Paul Stephenson recently shared some potential first lines, for ‘free writing’ of poetry, short fiction, or maybe even your next article. Start with one of these, and see where it takes you.
‘It was a sunny Thursday afternoon and…
‘I’d just sent off my article when there was a…
‘After I gave up teaching, I started…
‘I answered the phone and a voice said…
‘After 8 hours on Zoom my…
‘What nobody admits about working from home is…
‘When this is all over I’m going to finally…
Paul and Sally have both produced a few haiku (5-7-5 syllables) recently.
Paul’s are haiku as social realism in corona times:
Susan, you’re on mute
Susan, you need to unmute
We can’t hear you Susan
To save the chat, Sue,
in the bottom right corner
do you see three dots?
I must just get that
There’s someone ringing the door
…sorry about that
Sally’s are inspired by the music of her youth (respectively John Lennon, Leonard Cohen and Pink Floyd):
Imagine those things
Not found with a search engine
Galaxy explodes
If it be your will
That I should teach live no more
Sound of snow falling
Leave those kids alone
We don’t need no online class
Flowers on the wall
This week’s photograph is a reminder of spring, the magnolia tree in glorious bloom at the end of Sally’s street. This is a much needed reminder as winter returned with a vengeance.
Keep sending your own poems, flash fiction, photos and artwork to sally.wyatt@maastrichtuniversity.nl until the end of April.
