Paper Poetry’s September Prompt
Love in Difficult Times
When love and hope is all we have
“It’s again the time of the year When the air gets crisp and cold the earth painted in gold as the beautiful ‘ber’ months unfold.”
‘Ber’ months sure have a charm in themselves. Charm enough to drag me out of my self-imposed exile and embrace life, once more. ❤️ The onset of autumn stirs the tender senses, doesn't it, my dear kindred spirits?
Welcome September and a warmest hello my dear Paper Poets,
How are you all doing? I have missed you all for months. I was away battling a few demons while our dearest Carolyn Hastings was single-handedly managing everything so gracefully and elegantly. A one-woman army indeed!
She sure is the epitome of “Respect”.
Respect, yes, is one of the virtues often taken for granted.
Respect is one of the first virtues to be blown into pieces when things start going south. A virtue as thin as a membrane yet strong as iron.
Respect is neither malleable nor ductile, resilient ..?? don’t know, to each their own.
We ran a two-month-long prompt on Respect, well-guarded, protected, and respectfully run by Carolyn Hastings.
The response in the first month was spellbinding. It seems this prompt, “Respect”, resonated deeply with everyone and the submissions came pouring in. Our dear Carolyn took an executive decision to keep moving the train of thought and extended the prompt for August too.
Let’s respectfully shower some love on the poems well-crafted by our fellow paper Poets:
🙌 Amazing Gracelessness ~ Jenine "Jeni" Baines 🙌 Respect for The Disrespectful ~ William J Spirdione 🙌 Respectrum ~ Marcus aka Gregory Maidman 🙌 A Foretoken ~ Sinus Kosinus 🙌 The Thinking Tree ~ John Hansen 🙌 Respect All ~ Sinus Kosinus 🙌 Treasure Our Earth ~ Sinus Kosinus 🙌 When Something Resonates ~ Denise Darby 🙌 Try Not to Let Your Spring Run Dry ~ Shereen Bingham 🙌 No, I Won’t Respect Your Wishes ~ Toni Crowe 🙌 Respect Respect! ~ John Hansen 🙌 Reminiscence Of Fallen Gods ~ Cristina Cattai 🙌 Empathy Without Respect ~ Sherry Atkinson 🙌 What Does Respect Mean To You? ~ Douglas Lim 🙌 It’s All Elemental ~ Toni The Talker 🙌 A Tapestry of Respect ~ Sherry Atkinson 🙌 Respect Me — a poem ~ Esther Spurrill-Jones 🙌 Steel Snowflakes ~ Lance R. Fletcher 🙌 Essential Part ~ Sujit Chakraborty 🙌 Departing ~ Toni Crowe 🙌 Aura of Respect ~ Carolyn Hastings 🙌You Can’t Cancel Out Me ~ Sherry Atkinson
💃PS: Medium boosted two of the submissions — Shereen Bingham’s story and one of Sherry Atkinson’s stories.
Paper Poetry’s highest regard and reverence to you all. 🙏 ❤️
September Prompt
Now as we have created a strong base of Respect, it is safer to tread onwards. Life was never promised to be a bed of roses. Just keeping our heads high, spine straight and tall, we look towards the light, the eternal white light to guide us and move along.
The other day, my daughter gave me a precious pearl of wisdom. She said, “Mumma, you know all the plants face the Sun, even if there is a horizontal shoot, they still find their way towards the Sun, the light. No matter how many weeds grow around the plant and hamper their growth, a plant always faces the Sun and grows.”
“A plant grows amidst weeds, focusing on the bright positive light of the Sun, no matter how many weeds try to stop its growth.”
“A plant manifests love and hope even in adversity, always looking up, to the light. Then why do we humans give away hope to despair? Why do we part ways, why can’t we hold love and hope together in difficult times?”
I was speechless at my baby’s depth of thought.
Et Voila! A prompt came to mind — and what better haven than to host the prompt here at Paper Poetry, where there is no judgment on feelings, emotions, human reflection, and manifestation?
Dear poets, I am serving you a raw prompt on a plate. It is for you to transform this into a delicacy of your liking, one that appeals to you resonates with you, and reflects you.
“What it means to love and hope in the most difficult time?”
As kids, most of us have read Anne Frank’s diary. Amidst the darkest period of history, there was love and hope.
History is full of anecdotes and stories, where love and hope prevailed in the darkest hour.
For September, we’re inviting you to poetically explore what it means to love and hope in the most difficult time.
- It is human to give into despair and stop loving and hoping
- It is human to keep loving and hurting oneself
- It is human to hope for the best in adversity
- It is human to lose faith or hold your faith tight
- It is OK to hold on tight
- It is OK to let go
What is NOT OK is to lose the respect we have for ourselves.
Let your subconscious/unconscious manifest what you truly feel about loving and hoping in the most difficult time.
❓Have you ever been in such a predicament of loving and hoping in the most difficult time?
❓Have you ever been gripped in the hurricane of loving and hoping in the most difficult time?
❓Have you ever been ripped and torn to pieces by loving and hoping in the most difficult time?
We do not mean to intrude on your privacy, yet if you want to share some aspects of yourself to inspire people like me, please do so.
Your few words or a few lines might save a life or a relationship, might bring a smile to some faces, and a flicker of hope in some broken hearts.
Look at the prompt from every possible angle and tell us in a poem what resonates with you the most.
Submission Details
Prompt: “What it means to love and hope in the most difficult time”
Form: Any form of poetry will be accepted. Please note: only authentically written poetry will be accepted. The editors of Paper Poetry reserve the right to reject any submissions that are seen to be AI-generated with or without disclosure.
Word/line limit: no restrictions
Title/subtitle/kicker: Please use ‘Love and hope in difficult times’ as the kicker; your choice of title and subtitle
Tags: Please use the ‘Love in difficult times’’ tag when submitting your story
Images: Maximum two images Please note: As a mandatory requirement, at least one of your images must incorporate a handwritten/handcrafted element in either paper or digital format by Paper Poetry’s submission guidelines. Suggestions: A handwritten segment of your story, a decorative title, an illustration that depicts an aspect of your story, or a digitally enhanced photo (free-to-use or personal) that relates to your story. AI-generated images are acceptable provided you include your source link as evidence in the caption or explain how the image was derived. Please refer to Paper Poetry’s homepage for more examples.
Extensions: Please include a promotional link to this prompt and invite (@ handle tag) up to five other writers to join the prompt.
Submission period: Friday, 1 (UTC-10hrs, Cook Islands midnight) — Saturday, September 30 (UTC-10hrs, Cook Islands 11:59 pm)
We welcome new writers to join the prompt. Please leave a comment requesting to be added as a writer and include your Medium @ handle, or email us at [email protected]
Respectfully,
