Contradictory Abstract Nouns (Photography Challenge)
Today I’m looking at finding the indifference in awe and the awe in indifference. I thought about how the cat was blocking the front door staring at the lights, but I imagined the squirrels were indifferent. I also thought about how in awe I am of each new filter idea—the new tiny brads idea creating moving parts, for example—but imagine most people would be indifferent.
November PAD Chapbook Challenge
Today’s challenge is to write a sweet poem.
Sweet synchronicity: I opened Every Day is a Poem by Jacqueline Suskin looking for inspiration for a sweet poem, and the first chapter is “Be in Awe of Everything.” I kid you not! I am in awe of serendipity. I love when ideas come together.
Suskin offers two exercises for writing awe poems:
- Close your eyes and point in any direction (I recommend spinning around a lot). When you open your eyes, be in awe of the first thing you see.
- Think about something that inspires awe then write a rambling list of everything you think about it. Write an entire page of unedited thoughts. Then “let awe find you in a singular detail.”
For ModPo, I still need to try the Bernadette Meyer exercise to remove a type of word from a text. It could be interesting to remove a-w-e in order from a text. But I doubt that will be a “sweet” poem, so I’ll be in awe of something sweet first.
In Awe of the Sewing Arts
needles sweet as honey
thread sweet as candyfloss
pins sweet as nectar
scissors sweeter than wine
stitches sweet as sweet, sweet, revenge
an iron sweet as molasses
trim sweet as dew
buttons sweet as sugar
sweet, sweet symmetry
sweetly sewn for you
NaNoWriMo
Yesterday I didn’t get started until after noon, but once I did get to my novel, it went well. I wrote over 3,000 words, got through the opening scene, and set up the next one. How can I bring awe and indifference into my scenes today? What is my protagonist in awe of? Which character would see the same thing or situation with indifference? What inspires awe in most people that my protagonist is indifferent to? I think I have a couple ideas.
Experience Writing 