Write for 20 minutes without editing using the sense of black and white vision, as in film or photographs. The piece can have a historical or nostalgic feel, surreal, or futuristic.

Submissions are encouraged and appreciated.

My life is made up of seconds

That stretches into eternity

I can close my eyes and see every detail clearly

Painfully remember your hands as they stroked my flesh

 Silently trying to commit homicide to the girl within

 Murder her innocence; kill her joy before she had a chance to fully understand what the word meant

 I remember closing my eyes and praying that the floor wasn’t crying beneath the weight of your body

That you weren’t coming into my room and that you wouldn’t touch me there

That you’d had your fill of me

 Remember that we were family and that this is no way to show love

My life is made up of empty spaces

Blank sections eroded by time and darkened with the shadow of memory

Conflicted by deafening screams that never left my quivering lips

I am silenced by fear and uncertainty

Scared to breathe

 My life is made up of joy

 That stretches into eternity

 Which will last a lifetime

I’ve met someone who believes in second chances

That loves every broken piece of me

 Sees the sunshine in my teardrops and the courage in my smile

knows the exact pitch of my laugh and the hue of my eyes

My life is made up of loving ME

The distance between two points increases over time

Like the distance between the crest of your ear and the tip of your ear lobe

It never stops growing.

People don’t live to 120 because by then our ears would be down to our shoulders and aliens would mistake us for elephants

I remember like an elephant does

I grope the lonely bones

In my trunk hands

But can never pick them up

Or clutch them to my chest.

I have the urge to remember you now

But I wont

I will kill you in the throws of my thoughts

You will be buried in a savannah

And no one will miss you

Not even the sun or the earth that you tread

Under your feet all the days of your life.

People will see me toasting a glass of port

In a cozy café with ripe banana colored walls

In an obscure neighborhood of paris

Im wearing a fascinator

Or a felt cloche hat

I’m smoking your last cigarette

Only because you cant even breath anymore

And I look damn good in this lighting.

My face is clear of zits and pimples

And my eyes sparkle like the wine

In a man’s eyes.

i wanted you to see the scars

and pitfalls ive swallowed

my stomach like a unpaved road

like roadwork

and there are miles between us.

But there are some places you carry with you

Like the address of the first house you lived in

Where your dog died , where you wanted to bury him

But your parents knew whoever would be buying

Wouldn’t want dead Scrappy in the backyard

She’d want to grow a garden, full of white gardenias.

She’d want her children to run barefoot

Over his grave.

She would hate the idea of maggots.

But we, you and me, we don’t hate maggots

As much we hate fear.

As much I hate the fear in your voice

When you just couldn’t tell me

You found yourself wanting something else.

It sounded like a dull bayonet meeting flesh

Like at least have the decency to be sharp.

But no matter. No life lost.

I walked away from that battlefield

With my two arms and two legs

With all my hair caught in a plastic bag.

With all my comic books in serial order.

I’ll say we passed each other

Like two  bullets from Union and confederate soldiers

We blew each other kisses as we sank

Into the gut of some unsuspecting lover.

I might even say I felt their blood splatter on my face.

You felt it too. We never wiped off the stain.

We like maggots.

I don’t know where you are right now or what you are doing

I hope its beautiful. I hope its fearless.

I hope there are white curtains flanking an open window

I hope you get up slow from her side

Like a train leaving a gorgeous city.

I hope you are naked

And in front of the window

And I hope the salt from the air

Dries with the sweat on your forearms.

I hope together they form a seabed.

I for my part will be here

Writing.

In sweats dreaming up grand thoughts

For the ex lovers and their lovers.

My fingers will not forget your face

Though they will grow long roots

Into a novel one day and will not be able to pull themselves out again

To grace a cheek like yours.

I’ll be wearing unforgettable heels

in a pumpkin hash colored jacket

with my hair falling right below my chin.

I still won’t have taken to drinking lattes or scotches

But I will have done shrooms and smoked weed a few more times since then.

I’ll be older and alone and desireably thin

And you’ll be heavier carrying the full weight of fatherhood in your face

But what the hell. Who cares?

All I need is a pen and blood to be happy.

And you need a whole lot more than that.

Hey y’all,  

I wanted to share my 30 most favorite writing prompts. (This is in response to brokenchickenwings’ request). 

I’ve been away for very long, I feel quite bogus posting here again, but anyhow…i’ve been busy, been overworked, been travelling, been dealing with a break up, been meeting strangers, been liking someone, been compiling more life substance to write about. 

So, beginning of this upcoming month, I’ll be announcing my 30-day-poem/prose a day month. I will use the prompts below, and will alternate between freewriting and poetry prompts.

Each day, I’ll post my piece for the day and will also post next day’s prompt. I’m accepting submissions! So if you’re interested, feel free to share your pieces.

(I would prefer pieces to have an LGBT theme, if possible, but its just a suggestion. Sure, straight poems are accepted as well.) 

so here we go…

Free Writing Prompts

1.     Write for 15 minutes using the following phrase as your first line.

“After the door shuts and the footsteps die…”

2.     Use the following phrase as a focal point to write from:

“The stain will not come out…”

3.     Write for 20 minutes (without editing) using the following prompt:

“The distance between two points increases over time.”

4.     Write for 20 minutes using the following prompt:

“My life is made up of seconds…”

5.     Write for 20 minutes in any style using “Flowers for Ann” as the title.

6.     Write for 20 minutes without editing using the sense of black and white vision, as in film or photographs. The piece can have a historical or nostalgic feel, surreal, or futuristic.

7.     Write for 20 minutes (without editing) in any style using this as your starter: “In the event of an emergency…” Consider writing with humor.

8.     Write for 20 minutes, (without editing) in any style using: “My last memory of…” Consider writing something surreal.

9.     Write for 20 minutes starting with “The gypsy reads the tea leaves” or, “The First Time I Saw the Circus”.

10.  Write for 20 minutes using the letter “x” as your starter.

11.  Write for 20 minutes using the following as your title or starting phrase: “Consider Blasphemy”

12.  Write for 20 minutes using the following as your starter: “Hello Coffee…”

13.  Write for 20 minutes using the following as your starter: “Pancakes”

Poetry Prompts 

1.         Write a poem that describes a walk through a house from the perspective of a child.

2.         Write a poem that starts with a one word title, two words in the first line, three in the next, and continues by adding one word per line. (Variation: use as a prose exercise.)

3.         Write a poem using the following start: “What good is a day…”

4.         Write a poem with a seasonal theme.

5.         Write a poem using “Writers Anonymous” as your title. (Or, “Hi My Name Is?”

6.         Write a poem using the title, “Love Poem Number 137”.

7.         Write to your pain: “Dear Pad of My Thumb, Will you kindly stop hurting? It is very hard for me to stir a pot or write a poem when you hurt like this…

8.         Let your pain write back to you: “Dear Liesl, if you would lay off the text messaging and playing minesweeper it would help me a lot, then you can write your poem or stir pot…”.

9.         Write to your hurting country, city or community, as a variation on the theme. Take the dialogue as far as it goes, then distill the essence. See if you can arrive at a fresh insight about what ails you and yours.

10.    Take fairy tale and rewrite it from the viewpoint of another character. For example, use the wolf to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

11.    Write about a family secret.

12.    Write about someone waiting for something.

13.    Take any object out of your bag or pocket or purse. Speaking in first person AS THE OBJECT, answer the following questions (in any order): What is your favorite thing?

14.    What are you scared of? What is your secret? What is your wish for the future?

15.    Begin with, “This is not the last poem I will write…”

16.    Elide (strike out) the Junk: Take a piece of junk mail and black out most of the words so that what remains is a poem.

17.    Choose one set of poetry prompts and then write a poem using all the words in the list. If you’re feeling up to the challenge, then try to write a single poem using all the words from all the lists.

Cheese Please

·         pump

·         orchids

·         yellow

·         flame

·         knee caps

Erotica

·         inner thigh

·         spiral

·         desk chair

·         thunderous

·         parched

Obsession

·         coffee mug

·         foot steps

·         ravage

·         whisper

·         picket fence

Heartbreak

·         ache

·         undeserving

·         back

·         breathing

·         here

Moving On

·         toes

·         gray

·         rewind

·         oak

·         slip

- Alyah