‘Genius in a Bottle’ Prompted Writing Challenge
Who Holds Me, When You Hold Me?
GiaB writing prompt #17
In your arms I feel the great expanse, all at once. It’s greater than life.
Who are we, really?
Our names? Hardly. Mere labels given to us without our input.
Our career positions? Those are just examples of choices we made and committed to for a period of time.
Our experiences? A collection of snapshots in a dossier of our lives, to prove we were there.
Whatever answers we find to this question, we could pile them all into a box and what we had gathered wouldn’t even scratch the surface of who we are. Furthermore if we incinerated the box with everything we think we are inside it, our existence wouldn’t lose any of its potency. We would still be here and we would still be an element of life as we always have been.
Hints of our true self are most easily glimpsed when experiencing love. Not the selfish or animalistic elements of love. Not the recreational or otherwise entertaining aspects of love. I refer to spiritual love. That love where we have ceased to exist in its presence. Our needs, desires, problems and circumstances have fizzled away like dying embers in icy air. That spiritual love where we experience the finery of ‘just being’, sharing space and time with another or with love itself.
And to receive love from one in this state is to experience something unmatched in a human existence. It’s an experience that cannot be captured on a selfie or retold to another in social gatherings. It’s a moment of the purest privacy and existence.
It’s the melding of the truest beings, in all our glory and completeness.
And it’s indescribable.
The Challenge
We invite writers to produce a piece of poetry, fiction or non-fiction on the theme of The Soul.
For this prompted writing challenge, we are looking for an exploration into the self beyond the superficial. We have not set a single description of what the soul is or whether there is such a thing as a soul. However, we want to disregard the simplistic work/ play, eat/ sleep life that we routinely find ourselves prioritizing. We want to explore that which we routinely forget about, and are reminded of under extreme circumstances. That self that we feel when in the depth of love, or when we lose a loved one. That self that comes to the front when we have to make a great sacrifice or be sacrificed. We want to look beyond the fragile person that is at the mercy of every whim in life and focus on the permanent all-powerful being we are that has the greatest capacity to give mercy. Please ensure your responses focus on the introspection and consideration of your greater selves.
This prompt will close on Wednesday 14th April, 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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