A Brief Contemplation

With the recent Abecedarian challenge just closed, I wanted to take half a jiffy to collate my entries, jot down my thoughts, and shout out to some other Vocal writers whose submissions I enjoyed.

Here goes, then.

Entries Collated

From oldest to newest:

First up, Hitting Snooze on the New Year. Here it is:

I'm not a big fan of new years' resolutions. Not least because I am not quite sure where to put the apostrophe, and I don't like that. It's one of the many things about January I dislike.

I like these resolutions even less when they begin on the 1st of January (although I have done that this year, with my "story every day" challenge). I think, if a thing is worth beginning, it's usually worth beginning now, not waiting for an arbitrary date.

But if you are going to wait for a date for a new beginning, the middle of winter is surely the stupidest time to do it. Springtime is better, when you will naturally be more energised and motivated. I feel sure that this is why so many break their resolutions so early in the year! Listen to the seasons, not the calendar.

Hibernate gently my love

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Secondly, Little Brush Strokes of You

This one is my plea against over-editing. Most "rules" for writing can be broken if it's done consciously, and sometimes these things make up your signature.

Little brush strokes of You left in for effect

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Next up, Let's Dance.

I've said before,

I'm never so naked as I am on a page

I think it's also true to feel naked as a reader. To feel like the storyteller or lyricist has peeled back the layers of you, painted your innards across the sky for all to see.

I think most of us hope to resonate with someone. I know that whatever I write is finished by your eyes landing on it, and your perspective interpreting it. It's a connection, and interaction, and it's pretty special because it can span centuries and bridge the gap between the living and the otherwise. I wanted to explore that connection. Hope you like it 👍

Undressed completely, your /Voluptuous lips around the word-shaped pieces of my shelled self

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Last, but I don't know if least: A Horse Called Story

A great big bulky metaphor, spelled out for you in the title. Nothing subtle about this one! I've had this one tickling around in my skull for a while and I thought it was time I pinned it down to a page. I hope I did it justice.

Steer him with a light hand, see where he takes you/Trust the beast, give him his head

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Thoughts Jotted

I've enjoyed this challenge, and that surprised me, because I was a bit sceptical at first.

I didn't think I was going to enter at all. Then I thought I would just make one submission. I ended up doing four!

I don't think I have a snowball's chance in heck (it's even hotter than hell, if you're wondering) of placing. I think I've done OK with ideas and expression, but there is surely so much more on the table here. The other entries are just too good. Plenty of them combine forms in ways I didn't know were even possible! Some poets have been clever enough to make it rhyme, and I love that.

I've learned a bunch of new words. I didn't even know there were that many beginning with X and Z, to be quite honest with you.

To sum up

It was tricky, but I enjoyed it. I would never have given this kind of poetry a go if not for this challenge, so thank you Vocal for that.

Shout-outs Made

Ruminations on Broken Things by Teresa Renton.

Eloquent in the extreme, and will make you feel stuff. Please go give it some love:

Stand out line:

frail memories bleached by white hot anger

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You Need to Ask by The Dani Writer

We are so disconnected from our bodies, and I think even more so in recent times. This is an urgent message well written.

Stand out line, which is cleverer than me and i had to read it more than twice to make my brain get it:

Incommensurate appreciation metamorphoses the ratio of physiological

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Things We Love by The Invisible Writer

Positive, uplifting, wonderful imagery gorgeously written

Stand out line:

My everything spun around, your everything, spun around me

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Abecedarian Arthurian by Raymond G. Taylor

I have a soft spot for Arthurian legend, and here it's been expressed cleverly within the ABC format.

Stand out line:

Begging wiz Merlin to try to ensure

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Mary's Lament by Suze Kay

How this one didn't get Top Story is beyond me! This is truly stellar writing. My comment says:

I love it. The bit that sticks is that anyone could be "spoilt" by grace (love, sex, becoming a mother). It's jarring to me, and I'm not sure if I like it, but I'm also completely sure you intended that discomfort and I can only tip my hat to how cleverly you wrought it, with a surgeon's precision 😁

Stand out line: all of them!

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Honourable mention to this absolute blinder played by Paul Stewart:

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Thank you for reading!

Did you enter? How did you find it?

If I've not yet put my eyes on your submission, please link to it in the comments. If I have, please link me to someone else's! What was your favourite entry?