock radio on your bedside table is not shedding its usual reddish glow, or there is silence where the rumble of traffic should be.

Or, if you happened to be as unfortunate as myself, it is the feeling of cold concrete against your cheek and the abrasive, tight clasp of rope around your wrists and ankles. This, I can assure you, was not the position I was in when I fell asleep.

My thoughts were remarkably clear and calm as I lay there in the darkness trying to remember my last waking hours. I did not feel sluggish or dazed, so drugs seemed an unlikely cause of my predicament. No pain radiated in my head, so no knockout blow either. It was delightfully confounding, the sort of puzzle I lived to solve.

Unfortunately, it seemed like my life would actually depend on my ability to unravel that mystery.

Yet again.

3 comments:

Greg said...

I wouldn't say my week's been all that wonderful either, but at least the weather's been sunny and cool to make one thing worthwhile :) I hope your week gets better as we run towards the weekend!

Great piece of prose from your prompt too, it's a great start to a mystery or detective story. It's really well presented. One tiny typo for you (I think): Where you have enumerable in the first sentence of the second paragraph I think you mean innumerable unless you're actually talking about countable things.

All tied up

Soft fibres,
Embracing me,
A network, a second skin,
Geometric patterns starkly written,
Confinement,
Without imprisonment,
A way to look within.

Soft knots,
Located at the chakras,
A shift in mood
(A shift in muscle),
And sensation changes electrically,
Shivering sensually.

Meditation,
Enabled by calisthenics,
Enhanced by ropework.
And when the phone rings its insistent tone,
I shall be too busy,
I'm a little tied up right now.

g2 (la pianista irlandesa) said...

bzzzzzt... bzzzzzt... bzt--

"Hello?"

"Hey Rachel, it's me."

"Ah, hi Mike, I was just about to call you, what a coincidence."

"Yeah, coincidence... hey, I'm gonna be a little late getting home tonight--"

"Another coincidence, that's just why I was gonna call you! I'm gonna be late, too! I'm a bit tied up at work."

"Heh. Funny, so am I."

"Oh, really? I've got paperwork, things to schedule and reschedule... it's a nightmare."

"I can imagine."

"So, what are you tied up with, Mikey?"

"Oh, twine as thick as my thumb."

"...Sorry, what?"

"I'll talk to you later Rachel, I've to see a guy about a negotiation involving firearms. Start some of that leftover pulled pork in the fridge if you get home first, 'kay?"

"Um... sure thing. Bye."

click
- - - - -
Yay for mixing literal and metaphorical interpretations! =D

Marc said...

Greg - thanks for that. It wasn't a typo, just me not realizing those were two totally different words, haha.

That's a fantastic poem, by the way. Getting warmed up for another poetry tournament run? :)

g2 - ah, what a wonderful mix it was too :)