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2018 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 13

Today’s prompt (see link above) was for a quiet or loud poem. Here’s my free verse:

 

“Quiet warmth”

 

The humming of our heater

is loud serving as music

to my ears as I sit in

beautiful silence letting

the humming and warmth carry

me back to the days of cold

and cuddling against my

siblings as we wore winter

coats day and night. My pillow

now is warm and my comforter

as soft as cotton balls. Oh,

I wish I could transport some

warmth and blankets back to

those children shivering in

their beds as a mother cried

silently in the coldest room.

I want to tell the children

they won’t always be cold.

Resounding heater humming

and soft blankets are the truth.

copyright 2018 R. H. Dorsey

It’s been a rough time lately hearing and seeing reports of violence in the world, this country, and my hometown. I’m participating in the Writer’s Digest 2018 November PAD Chapbook Challenge every day this month.

See: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/2018-november-pad-chapbook-challenge-day-9  for details on the challenge.

My poem for today is shared below:

“Burn Slow”

 

Shooters shoot aimlessly

as victims die without

reason leaving survivors

lives blown to shreds

of what once was hope

and promise of long and

natural life. Numbness

becomes a safe harbor

for our psyches to cope

and shield us from

feeling what would surely

cause our minds to

realize the last days

of existence have been

fueled and set long ago.

We helplessly watch the

unfolding of events as if

we didn’t know all along

that we are in the midst

of a slow burn of devastation.

©2018 R. H. Dorsey

 

If you’re a U. S. citizen, are you ready to vote tomorrow? We’ve heard for some time now this election is the most important election in a long while. Some have gone so far as to say the election on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, is the election of our lifetime. I’m not sure about that previous statement, but with the political climate today the election tomorrow is super important. One thing I’m certain of is that my household has a personal commitment to be at the polls casting our votes.

I’m dating myself by saying I voted in the 1980 election, but it’s true. It was the most exciting thing I’d done in my life to that point. I felt like a full-fledged adult and had my driver’s license and voter’s registration to prove it.  The election of November 1980 was a Presidential election and I took it very seriously. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of those my age who lost their youthful excitement about voting would just vote their conscious and see what happens? I mean, to just throw your vote out and hope for the best? In the end, that’s all we can do – our best.

We can argue that voters are adults with minds of their own and shouldn’t have to be convinced to vote. After all, the laws and policies that govern our lives in the United States are directly affected by the voting public. Sounds simple, right? You’d be surprised at the rhetoric of people that don’t vote. My frustration with the non-voter no matter the party affiliation runs deep. There are older members of my family that have experiences in the past of being stopped at the polls for trying to cast their vote. Knowing family members or anyone that fought for the right to vote were denied is the absolute reason I exercise that right. I believe in my country and our system of democracy (too preachy, oh well). While our Constitution gives us the ‘right’ to vote, there are always debates on whether voting is a privilege. Personally, I’m hoping to never see the day where citizens are given a ‘privilege’ to vote. What would be the criteria to grant one a privilege to vote? The prospect would seem too subjective and unfair in my opinion.

Finally, I’m noticing most people talking about voting lately in a way I haven’t heard in a long while. People are mouthing the words “no matter what your party affiliation get out and vote.” That’s new, in the past one mostly heard be sure to vote “this party” or “that party” period. It’s easy to notice the desperation and seriousness voters in this country have about this election. The fact for the apathetic non-voter is no matter your feelings about the political party leading the House or Senate, the policies trickle down to your interests on a state and local level. I’m hoping everyone in this country eligible to vote goes to the polls tomorrow. Or, if you’ve already voted in early voting or by absentee ballot – great!

It’s been only a few months that I became familiar with the National Novel Writing Month that begins in November.  As a world-class procrastinator on writing and other things I’ll not mention here, the challenge to write a novel in one month is a beautiful thing.  I’ll be held to self-imposed daily word count deadlines with an actual end date. The month of October has been super busy for me and November promises to be the same. On this last day of October, I realize that I could have done more to prepare for the hours of daily writing that’s required. However, I’m a big fan of ‘winging it.’

Fiction or Non-Fiction Dilemma:

For the last two months, I’ve thought seriously about writing a fiction novel in the month of November. There were more than a few ideas I’ve toyed with, considered, and reconsidered for the subject of my first novel. I’ve spent the past month writing a couple short stories and poems to get the creative juices flowing in my brain. Since my passions are writing flash fiction, short stories, and poetry, writing a novel seems daunting. However, I’m embracing the task full on. Discovering NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month as above) continues to excite me daily.

Conversely, in the past few weeks, I found out about “Write Nonfiction in November” via a Facebook writer’s page. The challenge is to write a work of Nonfiction in thirty days. This challenge may solve my procrastination on writing a specific non-fiction novel I’ve been putting off for one year, five months and twenty-six days. Yes, the procrastination is serious in this one.

With all that said, on this last day of October 2018, I’ve decided to go ahead and write my first full length, nonfiction novel starting tomorrow. In full disclosure, I recently prepared a preliminary outline for my nonfiction novel.  There may be hope for my procrastination after all. I don’t plan to complete final editing and final drafts in one month. However, completing a first full draft of the novel in thirty days would be awesome.

I think I’ll do fine. I’ll claim it, throw it out to the universe, work hard, and make it happen.

I’ve rambled on, I know. But, it’s my blog and I write what I want 😊.

Happy writing to all you writers that love a challenge!

Who knew?

Obviously, not me. I stumbled on the information while on Twitter late this afternoon. I’m laughing right now at how many “National” this and that days I’ve seen lately.  I’m sure there are new “national” days created by organizations and people every day. It would’ve been wonderful if I had a reminder prior to today about National Relaxation Day. I could’ve planned something super relaxing. Maybe, I’ll get some benefit of relaxing later. One can only guess that the whole social media craze is to blame for the onslaught of National Days that fly by every day. (Am I showing my age?)  I probably should have researched the subject as per my normal routine. I could’ve added interesting tidbits on some of the more popular themed days. It’s an interesting premise, but that’s another blog for another day.

Today, I’m feeling lackadaisical, so I’ll not research the topic. Until next time. 😊

Hello it’s me.  It’s been more than a few years since I’ve posted. I may take the blog in a different direction, as so much has happened.  With that said, I’m shutting down for the evening and hope to get back here soon.  Enjoy!

The seemingly always smiling former employee of JetBlue doesn’t have many reasons to grin lately…….

http://www.blogger.com/publish-confirmation.g?blogID=7045454941207873783&postID=5039663155564317638&timestamp=1284047932794&javascriptEnabled=true

http://grayrainboots.blogspot.com/2010/08/flight-attendant-on-jetblue-loses-his.html