Creative Writing - 07.06.2020

Below are a few short pieces I compiled as part of a free creative writing course with the Spread the Word create-write-connect campaign.  #CreateWriteConnect

Grounding and freewrite

It is Sunday mid-morning and I am still tired as it has been a weekend that has started out on the wrong foot.  I am not feeling creative today because I did not have a good night sleep.  The local foxes kept me awake throughout the night as the ripped through and feasted on the contents of fly-tipped black bin bags on my road.  Today, my eyes feel heavy and I am forcing myself to try and get through the day.  My mind is a bit like the weather was yesterday evening – heavy downpours of showery rain with the occasion bout of hailstones.  Today, the watery sun has made a timid appearance.  The ravaged bin bags are in tattered shreds and their contents are scattered across the road, pavement and stuck under the wheels of vehicles.

 

Small acts of kindness

It was one of those days where I did the usual early morning commute.  I stood waiting on the train platform for the 07:14 train to London Charing cross station.    It was a quiet morning and a few regulars were waiting in silence just like myself.  The local birds were chirping, and I always liked to watch the single silver birch tree in the garden of a house on the opposite side of the platform.  Unusually, there was a large flock of migrating birds high up in the sky.  I looked at them for a second or two and turned away, before realising that I had been splattered by a shower of bird poo.  It was all over my hair and creeping down the side of my face as I froze in total shock and disgust.  Without hesitation, a stranger who was standing next to me pulled out tissues and started to wipe the side of my face and my hair.  He had been splattered too, but he said that I seemed to have got the blunt of it.  I thanked him for his kindness before we entered the train that had pulled up.  I didn’t see him again after that day, even though I looked out for him.

Finding outside yourself

There is a nest high up in the external wall of my home, in a gap next to the bathroom fan where one of the bricks was half-chipped away by builders and never cemented over.  Last year, the starlings took it over to rear their young.  The chicks were as loud as the parents and I was glad when they finally left and prayed they wouldn’t ever come back.  This year, there is a nest of sparrow chicks.  I know they are sparrows because I can see the parents flying too and fro, feeding their hatchlings from dawn until dusk.  The chirping of their young echoes loudly in the chamber of my tiled bathroom.  At times, the noise can be distracting as I visualise their tiny little beaks opening wide waiting for the next meal of regurgitated worm or beetle.  After hearing news over the weeks of gloom and death, this nest signifies new life and new beginnings, which gives me hope for the future.

Ask the Ancestors

We would like it if you stopped worrying

We would like it if you take each day as it comes

We would like it if you pressed on with your dreams

We would like it if you opened up and not be afraid to be you

We would like it if you never stop smiling

We would like it if you took time out to take care of yourself

We would like it if you visited us more

We would like it if you stopped feeling guilt over what you’ve achieved

We would like it if you refrained from putting yourself down

We would like it if you took the next step

We would like it if you acknowledge that you are truly loved.