Life in a Death Landscape | Poetry Writing Prompt

 

Photo by David Adams

 

This is a writing prompt picture today! Feel free to join! Please copy the picture, but be sure to share the photographer’s link – used by permission. Let’s push his art as well as ours.

Although these ladies are really busy with their own writing, I do want to tag two blogging friends on this one as I would enjoy seeing what they come up with. So, if you’re up to it, Ritu and Cassa, let’s see what you got! Here is my rendition:

 

---

 

I can be so negative at times,
Pesimissim seeping through the pores
Coming from toxicity in my bones
Old sores and deep wounds.

The soil is covered in death,
Soggy and dank,
Landscape of brown –
Wilting and withering.

The scent of mildew and decay
As I wallow in hurts,
Frustrations,
Failures galore; dashed dreams.

“Son, step back.”
What? I thought I heard a whisper,
But I’m here alone.
Alone … alone …

“Son, look again.”
I’m I going crazy?!
Are these broken leaves,
Stripped of life, talking to me?

“Get out of the mud, come up
And look with new eyes!”
Oh, Father, it’s your voice I hear,
But how do I come up there?

“Worship me. Look upon me.
Declare my goodness; majesty!”
Father, forgive my foolishness,
Thank you for your mercy great!

There is none like you
And you are the one my soul craves!
“Ah, see, look down son!”
What, there is green!
There is fruitfulness and life!

“Yes son! What you think is decay,
Is just fertilizer for what I am growing now –
The dank and murky water, springs of life –
Stop wallowing and see the goodness I make
From the darkest of days!”

© Joshua Curtis, 2020

W.P. | Installment 4 | “Historical Game Changers”

This week’s writing prompt: What event in history do you wish you could have witnessed? Write a story about it.

Prompt Source: reedsyprompts

This is my attempt at two separate 50-word stories (like the Dr. often does!) on two different historical events (I’m a history major, so this intrigues me a lot).

---

 

 

The enigmatic roar of powerfully rushing water; a blessing used as for a sinister purpose. The water crashing into young dark bodies, throwing them to the payment with fervent expectation. Bones break; flesh rips; blood oozes. K-9s rip denim, grip forearms and drag protesters. The attack of Bull on teenagers… 

 

---

 

The city is ablaze with activity! Whispers are echoing from each corner with deafening vibrations. The religious and civil leaders keep retreating to the shadows with heated debates among violent expressions. There’s talk the dead are rising, walking in the city! Rumor is: Death is defeated!  The – grave – is – empty!

 

---

 

Story 1
Story 2

© Joshua Curtis, 2019

W.P. | Installment 3 | “Gluttony”

Looks like I’m finally back! Hope you all have been well. I have missed being on here and seeing the amazing work everyone has been doing. I’m hoping to catch up soon!

I am going to just pick up where I left off, which was a Tuesday (writing prompt day). I got this writing prompt from my blogging buddy, Dr. Suchie. Her prompt to me was, “In poetry form, write about Gluttony,” so this is my attempt.

It’s good to be back and I hope you enjoy!

---

“Gluttony”

Stress,
Upon my mind,
With fists of fury,
Irately beating!
My peace it’s clawing, eating and gnawing;
A frenzied feast.
Blood upon his jaw;
Giving into this beastly fiend, as I smash more sweets,
My flaw!

~~~

“I don’t feel well,
And my weight, much overdue for
Forgone numeric fell!”
‘Come on, just eat another piece,
It’s just cake! This is who you are my friend!
A lover of sweets – just like compelling beats,
Peppery meats and epic feats –
Just get one more.
Besides, you have to feed that beast,
Stress will have his feast! AND, you work hard,
You deserve that extra piece!
Don’t be fake! That piece with extra frosting; partake!’
I fail, I falter, eat to appease my take
On being pleased.
Out of shape, breath wheezed
As I regret each wrong decision I make…

~~~

I’m tired; seeking a break.
This stress and heartburn
Are eating away at me.
I hop on social media,
See what’s going on in the world.
…
…
…
Just more toxic garbage
Being gobbled up in large poisonous portions,
Guess whose dating such and such…
Never interested me too much,
Blah blah blah; this is why everyone who doesn’t
Agree with me is a stupid, ignorant bigot!
“Well, have you ever considered…
Shut up you racist! Your only a product of
White privilege you white male supremacist!
Whelp, there the … Trump Card …
And to further the discombobulating stump,
Besides, I have more followers than you, so you’re irrelevant!
As I continue strolling,
Consuming preservatives and dyes, wasting precious time,
Even after my eyes realize…

~

Gluttony!
© Joshua Curtis, 2019

W.P. | Installment 2 |”Great Minds”

Alright, my writing prompt for this week came from these folks.

19. Great Minds: Write  about someone you admire and you thought to have had a beautiful mind.

 

---

 

It was December 2005. I was a Senior in college and had been a Christian for just over a year. I knew there was plenty wrong with the Church. Being so young and fired up in the faith, I was ready to denounce this nonsense too! This movie coming out was the talk throughout Christendom; well not me! I was visiting my brother’s church. This church was rather large and had a bookstore and sure enough the movie poster was all over! My sister-in-law began to tell me about the story behind the movie. I didn’t know about the Lion or the Wardrobe, but I wasn’t messing with that Witch! She assured me it wasn’t like that. A few weeks later, I went and watched the movie. … I was utterly captivated! This began the journey, of how C.S. Lewis has become the single greatest influence on my life from a historical figure and my choice for a great/beautiful mind. 

 

From IMDb

 

Now, there is plenty of information about Mr. Lewis out there that can give you more information about his past and his impact on culture. However, for this post, I will be keeping it more personal for me and why he’s my choice. So, here are my five reasons. Let’s go!

 

This picture came from this site.

 

• Breadth
  One of the things that impresses me with Mr. Lewis’s writings is how many people it has impacted! From the highest heights of great scholars and intellectuals down to children running barefoot through streets. He has written great works on theology, allegory, philosophy, poetry, and put Children’s Literature on the map. Yet, we do not just see the breadth of his works in the various genres he has written in, but in the works themselves. One example of this, Mere Christianity, is, to me, a must read for all Christians, those opposed to Christianity and those who just want to know more about it. I first read this book when I became a Christian and it had a deep impact on me. However, I just reread it a year ago and got even more out of it. This book shapes the seasoned and the babe, the lofty and the lowly; the seeker and the faithful. Or, the skilled bishops in Britain down to a new and growing believer born in the 1980s Midwest America and shaped by the philosophies of 1990s Hip Hop music. The span of his impact is remarkable.

 

Painting by Jake Weidmann

• Accessibility 
  Part of what made Mr. Lewis’s influential breadth so impactful was his accessibility as a writer. He was able to connect with so many people, which I touched on in the previous point. He was a self-proclaimed dinosaur; just a layman who was trying to do his part. He certainly did that! Again, he could put a string of words together that would put a crack – at times a crag! – in the greatest intellectual foundations, yet a student could embrace his work and grapple with it. A child can devour his Chronicles of Narnia while at the same time a grown up could gain much spiritual development from it while missing the greater genius and inspiration behind Narnia (which is missed by most and has been for decades, more on this later).

 

Taken from a The Gospel Coalition article.

 

• Logical
  Mr. Lewis was a master of logic! To me, when reading through his works, you’re really left with no where else to go from his logical points. The only defense he leaves is for you to argue by departing from the realm of logic and critic thought. He was gifted at taking a thought or philosophy and working it out to it’s logical conclusions. Then, come back from that working out and express it’s immensity in a few lines! At least from the thinkers that I have been exposed to, he would certainly be one of the greatest intellectual arm-wrestlers in history.

 

This picture from here.

 

• Refreshing 
  I just finished The Great Divorce and this is what I put on Twitter after reading it. “Just finished this. As always from Mr. Lewis, I am left without words. I am filled to the brim, yet left hungry for more …” This is how I feel almost without exception when reading his works. I am challenged, left wanting more and yet filled! Especially walking through the quagmire of social media with all of the illogical campaigns, unintelligent arguments, ridiculous comments and behavior; the reign of foolishness. When I emerge from one of Mr. Lewis’s books, I feel … refreshed!

 

Picture from here.

 

• Genius
  I say the man was a genius! I think there are many things in his work that can point to this, but I am going to focus on one example. The Chronicles of Narnia is one of Mr. Lewis’s most popular works. Indeed, it revamped the entire Children Lit. genre. All you Harry Potter fans out there, yep, thank this guy! However, the Narnia serious has also got a lot of criticism since it was published about being a little … sloppy. There are colors, characters, styles, etc. that seem some what random. I somewhat thought this too, but still very much enjoyed the series – first reading them as an adult. However, I was listening to a podcast one day that referenced a book that dealt with this. I am not going to give anything away here. However, if you are a fan of Lewis and specifically of Narnia, you must read the book Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Michael Ward. Game changer! In fact, all of the randomness in the Narnia series was completely designed by Mr. Lewis and he never he defended it. He left it for someone to search it out! Genius! [If you do read Planet Narnia, make sure to then reread the Narnia series in the original publication order.]

 

---

 

Alright, that’s why C.S. Lewis is my pick. Who would your pick be? Let me know in the comments!

 

---

 

---

 

Bonus Material
Another reason I like Mr. Lewis is how he was able to relate to and feed people with his words. He is a true inspiration of why I write. I want to reach people in a similar fashion as he did. When I read his books, at the end, I am not at all thinking about him, but rather just drawn into the presence of God in a state of thoughtful worship. How I hope I can write that way one day!

 

Picture taken from here.

Books that I have read (many more to go still!):

1. Mere Christianity 
2. The Chronicles of Narnia (all seven – several times)
3. The Abolition of Man (with reading “Men Without Chests” in this book several times; influence of my very first, poorly written, post!)
4. The Screwtape Letters
5. The Great Divorce
6. Surprised by Joy
7. A Grief Observed
8. Reflections of the Psalms
9. The Weight of Glory
10. Out of the Silent Planet
11. Perelandra
12. God in the Dock – I just started this one