Poetry Prompt: Comparison

It is easy in this day and age to focus on a continual state of comparison - someone's high gloss life as seen through Instagram filters and Facebook likes has become our basis for how we see ourselves, the gauge for how well we are doing or more likely not doing.  I am guilty of sleeping with my iPhone neatly tucked under my pillow.  Oh sure, I claim it is my alarm clock but honestly it was the first thing I looked at when I woke (either with the alarm or when the witching hour leaves me restless).  I counted likes as though they were the sheep who would lull me back into dreams.  

Early one morning while I sat sipping tea and skimming through photos on Instagram, I happened upon a post that was if my daydream self had posted it - this woman was following through on things she had desired, was changing her life and inspiring others in the process.  She was living the life she envisioned.
How was this possible?  Inquiring minds wanted to know... so I contacted her.

*Image: The Universe Conspires Card by Julianne Kanzaki 

Over the course of many months we formed a friendship, a kindred spirit connection that helped me see that comparisons and envy (FOMO much?) were only making me feel that I was less than.  

A big thing we share in common is our mad passionate love of words - and with exactly that she gave me the perfect "antidote" to my paranoia.

Pronoia - it is the attitude or belief that the Universe is conspiring to help and assist you on your path.  It is the opposite of paranoia.

I still browse the interwebs, bare witness to other's stories.  But now when I am feeling a little more envious than inspired, I give it a place on the page and then let it go.

PROMPTS:

Describe a time when you compared yourself to someone else and felt "less than".  Now describe the same situation but as someone whom you found inspiring and supportive.  How would this shift your perspective? 

Word Prompts:

Comparison

Identity

Schadenfreude

Mudita

Conspire

Transformation

Pronoia

Poetry book highlight:

the sun and her flowers by Rupi Kaur

Description from Amazon:

From Rupi Kaur, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of milk and honey, comes her long-awaited second collection of poetry.  A vibrant and transcendent journey about growth and healing. Ancestry and honoring one’s roots. Expatriation and rising up to find a home within yourself.

Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms.

Review by Adrian Liang, The Amazon Book Review:

Kaur deftly sidesteps and then punts the stereotypical sophomore slump of bestselling authors, offering a subtle yet powerful volume of poetry to her readers who have clamored for more since the debut of Milk & Honey. Split into five movements—wilting, falling, rooting, rising, blooming—Kaur’s poems glide up from the depths of heartbreak and hurt to embrace the strength and joy that can flower on the other side of hardship. Kaur workshops many of her poems through live readings, and the dedication to her craft vibrates through every phrase. Those who pressed Milk & Honey into the hands of their friends will exult in The Sun and Her Flowers, and Kaur’s expanded wisdom and scope should reel in new readers who will find much that resonates. —Adrian Liang, The Amazon Book Review

Follow your words and share your link in the comments below:

Jenny Astramowicz resides in San Francisco where she works for the local university, trains for endurance events and writes.  Her long term dream is to live in France with her two cats.

Not all who wander are lost...

#OctPoWriMo  #NaPoWriMo #NaNoWriMo #Poetsonthepage

Find her on  Google +  Twitter Instagram

You can read her poetry at https://zwabisabi.blogspot.com

                 

What Inspires You to Keep Writing Poetry?

Writing poetry is our life's blood; we eat, breathe, and sleep poetry. We share what we love about it, what inspires us, what turns our head, what captures our heart, and what motivates us to keep going, keep allowing our words to flow.

Inspiration for Poetry, photo courtesy of PublicDomainPictures
by CC0 Community

I am a visual person, photos inspire me more than most things. When I am in the flow, I see something that inspires me, I take a photo, and then I write to that photo. It could be the color, the light, the object, the person, that captures my heart and translates to the page.

What inspires you?

What keeps me going, keeps me writing poetry? It is to understand life, to see it through the lens of my words, to see where they will lead.

What keeps you going?

Prompts:

What was the last photo you captured? Write for ten minutes about the photo. What emotion does it convey? What draws you in?

Word Prompts:

Inspiring

flow

capture
camera

Indie poetry book highlight:

inside my anxious mind by Ashley Martinez

Description from Amazon:

inside my anxious mind is a collection of poems, pain i've felt, the horrors of the world i've seen in the past two decades. saving my mental sanity, and urging all readers to protect theirs.

A Review by Eric M from Amazon:
Raw, unedited, unfiltered emotions. A book that is about the realest thing I have read in a long time. If you don't know Ashley by the end of it you will get inside her head and heart. You will get a sense of her journey through life and how everything she had gone through has taken her from surviving to thriving. Sign me up for the next one. 

Follow your words and share your link in the comments below and tell us, what inspires you to keep writing poetry? 

 

Morgan Dragonwillow, author of Wild Woman Waking & Dancing within Shadow, is a Bodywork transformer, dancing poet, motivator of words, magical instigator and creatrix of #OctPoWriMo & #PoetsonthePage. Collaborate with your soul and get your words on the page. Wild Woman Writing Retreat.

Yes, she is on Google+ too!

Poetry Prompts Coming Soon!

We have decided to continue the journey over at Poets on the Page. I have several volunteers lined up to help with weekly prompts on Mondays to stir your inspiration and imagination. That will begin on Monday, November 20th. Hashtag for this will be, #PoetsonthePage. We hope to see you there.

For those that would like more than a prompt once a week, I've decided to do a 365 photo prompt on my personal blog for a poem a day challenge beginning on Sunday, November 19th. I will be sharing thought provoking, odd, and inspiring photos either from PublicDomainPictures.net or of my own photography/art. The hashtag for this will be, #365PhotoPrompts

Odd but it stirs the imagination!
Courtesy of PublicDomainPictures
by Dawn Hudson

This is also posted on OctPoWriMo to make sure everyone sees the new updates. 

Play with your words until you breathe life into them!

Peace,

Morgan Dragonwillow