Drops of Inspira

Hello! It's the last full month of summer and the season has come in a blast of heat with the temperatures being in the upper 90s more often than not.  I wrote my response to the poetry prompt earlier than usual this month to get a jump on things.   I'll admit that it was hard for me to come up with an idea for both the prompt and the poem this month. I was coming up blank, but a few conversations that I've been a part of online and that I've taken part in via email have been the real inspiration behind this. Here is the prompt for this month (and yes, I know. It's unusual.): There's something about doing things by candlelight that turns on a different part of my brain. The part that told stories to my little brother during blackouts when the power went out. The part that tried to draw by the light of a shiny, green candle.  If you're having a hard time being creative, try doing it in a different environment. Or turn off the lights and do it by candlelight. ...

Because of Audiobook Appreciation Month , I'm making June all about sound. I realized that I wrote a poem about the loss of sound a couple of years ago after I had an injury that damaged my hearing for a month (fun times *grimace*), but I didn't have any poems about sound in general.  If you'd like to use the above prompt for your own creative endeavors, please feel free to do so. Here is my poem about sound, particularly the sounds I hear in my neighborhood in the morning. Random question: Do you collect sounds?  What do I mean by this? I collect sounds in my memory. There's this bird that I've heard every spring since I was five. When I hear its song, that means spring has arrived. There's a certain rhythm of burning wood. One rhythm means wildfire, and one means wood-burning stove fire. There's a sound that the ocean makes at night. I know it's the same during the day, but to me, it's different. Sometimes, when the wind is blowing hard through the...

It's been a very rainy, foggy April. About every other day it rains from sunup until sundown.  One thing I love about the rain and fog is that they intensify the surrounding colors. The fog drifts through the tall pines, wrap its fingers around the red barn on the hill and floats over the pond.  However, I am glad for days like today where the blue sky spans the horizon, the beautiful flowers are seen clearly and the wind blows through the trees carrying with it the scent of growing things.  Even during the rain, hope is tangible. It's just around the corner. This brings me to the poetry prompt for this month, which is hope. In a world that seems to get darker and darker, I'm clinging to the hope that this is only temporary. One day the night will end and morning will be here. Please feel free to use this prompt to do your own creative thing. Here is my response taken from my poetry archives. I wrote this poem several years ago and thought it was fi...

Happy New Year Everyone!  I hope everybody had a good holiday season, got some rest and time with family. This is usually the time where people set New Year's resolutions, goals or something like them. I tend to stay away from them because I just end up disappointing myself, but I do like doing something as a sort of "banner-to-the-year." (More on that in a post later this month.)    I'm so excited about this month's creativity prompt. How many of you are inspired by mornings? I mean early mornings, before most of the world is awake? Mornings when the sky turns a soft pink and melds with a powdery blue? Mornings where the sun sets the world on fire? Those kind of mornings. The kind of mornings where you just want to sing a response to the sunrise.       I wrote this poem earlier this month, half of it in my head on my way to work one Saturday morning and just had to share it with you. I'm not often up and outside this early in the mor...