Bits and Pieces and an Interesting Writing Exercise

Summer Garden

I received a newsletter with the notice of an annual poetry contest. What is interesting is that they will accept already published poems as well as ones that have not been published. $1 entry per poem which is doable for most people. Read the announcement and guidelines here. I have no idea what the prizes amount to as they are determined by a percentage of the entry fee monies. There are additional nonmonetary prizes, as well.

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Now for the writing exercise. This is one I did quite some time ago and found to be a lot of fun. 

Writing Prompt: Write a still life with something ordinary and obvious, such as an aging car, a pile of laundry, a tired dog, a half-eaten bowl of cereal or a summer garden like the one pictured above. Try to personalize the object but not let us know what it is until the end.

This is the one I wrote:

It sits, tired and worn out, on my dining room floor. Sticks out like a sore thumb, as it’s not an item one normally sees amongst the china, silver, and crystal that fill my china cabinet. Nor would you see it resting on top of the glass dining table, or even on one of the chairs that surround the table. It’s cord is wrapped around its body, a thin layer of dust covers all. Once reliable, once acclaimed for all it accomplished, now it sits in shame, head (if it had one!) down. One too many temper tantrums and it became banished from my office. Out with the old, in with the new. And yet, I have a tiny piece of nostalgia resting within. That old printer served me well for a good number of years. It printed, copied, scanned and faxed whenever I asked. It gobbled more ink than I liked, but don’t they all? And here it is, on the floor, sad and forlorn. Maybe there’s hope for a new home. I’m looking for a place to recycle it. A repairman with patience and nerves of steel just might get it going again. It’s a foster child looking for someone to love it again.