Month: January 2025

Categories
Poetry

A Stomach Filled with Hunger

Here I am on another Wednesday. Our most recent prompt was rather strange, but I made two attempts to address it. Lately, I have been writing much more verse than in the past. I’m not sure why. It is what seems to emerge.

Meals Alone

A stomach filled
with hunger for another face at the table
Eyes meeting, smile reciprocated, dishes passed

A stomach filled
With hunger for a leisurely conversation over a meal
That feeds the heart and mind as well a the body

A stomach filled 
With hunger assuaged by faces on a TV screen
And observation of others conversing

A stomach filled
With hunger assuaged by the presence of a pet
Who shares a meal by begging
Who listens without ability to respond

A stomach filled quickly
Eating alone, hardly tasting, minimal preparation,
Little enjoyment, hunger unsatisfied.

Now, for the second.

Unsatiated Hunger

A stomach filled with hunger
Misunderstood
Misinterpreted
Looking for satisfaction not found in food

A stomach filled with hunger
Ignores the signal it's filled
Keeps on stuffing t'til ill
Triggered by frustration
Or pain or loneliness
Waits for no indication of emptiness 
Feeds the body to comfort the soul 
Distract the mind
Give artificial pleasure

A stomach filled with hunger
Misdiagnosed needs
Fed by limitless supply
Unhealthy choices
Devoured with lack of restraint
First a bad habit
Then an addiction
Obesity an epidemic
A cultural phenomenon
Categories
Poetry

Prompt: A Warm Blanket on the Bird

 Thoughts Provoked by a Prompt

What thoughts does this prompt provoke?
Thoughts of the Creator who made the birds of the air
And deemed them worthy of His care,
Who gives the sparrow food,
Who warms it with a blanket of sunshine.

What thoughts does this prompt provoke?
Thoughts of the Creator who made us in His image
And counted us more valuable than the birds,
Who meets our needs
And shelters us in His blanket of love.

What thoughts does this prompt provoke?
Thoughts of the Son of God lamenting over Jerusalem
Who would have gathered her children together
"as a hen gathers her brood under her wings"
but in rebellion they reject the blanket of His body.

What thoughts does this prompt provoke?
Thoughts of the Psalmist who speaks
Of the shelter of the Most High
Who "will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge."

What thoughts does this prompt provoke?
Thoughts of a steward of creation
Who accepts the assignment of the Creator,
Who picks up an oiled-soaked bird
and blankets it in warm, cleansing suds.

This was written for our creative writing group meeting on October 16, 2024. The Bible quotations are from Matthew 6: 26-27 and Psalm 91:4.

Categories
Poetry

Creative Writing Prompts

It has been over a year since I posted anything on my blog. I imagined I needed to produce something different and fresh for my blog whenever I wrote. Since I had so many writing obligations, adding one more was too much. This week, I decided that if I were to keep this blog, I would post writing I had done for other purposes. The most regular brief pieces I have done were for the creative writing group I attend. Each week, we are given a prompt as the focus of our writing. These vary, sometimes wildly. By posting the new and the old, there will be quite a variety. Below is the one written for this week’s meeting. The prompt was “entangled gift”. 

                TWO IN THE SAME PEW

On Sundays

   They walked through the same door
   They sat in the same pew
   They read from the same book
   "the gift of of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
    our Lord"

   One wanted to earn and payback
   The other received

   One was there out of duty
   The other out of love

   One worked to be accepted
   The other knew acceptance

   One toiled for affirmation
   The other rested in it

   One served out of duty
   The other out of love

   One found it easy to judge
   The other found no need

   One gave begrudingly
   The other cheerfully

Each week they went to work

   One promoted self
   The other promoted others

   One sought leadership
   The other led by serving

Their neighbors watched them

   One repelled them
   The other drew them

Their children lived with them and grew up

   One's children ran to escape
   The other's ran to embrace

They grew old

   One feared death
   The other welcomed it

For one God's gift was entanged with works
The other received it by grace

   "For by grace you have been saved through faith. 
   And this is not your own doing;
   it is the gift of God, not a result of works,
   so that no one may boast."

One had religion
The other a relationship

The Bible quotations are found in Romans 6:23 and Ephesians 2:8-9.