retold over dinner to strangers,
a short, perhaps obscure retelling
of that moment historical,
or private and personal,
amusing, revealing,
perhaps salacious,
intimate.
I think stories begin this way:
a glimmer,
something observed,
the smallest detail
the writer's heart
remembers.
Today begins a month of poems for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Join the fun to write a little something every day. Check out what others have written or hop over to NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month).
My own historical fiction trilogy (Standing Stones, Years of Stone, and now, Rivers of Stone in editing phase), began with an old story of mermaids off the coast of Scotland. Somehow, perhaps like all beginnings, even a word can take us to unexpected places.
For me, that anecdote about a half-glimpsed mermaid led me to the 1840s and the McDonnell family as they experienced the Clearances in Scotland, and then Van Dieman's Land, a dreaded penal colony in present day Tasmania, off the coast of Australia.
What made me begin to write so long ago? That's another anecdote!
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| Spring Lilacs in Spokane |
Lovely poem. It makes me think of how often an anecdote blossoms into a full-blown epic, and how even more often they don't. There's a sadness there that's hard to describe, and your poem brought this to my attention.
ReplyDeleteA lovely poem, you have a great gift for words.
ReplyDeleteBeth, you have such a beautiful way with words; I look forward to sharing the challenge with you this year! Mary
ReplyDeleteHey Beth!! Fancy meeting you over here (well both place NaPoWriMo and A to Z :-)
ReplyDeleteNice poem. You have a beautiful way with words!!
See you over at ROW80 next week?