About A Picture
One of the exercises in my Creative Writing Course was to take the picture from the cover of the textbook (above) and write about it. This is what I came up with.
The world around me is a jumble. I’m walking around in a daze; everything passing through my mind like a kaleidoscope of color. The happy times of summers gone by in brilliant blues, greens and yellows. The dark days rip through the bright colors like slashes of black pain. Red slices through in harsh anger. The white of peace when joy returns is interspersed between the seas of emotion, bringing hope. I still can’t believe the path my life has taken. It has come crashing down like a giant wave into the seashore. A storm has blown strong winds in and swept away the security I felt. The harsh lines of reality cut into the happiness and left behind a forest of trees. I’m lost. I can’t find my way back to me.
Then later in the course we were asked to revisit the same picture and make a list of words we thought of while looking at the picture.
My list of words: Arcs, zigzag, bright, hues, lines, circles, curves, shadows, splashes, vivid, fractal, stained glass, movement
Next we were asked to write about the picture using some or all of the words we listed. This was my response:
Sometimes the road is straight and narrow, sometimes it sends you on a curve that is sharp and you lose control. Sometimes you spin out of control. Life is like a road. That road can take you through some pretty crazy things. As I sit here thinking about my life, some pretty vivid memories come to mind, but also some pretty dark times when I fell into the shadows. Two of the brightest times in my life were when my two daughters were born. One of the darkest was when we lost my husband to heart disease. That time brought change. That time brought periods where I felt like I was on a carnival ride going in circles with no escape while splashes of color whizzed by. Then after a while things began to settle down to a new normal. The events in my life no longer felt jagged like the points of a zigzag. Now things were more smooth and the arcs of emotion were less steep. Sometimes I see life like a stained glass window, separated by the black lines when one event ended and a new one began.
This was a fun writing practice. I invite you to try it.
The world around me is a jumble. I’m walking around in a daze; everything passing through my mind like a kaleidoscope of color. The happy times of summers gone by in brilliant blues, greens and yellows. The dark days rip through the bright colors like slashes of black pain. Red slices through in harsh anger. The white of peace when joy returns is interspersed between the seas of emotion, bringing hope. I still can’t believe the path my life has taken. It has come crashing down like a giant wave into the seashore. A storm has blown strong winds in and swept away the security I felt. The harsh lines of reality cut into the happiness and left behind a forest of trees. I’m lost. I can’t find my way back to me.
Then later in the course we were asked to revisit the same picture and make a list of words we thought of while looking at the picture.
My list of words: Arcs, zigzag, bright, hues, lines, circles, curves, shadows, splashes, vivid, fractal, stained glass, movement
Next we were asked to write about the picture using some or all of the words we listed. This was my response:
Sometimes the road is straight and narrow, sometimes it sends you on a curve that is sharp and you lose control. Sometimes you spin out of control. Life is like a road. That road can take you through some pretty crazy things. As I sit here thinking about my life, some pretty vivid memories come to mind, but also some pretty dark times when I fell into the shadows. Two of the brightest times in my life were when my two daughters were born. One of the darkest was when we lost my husband to heart disease. That time brought change. That time brought periods where I felt like I was on a carnival ride going in circles with no escape while splashes of color whizzed by. Then after a while things began to settle down to a new normal. The events in my life no longer felt jagged like the points of a zigzag. Now things were more smooth and the arcs of emotion were less steep. Sometimes I see life like a stained glass window, separated by the black lines when one event ended and a new one began.
This was a fun writing practice. I invite you to try it.
3/21/16