The exercise:
Four lines of prose about: the choice.
It's been a long day. Bringing lots of good stuff to the market tomorrow; I shall attempt to find the time to take a few pictures.
Mine:
The man sits at his dinner table, staring with tired eyes at the three items he has placed upon it. On the left, his cell phone. On the right, his open laptop, a blank email decorating its screen.
Sounds like you're working harder without Kat there to help out! I hope the market goes well, are you going to be on your own?
ReplyDeleteHmm, this reminds me of a story you started on Protagonise a while back; I'll have to see if you've added any chapters to that while I've not been looking!
The Choice
"It's your choice, Captain," said Billy Bones. Captain Sandy Bottom, pirate boss and owner of the Pink Daffodil, looked at him and sighed heavily.
"It's not much of a choice, is it Billy?" he asked. "Setting fire to the ship to burn out the woodworm, or fumigating it to get rid of the woodworm, and we're still six days out at sea."
So then, having dressed each phrase with a 'No Exit' sign and failing to post your rules of engagement in a well lit place- I've made a decision: this conversation sucks and I’m going to have to pick your locks. Which device then? - Voice, Tone,what Mood could light this labyrinth of chatter and force your meaning out?
ReplyDeleteIf I choose hyperbole, that might push you far enough to turn on the lights and say what you mean. "You do this every time!"
I'm SO tempted to drop a huge Robert Frost reference here, but I won't...
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------
Surrounded by noise
yet the noise is surrounded
by my skull.
In the antechamber I stand
spinning around in place,
looking at the five green doors.
One to death,
another to life,
the other three unknown.
They all look the same,
except for one,
where the knob is tarnished.
The third from the right.
Or second from the left?
Fourth from the door
with the chip in the paint?
They all look the same.
Two hours and two years
have the same impact on one's mind.
It's just as well I don't know
how long I have been here.
The noise is still there.
Not in the background,
but poorly concealed in front of all.
The antechamber has walls
of a sickly purple.
They remind me of a dying lavender.
Unconciuosly one door is selected.
I stride towards it,
not really knowing why.
I open the door and sprint through.
The people walking outside pause
and give me strange looks.
Greg - not sure which story you're referring to, but the answer is no :P
ReplyDeleteAh, Captain Bottoms. Vaguely tempted to add to that story again. Maybe tomorrow if I manage to wake up before three quarters of the day is done.
Mystic - I love how that all led to your final line. Nicely done :)
Denin - aw, you totally should've! Frost is a favorite of mine.
Fascinating poem, with several really great lines. Really enjoyed that.
He loved her; she loved another. He confessed his feelings to her, and she began to wonder. Decisions, decisions. Who would she choose?
ReplyDeleteAnon - nicely done in a very concise manner. Enjoyed the sound of the rhymes between 'her', 'another', and 'wonder'.
ReplyDeleteTo be or not to be. Is that really a question? Shakespeare said so. However, I see it as a choice.
ReplyDeleteAndrew - now that you mention it, that sounds more like a choice to me too.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying this for the fist time today... here I go :).
ReplyDelete------
Brides aren't supposed to cry on their wedding day, but there she was, just minuets away from her doom.
"You're a hero Meg," said her best friend.
"Am I?" she manged to choke out through the tears,"Will people write books about me, or will a child look up at me and think 'one day, I want to be as miserable as her so the problems of others, problems that are so trivial in the end, can be brushed of their conscience?'"
Meg wiped the tears away, picked up her bouquet and walked out the room with such grace and confidence you would have never guessed that such words ever left her lips.
Yes or No
ReplyDeleteUp or Down
Black or White
Smile or Laugh
Write or Read
Ahhhhhhh the choices of life