Drops of Inspira

  Hello and welcome back to Poetry 15th ! This is going to look a bit different than the normal 15th. Part of the reason is that my answer to the prompt is going to be shared in a different post because it needs more explanation, and I want to keep this post light. So, with all that being said, here is the prompt for this month: Use it however you like. The idea is for the prompt to generate some creativity. Again, the prompt says to write a poem, but draw a picture, create a song, do whatever you want with it. Just be creative! I will be back tomorrow with my response. Fair warning: it's a bit heavy. No, I didn't intend for it to be that way. Poetry has always been the closest thing for me to hearing my heart speak. Until tomorrow... -Julia Garcia / Arysta Henry

  Hello! It's been a month since I last posted, but there has been a reason for that. (Actually, a lot of reasons, but let's not get too off topic.) The main reason why I didn't post at the beginning of this month was because I was facing some scary health issues which have mostly resolved at this point. With that being said, a hiatus is probably way overdue, but I'll save that for another month. Today's poetry prompt is: I've been thinking a lot about exploration. It's always been a sort of regret of mine that I was born in an age where most of the world has already been explored. I love reading books about explorers, real or fictional. The unknown both terrifies and fascinates me.  As always, feel free to use the above prompt to generate your own creativity. Here is my response to the prompt: I'll be back later this month with an end-of-summer post sharing my top five summer reads. I'm doing it a bit early even if summer officially ends in Septembe...

  Hello! We are more than halfway through 2021! *slumps over, exhausted* Honestly, what happened to the year? I'm pretty sure it was April just yesterday. Oh well... If the year is more than halfway over, then that just means we are closer to Christmas! *breaks out Christmas carols and throws a party* Okay. Okay. It may be a tad bit early to do that, but you can never start too early. I love Christmas! But that is not why we are here. (Get back on topic, Julia.) Ahem... Today's topic is the halfway point. The idea of being in between something. So, this month's poetry prompt will reflect that idea. Hm... You know, for someone that is as terrified of the ocean as I am, I sure do write a lot of ocean-based things. The wonderful thing about the ocean is that it's a place of both fear and wonder. A place of in-betweenness. A place where you can have one foot on land, and the other in the sea. As always, please feel free to use the prompt to generate your own creativeness. U...

  Hello!  It's the last couple of weeks of the semester for me. One of the re-occurring themes we've been discussing is identity. What makes us who we are?   In a discussion board, we had to answer the question: does our occupation define us? Honestly, the question made me mad. I've gone through so many different jobs since I started working at 16, and if I changed identities as many times as I changed occupations, I would be an even more insecure wreck than I am now.   I don't like the question because it places limits on who I am. It tries to stick me in a box and diagnose me. The rebel in me hates that. Before I get completely run away with the topic, let me give you this month's prompt. This month's poetry prompt is: Okay, so what does a mirror have to do with the subject of identity? Well, let me just tell you with my response to the above prompt. I tried to fit it on a nice and pretty graphic, but it wouldn't fit. How appropriate.... Broken by  J...

  Hello! It's been an eventful month for me. It's the middle of my semester at college and everything seems to be piling up, conspiring together to stifle any creative juices so it's been a struggle to pull anything together.  With that being said, here is this month's prompt: In the middle of the semester, this sense of "betweenness" is a heavy feeling. I feel like I'm on the border of two very important events, but I'm not sure exactly what they are. It's not school. That is accounted for. Whatever this is, this feeling of being between things is very prominent.  My response to this prompt is a bit of poetry I actually wrote a month ago while thinking about the meeting of sand and shore. It's fictional, but the feeling of betweenness is very real, a feeling of belonging to two different worlds.                        (If you are on mobile, you might have to click  to enlarge it.)      ...

  Hello! I have a question for you. When you think of February, what colors come to mind? Red? White? Pink? Maybe gray? What about blue?   For me, the color blue, has always represented friendship and going deeper. Since this month is International Friendship Month , I chose my favorite color for this month's prompt. (Well, technically, my favorite color is cerulean, but that is a shade of blue.) Here is the prompt: As always, please feel free to use the prompt to generate your own creativity. It doesn't have to be a poem. The prompt is mainly to get your creative juices flowing again. Here is my response: This is it for this month, but I'll be back, Lord willing, next month for some posts about Spring. Until then... -Julia Garcia / Arysta Henry

 Hello!  Happy October and welcome to the month of cooler temperatures and changing leaves.   The leaves haven't quite changed color in my neighborhood, but I'm celebrating in anticipation of that time.  I'm doing another Fall-themed prompt this month, this time based not only on a word, but on a particular color. Red is a warm color, not quite the temperature I associate with this season, but the color is one I associate with autumnal things like cranberry sauce and falling leaves. Here is my response. I'm so very excited to see Autumn's face again! Temperatures are supposed to drop this week, so maybe the leaves will follow suit.  I might be poking my head in later this month with some novel-ish stuff, so keep watch for that. Until next time... All the best, Julia Garcia/ Arysta Henry

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...

Hello!  Another month has rolled by and it's the fifteenth once again. Just a reiteration of the rules here: every fifteenth of the month I will try to post a poem I've written recently. You can post your own in the comments section or just use the prompt to write your own off-screen. If nothing else, I hope that this will fight any bouts of Writer's Block you might encounter. This month's prompt is: Please be mindful that this is a PG environment. If you place one of your poems in the comment section, no language or sexual content.  Here is mine: Now go write and have fun! If you liked the poem or just want to leave a comment, please let me know in the comment section below.