Tag Archives: SoCS

#SoCS: The Reality of a Half-full Plate of Dreams: On Second Thought It’s Half-empty

Dream in Reality and Reality in Dream by Maria L. Berg 2022

Contradictory Abstract Nouns (Photography Challenge)

Today I’m looking at the dream in reality and reality in a dream.

I found a fun quote for today in The Aspiring Poet’s Journal by Bernard Friot:

“Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry.” ~Georges Braque

Georges Braque was a Fauvist and Cubist painter of still lifes. A ray of poetry sounds like a dream image that reveals reality, thus the reality in the illumination of a dream. Do I want to attempt some cubism today a la Georges Braque? The experiment is how to create the curves and lines to create an impression of cubism.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS)

Today’s prompt for some stream of consciousness writing is “on your/my plate.“

I feel like there is always too much on my plate. But no one puts anything on it but me. Why do I continue to find things to pile on top, when it was already comfortably full? Because my eyes are big, much bigger than my stomach, and everything looks so delicious. When one sees flavor in everything, it’s easy to want a little, or a lot, of each. And when I have cut and chewed, and stabbed and shoveled down to revealing part of the pattern of the plate, a blue petal, the head of a partridge, the blue feather on the speckled beige background, do I celebrate, the accomplishment, rest and admire? No. I fill it right back up. I cover that space with new and exciting spicy explorations, and then pile on some more. Perhaps that’s why I’m never sated, because I never give myself a moment to digest. I guess I like how the colors and flavors combine, the surprises I find when I let it all mingle for a while. Finding something greater than the sum of its parts.

I love putting every color on the plate: the white rice with black beans, red and yellow peppers, orange carrots, green broccoli and spinach, blue and purple cabbage, a full spectrum of flavors for the eyes, mouth, nose, and tongue. The sound of utensils on plates, the chewing and crunching flavors for the ears. Does the plate make a difference. If I filled a different plate would the results, the experience change? If I filled several plates instead of heaping, and heaping on one, would that be better or worse?

Reality in Dream and Dream in Reality by Maria L. Berg 2022

November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Today’s prompt is to write an “on second thought” poem.

Is this the Dream or the Reality?

Roaming through a gothic castle on a holodeck, I’m suddenly afraid, digging in a field
on second thought I could be delirious

I cried when found bare after my deflector cape got stuck in glue
on second thought that’s how things are

The screech owl claws at my implant in the wind, but it can’t be fixed
on second thought I could be moonstruck

I recovered my snare drum with regenerated skin, but wove my beats to conceal the goose bumps
on second thought that’s the name of the game

I enjoyed kicking flesh-pods after subduing them with feedback from my microphone
on second thought I could have made it all up

In artificial gravity, feeling a bump during the witching hour is blown out of proportion
on second thought that’s the nuts and bolts of it

In the slipstream I slurp soup from a baked hollow
on second thought that’s the way of it

The imp at the door confessed to jumping through the singularity
on second thought I could be building castles in the air

My neck began to bleed when I saw the object in the interplanetary campfire
on second thought I could be having a nightmare

Roaming through my gothic castle, I see friends I haven’t seen for years
on second thought I see it like it is

#SoCS: The Pride of Morning and Disdain of Pain

Contradictory Abstract Nouns (Photography Challenge)

Today I’m looking at finding the disdain in pride and the pride in disdain. Though I’m not going to risk trying to take the images today—yesterday I twisted funny and almost ended up living in the mirrorworld because my back seized up—I did want to share an interesting find in my study this morning. Pride appears to be a Janus word, a word that also means its opposite. While exploring the definitions and collecting words in the thesaurus. I found disdain in the thesaurus under pride, and pride in the thesaurus under disdain. Thus finding the disdain in pride and the pride in disdain only takes looking in the thesaurus. There are positive aspects of pride such as happiness and self-esteem, but it also has negative aspects such as egotism and narcissism which can lead to disdain. I think this study deserves another look when I’m not in pain, and I’m capable of exploring its imagery.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS)

Today’s prompt for some stream of consciousness writing is “morning.”

This morning was so beautiful—the sun rising behind the mountain; the mountain reflecting on the lake, four shadowed water foul drifting on its surface, a soft, pastel world—and filled with sharp back pain.It’s hard to see what will be best for me. Some movement, some rest. All I want is pain free stillness. Hiding from the pain, from any expectation, putting words on the page, but worried that was what I was doing to get this pain n the first place. Why pain, why did you come to visit me? Why did my happy typing call you? Why did my contented creating deserve this? What did I ever do to you? And yet, here you are, my constant companion. What can I say, to kindly ask you to leave? To suggest your departure without being rude? Perhaps this is my punishment for pride. I don’t know if my happiness for finishing NaNoWriMo on the thirteenth was exactly pride: I was feeling grateful for finally understanding what it was like to feel the flow of words that others experience; I was feeling joy that my novel was continuing to inspire me to write, that my characters were talking to each other in my head as I made breakfast; I was feeling excited to possibly finish this draft in one month and see it through to the end: Is that pride? My pride? Before my fall? I didn’t physically fall. It just started to hurt. I don’t even remember when it started.

November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Today’s prompt is “The Myth of (blank).”

The Myth of Morning Pride

The sun crosses the horizon
a threshold accomplishment
she meets with glowing pride
she rises through the branches
casting shadows on nests
she awakens birdsong, and
taking it as praise, she rises
higher, buoyant in her importance
she shines upon the land, warming
the soft grass and sand, and the people
who come out of their boxes
and worship her with their lifted faces
closed eyes and smiles
they bathe in her glory
and she rises higher, kissing
their skin and their hair, soaking
up their laughter and joy
and then she hears,
“Get the sunscreen, hon,”
and the sparkle is blocked by shades
and she hears,” You don’t want to get burned,”
and descends in disgrace at the disdain
the people go back into boxes
the morning has ended
and the sun lowers her head
down the other side of day.

NaNoWriMo

Though I’ve managed to stay on track with my new goal of another 40,000 words by the end of the month which puts me at 2353 words each day, I’ve lost my excitement, and I’m back to having to yank the words out of me. I think it has a lot to do with back pain I’m experiencing causing frustration with life in general, but I think it may also have to do with not being excited about the scene I’m writing, but feeling like it’s necessary to the plot.

Time to brainstorm! If I’m not finding this scene fun, the reader won’t either. There has to be something that can happen that’ll be more interesting to get me from here to there. Maybe it’s time to explore a sub-plot, or maybe today’s the day I jump around a bit. I could even write the end, if that will get me excited again.

I also picked up a mystery novel, The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny. Maybe reading a few chapters with get me excited to get back to my mystery.

#SoCS: The Inelegant Pursuit of a Future Elegant Celerity

The elegance in inelegance and inelegance in elegance

Contradictory Abstract Nouns (Photography Challenge)

Today I’m looking at finding the inelegance in elegance and the elegance in inelegance. When I think of elegance, I think of long lines and smooth curves, of jewel monochromes against black, exotic smells and tastes (more spicy than fruity), lush soft and silky textures that shine in soft light, and traditional sounds played on intricately carved instruments. Inelegance is blaring car horns and screeching brakes, boring monochrome spray-painted tags in easy to reach places in parks, the dry sharp skin that keeps growing on my heels, fast food chains, and fruity chemical perfumes. How, when, and where do these two worlds meet? And what does that look like.

After playing in my dictionary, I found that “Suave” seems to encompass both elegance and inelegance. Suave adj. 1. smoothly though often superficially gracious and sophisticated 2. smooth in texture, performance, or style

An old rhyme from my childhood popped into my head, “He was suave, debonair; he used oil on his hair.” I looked it up and found a PSA from 1980 at IN27WORDSORLESS “Mostly forgettable TV quote (7)” . What a fun blast from the past, and I think it expresses these contradictory abstract nouns perfectly.

The Inelegance in Elegance

For today’s images I enjoyed the elegant patterns created by light and shadows on my closet doors by the inelegant overgrowth outside my bedroom window.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS)

Today’s prompt for some stream of consciousness writing is “starts with or contains ‘cel.’” Find a word that begins with or contains “cel.”

The first word that came to mind was celebrate. I am celebrating an acceptance letter from Stone Canoe literary journal yesterday. I will have to images in the March 2023 issue. It was such a happy surprise and transformed me into a celebrator. But there are so many fun “cel” words, like cel itself. Spelled either cel or cell, it means a transparent sheet of celluloid on which objects are drawn or painted in the making of animated cartoons. And right under cel in my dictionary is celadon which is a grayish yellow green which makes me think of the final leaves falling from the trees, and the color of by wet and dry sad looking grass right now. But for my final selection today, I settled on celerity which is a noun that means rapidity of motion or action. Not only does it seem to be a new to me word, which I always love to discover, it also has a great sound and meaning. From the Latin celeritas, celer in French meaning swift. My dictionary says it is from the 15th century.

So what does celerity make me think of. The robot’s celerity only discouraged the other workers doing their best to keep up. Her celerity made me think she was acting impulsively. And if I put both of those ideas together. The celerity of the robot may lead to problems in situations that need thoughtful weighing of pros and cons that do not have easy answers. Celerity is a fun word, but obviously makes me think of celery and celebrity and celebrity celery which I don’t think has ever existed but should. Maybe there’s a Guinness record for largest or heaviest celery which would then be a celebrity celery in certain circles.

The inelegance in elegance and the elegance in inelegance by Maria L. Berg 2022

November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Today’s prompt is to write a future poem. Since the scene I’ll be working on today in my novel includes a psychic, it makes sense to have a psychic as my speaker in my future poem.

The Seer

What do I see?
Future people, future places, future things
or extrapolations of present people
present places, present things
or extensions of past people,
past places, past things
all the same to me
and all disappointing
when you’ve seen it all before

What do I see?
betrayal, infidelity, hypocrisy, and cruelty
all the desperation caused by want
acts of the delusional causing
ripples of sadistic torment
leading to unfulfilled needs
causing hunger, thirst
and bad behavior

What do I see?
insecurities, fear, and doubts
miserable people who want simple
immediate answers, who want
everything to be alright, who want
someone else to fix it because
change is too hard

What do I see?
Whatever she wants to hear
whatever answer brings a smile
everything he hopes and dreams of
everything his fantasies reveal
and something fuzzy that won’t become
clear until they come back
with more cash

NaNoWriMo

Today I’ll be working with Mapping the Hero’s Journey with Tarot by Arwen Lynch, not only to find ideas for my plot, but to create the reading that my protagonist receives from her new friend the town psychic. It should be a really fun writing day.

#Writober Day 22: #SoCS A Graven Bowl to Hold What’s Passed

Halloween Graveyard by Maria L. Berg 2022

Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Today’s prompt for some stream of consciousness writing is “bowl.”

A bowl is both a hemispheric vessel, and the substance that it does or does not hold. A bowl can be a ball that’s rolled, its act of rolling and its action on a thing. An intense feeling, being bowled over, and being a bowl, an unstable empty vessel tilting like a pendulum, sloshing liquids like waves, ebbing and flowing. Being bowled, rolled toward, spinning, turning, speeding along a lane, or being bowled, struck, toppled, tilting, tumbling, losing stability, knocking others over while falling, ricocheting off the walls before losing momentum, either way a force acting upon another, changing its position and direction; a form of surrender.

Am I like the pin or the ball, each limited until acted upon. Is it self-limiting to stay still, to not knock into things? Or am I the full or empty vessel, limited by size and rim?

Tourmaline .’s Halloween Challenge

Today’s prompt is Grave.

Grave Diggers by Maria L. Berg
Digging Graves by Maria L. Berg 2022

OctPoWriMo

Today’s prompt is “Surrender Self-Limitation.” Today’s suggested poem form is the Catena Rondo. It has similarities to the Roundabout which I tried on Thursday: The repeat of the first and last line of each stanza, the rhyme scheme, the circling back to A in the last stanza. However, the Catena Rondo, unlike the Roundabout, does not focus on meter.

This Year, Break the Cycle

How will I quit my judge-critic?
Sit in the dark and listen
Write faster than thought second-guessing
How will I quit my judge-critic?

Sit in the dark and listen
Drop spoons into bowls, clang of metal
to grasp edges of dreams not yet settled
sit in the dark and listen

Drop spoons into bowls, clang of metal
How will I quit my judge-critic,
and push past my fear-based limits?
Drop spoons into bowls, clang of metal

How will I quit my judge-critic?
Sit in the dark and listen
Push into the frightening frisson
How will I quit my judge-critic?

Writober Flash Fiction

Today’s inspiration is a still from this video clip: Coronavirus VS Murder Hornet by bleepe_crap. Set up like a Kaiju battle between a giant humanoid virus-head and a gargantuan hornet.

In any other city, a story about a gigantic humanoid virus doing city-destroying battle with an enormous murder hornet would be the story of the century for a reporter. But here, it is only a slightly unique combination of monsters fighting it out on a Tuesday.
This city is destroyed and rebuilt, so often, no one even notices a skyscraper-sized radioactive lizard setting downtown on fire, while a humongous moth blocks out the sun. Construction only pauses long enough for a multi-dimensional kaiju, to battle a fifty-story robot back out to sea.
Its a testament to how adaptable humans are, that we can go on working, eating, making love, while the land shakes under the stomping of monsters, but as a journalist it’s getting hard to come up with an interesting headline. I guess that’s why, when our helicopter flew over today’s monsters, my calloused heart missed a beat. I saw that oddly spherical head with all its triangular protrusions, approaching the spindly-legged insect attempting to threaten with its stinger curled under its body, and thought, Finally, something new, or at least something people might want to read about.

#Writober Day 1 and #SoCS: Monster Me

Monster Me by Maria L. Berg 2022

Hello! And welcome to Experience Writing’s Writober kick-off celebration. We’re somehow still having summer here in the Seattle area, and I’m about to go dive in the lake to cool off, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get in the Halloween spirit. I had a ton of fun this morning with Tourmaline .’s prompt “Monster” fitting with the SoCS prompt “me” and the #Writober7 image of a little girl reading horror stories to monsters. It is a monstrous day.

Tourmaline .’s Halloween Challenge

Today’s word for Tourmaline .’s Challenge is Monster. Inspired by the #SoCS prompt, I thought about me as a monster and took some fun high-contrast black and whites of myself.

Me
The Transformation
Monster Me

I then cropped and resized these images to create transparency filters. This new technique I’m developing is tricky, but so much fun.

Maria Who Floats Behind the Rows by Maria L. Berg 2022

Stream of Consciousness Saturday (#SoCS)

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “me:” to either find a word that starts with “me” or use the word “me” as the theme of my post. Though Monster doesn’t start with “me,” it has me in it. I had already been thinking about how humans are the real monsters for Tourmaline .’s challenge. Now, I’m thinking about how I’m the monster.

I found some interesting definitions for monster: 1b. one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character 2. a threatening force 5. one that is highly successful.

Funny how easy the monster comes out
with a change in light and shadow
The untamed, deeper, wilder parts lurking
where no one can know or go
What is this monster up to underneath
in the unseen, and should I be afraid
to meet this other monster me?

Is she the pain in my left fang
I always blame on the press of stress?
Is it a kink in her tail that makes my coccyx wail
that I blame on a fall in the past?
I feel her sometimes, clicking claws
in my mind when the world appears so unfair
and now that I’ve seen her, I wouldn’t want
to be near when she’s here so
Beware Monster Me

So fun that my stream of consciousness came out as a poem. I’m loving today’s prompts.

Writober Flash Fiction

Today’s visual story inspiration is Fairy tales? haha, please . . . by AlvaroCardozoW. I’ve been wanting to incorporate my study of contradictory nouns into my fiction, so today’s story will include the grief in happiness and the happiness in grief.

I did it! I completed a story draft! It’s rough, but it has a beginning, a middle and end. There’s conflict, and change, and monsters. So how do I want to do this? I think I’ll share a little excerpt. Let me know if you’d rather I shared short summaries or maybe I’ll try to condense my stories to a couple sentences to share after I write the drafts. I’ll work on it. For today, here’s a short excerpt:

A water spot hits the page and spreads, blurring the next word, but she knows it, and continues reading, “thing in the world.” She sniffs again. Her voice pitches higher as she reads, “I think, is.” She uses the sleeve of her dress to wipe her eyes. The fabric is scratchy and hurts her cheek.
She sniffs and takes a deep breath to continue when she hears a voice say, “Don’t mess your dress. I’ll lap those up for ya.”
Alas looks around. She thinks she sees a shimmer by her left shoulder which is crammed against the walls. She feels a slight tickle at the corner of her eye.

Maria L. Berg (#Writober7 Day 1)

What a fun first day of Writober. And I still have some swimming and reading to do. I hope you’ll put links in the comments to all the exciting things you’ve been doing to celebrate. Thanks for reading Experience Writing and I’ll see you tomorrow.

#SoCS: Clearly Relieved

Relief by Maria L. Berg 2022

Relief

I’m excited for a little relief today. I’ve had stomach pain the last couple days, so alleviation, ease, or deliverance through the removal of pain, distress, oppression, etc. is greatly appreciated. A rain-free day with some sun is also something affording a pleasing change, as from monotony: release.

While thinking about visually creating relief, bas-relief came to mind. Bas-Relief is a sculpture technique in which the shapes only rise slightly from the flat surface of the background. In this case relief means the distance of the carving; bas-relief is low relief or a short distance, close to the surface compared to high relief. Coins are a good example of bas-relief images.

Because I finally have some relief from the rain and clouds, I can play with all my new transformer filters on the lake. The images I create using the glints of lights on the lake are like bas-relief in a way as the shapes stay connected to the water’s surface.

Relieved by Maria L. Berg 2022

Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Today’s prompt is “clear.” Here’s an excerpt from this morning’s journal:

A clear blue sky. Finally. A faint half-moon lingers just above the all firs behind the house across the lake. Today’s mission is clear: to plant. I looked at the seeds I have, the herbs my sister gave me for my birthday, the vegetable seeds left from last year: lettuce, spinach, cabbage, radishes, and beans are all going to find homes in the soil today. Here I go.

Clearly, I did not expect pulling that dead plant out of the bed and putting my sister’s little birthday flower in its place would be so difficult. The dirt was hard as concrete and full of rocks. The wayward grass did NOT want to come out. I hope that little flower lives after all that effort. I’m glad it’s supposed to be nice tomorrow too because my nieces are here, and now I clearly have other things to do.

Maria L. Berg 2022

The Poem

Brief Relief

And when I finally find relief
release from pain and mind left clear
blue sky cloudless and half-moon near,

I hope the moment isn’t brief
the sun set free is quick to sear
and blinds all thought to steer or veer

Since time is such a greedy thief
a heart remembers cupid’s spear
a pain that aches renewing fear,

relying on our group belief
of control and measured hours: we’re
among our peers existing here

to smear the days with its mischief
the half-moon leers then disappears
leaving a trail of relief’s tears

And when I finally find relief
I hope the moment isn’t brief
since time is such a greedy thief
relying on our group belief
to smear the days with its mischief.


Release by Maria L. Berg 2022

#SoCS: Sticks and Stones and Words

Fragility by Maria L. Berg 2022

Fragility

The quality or state of being easily broken, shattered, damaged, or destroyed: delicate; brittle; frail: vulnerably delicate, as in appearance: lacking in substance or force; flimsy: in a weakened physical state; slight; tenuous: fragility comes to everything and everyone at one point or another. I think of thin, brittle, sheer tissue; skeletal frames; loose connections, crumbling.

For my images, I thought about how fragile the paper filters I created with paper punch shapes were. I pulled out the roll of paper to make a new one, but then thought about the loosely connected fragility of old lace. I have a collection of old lace trim, and tried placing some over the lens shield. I really like the effect.

A Fragile Connection by Maria L. Berg 2022

Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Today’s prompt is to write about a phrase from childhood. Here’s an excerpt from this morning’s journal:

I thought of discipline first: Just wait ’til your dad gets home, and I’m gonna count to ten, but there has to be some fun phrases from childhood. I thought of Step on a crack . . . ; Tag! you’re it; Jinx! you owe me a coke; but none of those really spoke to me. Then I thought of Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me–a phrase used a lot as a kid that proved not to be true–and I’m rubber and you’re glue; your words bounce off me and stick to you–fun to say, but also not true. The sticks and stones saying goes well with today’s abstract noun “fragility”, and both phrases feel like they would work well in a poem.

Maria L. Berg 2022

The Poem

Human Fragility

Sticks and stones–

so abundant / all around on the ground
quick to hand / broken from a dry branch
weaponized / slung, thrown, whipped, battered, broken
with the slightest aim / anger-fueled force

–may break my bones,
but words–

symbols and sounds / agreed upon to have meaning
combined with malicious intent / to produce hurt in the perceived fragile
shouted and chanted to taunt / because repetition erodes caverns from the cracks
because words evoke emotions that / though we’re told they don’t matter

–can [never] hurt me.

A Fragile Ecosystem by Maria L. Berg 2022

#SoCS & Day Thirty: Moving On with Zealousness

Zealousness by Maria L. Berg 2022

Zealousness

Ardent activity, devotion, or diligence. What is ardent? With great conviction or zeal. I have no idea why I follow circular definitions with such intense emotion; passionately and fervently; such zealousness; I guess that’s something more for me to explore.

Here we are at the last day of April: the last day of National Poetry Month; the last day of the A to Z Challenge; the last day of the Poem a Day Challenge; and the last day of my photo challenge. That’s a lot of endings, and yet I feel like it’s only a beginning.

While exploring abstract nouns, I’ve encountered so many more abstract nouns I would like to explore in the mirrorworld, and I now have new filters and techniques for that. This has been a great month of discovery. I hope you’ve also discovered a zealousness for your topic and art and poetry.

For today’s images, I tried something completely new. When I first set up the mirrorworld, I had a moment that felt really magical: When I pointed a flashlight at an object in the mirror, the light showed on the object. It felt like I had found a gateway to new dimensions. Today, I put the camera on a tripod, and light painted with a flashlight to create still and moving bokeh at the same time. It was very challenging and will take a lot more practice, but that’s where zealousness helps.

Ardently Zealous by Maria L. Berg 2022

Stream of Consciousness Saturday

Today’s prompt is “zip, zero, zilch.” All great words. Here’s a sections from my journal this morning:

I thought zilch might have some more interesting meaning
but it’s only–nothing
Zip, on the other hand works
with zealousness–ardently active–
zipping around and
zero has the same shape
as the filter I used, and
circular definitions–though
maybe more oblong definitions
which is what abstract nouns
really have–distorted
by history and perception.
I like zilch: I never use it.

Maria L. Berg 2022

The Prompts

NaPoWriMo

Today’s prompt is to write a cento. A cento is a poem made up of lines from other poems. I like how creating a cento is described in the example as patching the lines into a coherent quilt. I recently bought the new book and CD by Dolly Parton. I also borrowed books from my local library by Adrienne Rich and Robert Bly. For this cento about moving on in zealousness, I’ll be quilting with lines from Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton, Silence in the Snowy Fields by Robert Bly, and The Fact of a Doorframe by Adrienne Rich

Poem A Day

Today’s prompt is to write a moving on poem.

Zeal by Maria L. Berg 2022

The Poem

Moving On With Zealousness

#SoCS: Splicing the Frayed Ends

Rope Burn by Maria L. Berg 2022

Today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt “rope” inspired me to get out and take some pictures. Living near water and boats, rope takes on a special meaning of securing connection. Here’s an excerpt from my journal this morning:

“I was tied in knots. The rope fraying, unraveling, the rope tossed, wasn’t fastened at the other end and fell in a heap when I tried to climb.

“Unroped the weak trunk/stalk bends; the boat floats from the dock lost; the vines don’t rise.

“Roped the weak fibers grow strong; twisted and entwined the brittle become bendable; the separable, inseparable; the meek, brave. Rope connects the floating to the stable; tethers the roaming home; anchors the flighty to ground. Rope can tear and burn the skin when held, but also holds the opposing as they pull, growing stronger as they repel.” ~Maria L. Berg

On the Ropes by Maria L. Berg 2022

The dVerse Poets prompt from Thursday was to try the Synchronicity form. I started playing with it yesterday, but didn’t get very far, so I thought I would try again today. The form is a non-rhyming poem of 8 three-line stanzas. Each stanza has a syllable count of 8,8,2. It is in first person and has a twist presented in the last two stanzas.

The Rope

The rope hangs from the reaching branch
of the ancient maple next door
waiting

Its looped shadow reflects below
changing as a breeze whispers through
the leaves

I believe it has always hung
there, dry, aged, and fraying, yet strong
enough

The branch may be the weaker link
How much weight will it take before
it breaks?

An eagle screams as the others
gather and motion me over
to join

The threat of danger makes my bare
skin erupt with goosebumps as I
shiver

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One after another they climb,
put a foot in the loop, and swing
Scream! Splash!

This time I will dare to let go
of the rope swing and fly into
the lake

Bowline by Maria L. Berg 2022
End of the Rope by Maria L. Berg 2022

#SoCS: Everything Turns Into Dreams of Flight

A photograph of a large seagull flying past the slope of Mt. Rainier.
The Auspice by Maria L. Berg 2022

Today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt is “fortune.” Here’s an excerpt from my circular journey in my journal this morning.

“The greatest of my fortunes is letting go of the past, of gathered resentments, and disappointments, turning them into new paths of discovery, changing them into flying dreams. How else can I explore “fortune” today? Dictionary: fortunate (comes before fortune) adj. 1. bringing some good thing not foreseen as certain: Auspicious. . . . Auspicious: adj. affording favorable auspice. Auspice: n. observation by an auger especially of the flight and feeding of birds to discover omens. What a fun full circle to my stream of consciousness about turning past disappointments into flying dreams. “

A bokeh image of a fairy flying from a seeding flower.
Dreams of Flight by Maria L. Berg 2022