Honoring Resilience
And the ones who keep on keeping on….
It takes strength and resilience to weather the storms of brutal injustice like the one we’re in now. Which is the same one we’ve been in for hundreds of years. Where does this strength come from? A strong sense of righteousness? Tight bonds of love and connection in a community?
For a tree to sustain itself though high winds and rough weather, it must have strong roots. Some trees have roots that go deep. Others have roots that spread out wide.
A people thrives with a sense of their roots in history even when that history is stolen from them. Resilience means you can kill a person, but not their spirit. And in their place, others will rise up. This IdeaStream is dedicated to #Black Lives Matter and all those who rise up for freedom and justice.
Writer’s Prompts
Poetry Salvage
Use these ten words to write a poem. Or prose if you prefer.
- resilience
- strong
- root
- oak
- danger
- pen
- plow
- future
- darkness
- ebullient
From last week’s poetry salvage
Caroline de Braganza lifts us up with song:
Marilyn Flower provides a compendium of actions:
Limerick Corner
Limerick Starter:
We survive because of our resilience
Our determination and our brilliance
Last week’s limericks:
100 * 250 * 500 *1000
Write 100 words about the smells in your kitchen.
Write 250 words about a favorite childhood toy or game.
Write 500 words on what keeps you going.
Write 1000 words, fiction or non-fiction, about a time you felt most connected to history.
Marla Bishop waxes eloquently about candles in a 100-word story:
Finish the story
Take this introduction and run with it…
That did it! I’d seen and heard enough. Now I was about to take matters into my very own hands…
Melissa R. Mendelson wrote about love and loss from last week’s prompt:
Recommend Reads
None of the above moving you? Try one of these stories below…
By Joe Duncan
By Mark Olmsted
By MaggieLaFae
By Reuben Salsa
The Bad Influence and IdeaStream
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Marilyn Flower writes political humor and satire to delight socially and spiritually conscious folks. She’s a regular columnist for the prison newsletter, Freedom Anywhere, where she writes about faith and prayer. Five of her short plays have been produced in San Francisco. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times.