‘Genius in a Bottle’ Prompted Writing Challenge

Light and Heat

GiaB writing prompt #2–6

Nurturing, giving. Aggressive and deadly too. No end or reprieve.

We all have that person in our lives that we are unsure about.

At times they have shaped our perspective of the world with how brilliant and wonderful they are. When the chips are down, they rise. When we are destitute, they save us. When all is bleak they are the ones who kick down the door and fight off the hordes to let us know the world has yet one flickering light that has not been extinguished.

They also fill us with apprehension. Their dark side is just a little too concerning. Like a dingy stranded in the middle of an ocean with the waters becoming just a little too choppy and the clouds just a little too concealing of the light, for us to maintain composure.

We don’t rid our existences of them because we know that our lives will be worse for having lost such a dependable, good-hearted person. At the same time, that great package comes in a frightening wrapping and we just can’t muster the excitement leading up to an engagement with them like we do with others that are more easily pleasant.

It’s a duality that plagues the entirety of that relationship.

We have that same relationship with the sun.

Superficially, it is the stuff of dreams. Light that dispels the darkness of night. Warmth that makes our skin feel alive. The kind of pleasant heat that makes our toes wriggle out of the shade and search for that warm patch on the ground.

Then there are the health benefits. Vitamin D, a critical element for health, permeated through our bodies after the interaction of the sun’s ultraviolet B rays with specific proteins in our skin. Many mental health symptoms are also improved or made more manageable after exposure to the sun’s light and warmth.

On a deeper level however, this interaction is not as ‘sunny’ as it seems. The sun’s ultraviolet radiation is a drug like aspirin. A little within the tight dosage tolerances can alleviate health problems like blood pressure and headache. Flirting with dosages beyond that limit can be catastrophic for health, and life.

Unlike aspirin however, we aren’t provided a reliable measure of sun exposure to help us to stay within the prescribed dosage. We step into the sun at our own risk. Yesterday, fifteen minutes may have been the right amount. Today, we may be exposed at a time of the day with stronger radiation, or less radiation because of cloud cover. We could have been exposed to more or less diffusion due to the changing concentrations of reflective particles in the atmosphere. We may not use protective sunscreen in the same concentrations or effectiveness day to day, varying the dosage of radiation we let through.

The outcome is many of us may be exposing ourselves to a higher than healthy dose of the sun. And apart from its detrimental effect on the ageing and breaking down of our body’s structures or various eye pathologies, we can also be exposing ourselves to skin cancers. In Australia, a nation blessed with very desirable sun, malignant melanoma is a scourge and has claimed a worrying number of lives.

What is our hope for this relationship? We are bound to the sun for all of our lives because it is permanent. We can’t exist without it so we are dependant on it. It has the power to destroy us and we don’t have any measure or boundaries we can pay heed to for our own protection.

We live and sustain ourselves off its bounty and provision. And all the while we co-exist with a potential killer who can turn nasty without warning.

I’m that person to most people I have met in life. I never set out to be. It’s just the way life has always gone. Even when I try to change the parameters of my interactions with others, life, uh, finds a way to restore this perspective of me.

I guess this must be what people mean when they say I’m a sunny person.

The Challenge

We invite writers to produce a piece of poetry, fiction or non-fiction on the theme of The Sun.

This prompt will close on 10th November, 2021 at 9:00AM PST/PDT. At which time, the next prompt will be released.

The Guidelines

We cannot publish pieces or reward writers who self publish or publish at another publication, so those pieces have to remain external to the challenge. Only pieces submitted to Genius in a Bottle will be considered for the challenge. If inviting other writers from outside the publication, please ensure they are aware of this.

Poetry is to be limited to 30 lines but can be in any style. Fiction and non-fiction submissions are to be capped at 750 words.

Please refer to the prompt in the subtitle. Feel free to copy this as a template: GiaB prompt # [insert prompt number and theme here].

When submitting, please ensure that one of the 5 tags is GiaBprompt. Please ensure a second tag is Poetry, fiction, or non-fiction, as appropriate.

We would like to become exposed to writers and pieces that you have enjoyed in all of Medium. Please tag up to ten writers whose pieces you have enjoyed recently, or who you feel may enjoy participating in this challenge.

For further information pertaining to the challenge, please refer to the rules and guidelines.

And away we go. We look forward to enjoying the paradise of the written word with you all.

Victor Sarkin

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