Stories and Starlight

Another assignment originally written for literature class. The prompt was to find words with distinctive sounds as well as a few words of my own invention, and use them to create a scene.  note: this is partially inspired by the setting of "Aladdin."

1. Originality “Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” [C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity ] I feel this. I think these words are especially meaningful for artists who are Enneagram Fours, like me. I often overthink or doubt my work because I worry that it's nothing new, too cliché, or not original enough. But the best and most impactful things I've created are the ones that tell it like it is (albeit poetically). 2. The Reason We Create “Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.  This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? D...

beneath that crown of tangerine-tipped ruffles, of saffron borders gently spreading is a stem-stalk cluster, a Seussical forest of tangled, mottled leaves bent over one another. packed in for breath. sprouting from browning trunks that lighten as they lengthen stretching                  r e a c h ing                                       s t r a i n i n g for the bursts of color above. undersides of an upside-down umbrella reversed romantic love; a matchmaker's mix-up. what once wrapped my wrist at a dance, what once you tossed at your wedding wilts, waiting for when it will be (once more) wrong side down and right side up **** photo & poem: 9.4.2020

Let me laugh for the sheer joy of laughing; laugh for the feeling of freedom that follows after a smile that can no longer contain itself. Let me cry over things both beautiful and heartbreaking; cry unashamed to shed the tears that bind us in our brokenness. Let me sing, let me shout, let me rise to great heights, unafraid of the name or the fame. With words and a pen, my voice and each choice, making this message heard, trying  to the very end. Let me see things strange in the mundane, see what You saw in a girl with great flaws, yet You called me by name. Let me cast off the fear that has shackled me, cast off the weight of the worries I carry. Let me marvel at the every wonder, at every star, at every tree, at every breath, every step, every beat of this unsteady heart. Laughing, crying, singing, sighing, trying - there's nowhere to go if I'm on my own, but with You, I will find  my identity. ______ Written: April 21, 2020

Dear me, When you’re tired, turn your thoughts into poetry. When you’re angry, rearrange your armored walls until they open again. When you’re hurt, hurry to pour it out on the blank pages of a book. When you’re dying for things to be different, dare yourself - and find a way to change it. Don’t let your ugly feelings stay that way. Don’t leave them locked away. Let them out, but make them beautiful.