WRITERS COLLECTIVE OF CANADA

 WRITERS COLLECTIVE OF CANADA

Saturday , July 20 2024

     I am here this Saturday with the promise of a wonderful time ahead. As some of you may not know I have a mentally challenged daughter. She lives near here with a foster couple that takes care of her. She's been there since 2006. Why am I talking to you about her you ask?

     Well, in an hour or so I'll be leaving to pick her up so she can spend a few days with us. She loves it here and she loves to go back to her foster home which is very reassuring to me as a mom.

    This morning I had a workshop with the writers at WRITERS COLLECTIVE OF CANADA. We had great exchanges about everybody's inspired writing of the day. 

I did add the workshops of Wednesday, July 10, Thursday, July 18, and today July 20. So here I go, I hope you enjoy and thank you so much for stopping by,

Wednesday July 10, 2024

2 DRAFTS

Be courageous and write what scares you a little. -Holley Garth

Prompt: Close your eyes and imagine yourself face-to-face with an animal. Then write what you saw with your inner eye.

Look at you, so timid and sweet

Your beautiful golden/yellow eyes just pull me into your world

Your brown coat is so different from what I've seen before

A little auburn, a little beige, and a lot of chocolate 

You're my person or I should say my animal

However, I feel we communicate with more than speech

I know our moods are in synch

I'm not so timid though

Your tail wags whenever someone walks in your home

I let you goto them

The smaller beings are fond of you

My baby sits in his high chair and you wait patiently 

Of course for the food to fall from up there

You keep an eye on her when she naps 

Late right next to her crib 

Calling out to me in a soft ''woof'' when she wakes

You do not ask for much but give your humans so much

The whole neighborhood knows you

You greet everybody with that kind look of submission

We are happy to have learned your ways of communicating

Your barks are so different on every occasion

For food, for the door to go out for play

I can say that I heard you growl once at the mailman

But he knew how to make friends with you by giving you treats

He comes around, he won your heart, so that's settled.

My precious buddy, the bond we share is simply natural

I love you, you want to please me

Peggy Elms, writer

Wednesday, July 10 2024

Prompt: Becoming oneself is so exhausting

So here we all are swimming toward life

I'm not the fastest runner here

But if I trip a few of them with my tail I just might make it first

Yes, here I am

I must hang on tight

I've heard so many things about living in a fully-formed body

I want to experience life with my parents-to-be

Being loved, loving in return, being taught so I can teach

Being listened to, so I can listen and communicate

Lately, I've been listening to my Mom reading about what it is she

wants me to be, and wants me to do.

It's kind of confusing to me because I was thinking about 

How I was going to need their guidance as an infant first, then as a child 

and later on as a teenager

Mom sees me as a doctor, lawyer, or physicist? Hm, 

I don't quite see myself as choosing these career choices 

As I don't know who I am right now

And what about Dad wanting me to be a Football quarterback, 

tennis or golf pro.

I hear them say in all their excitement that they love me already

Is that true?

How can they love me when they have already set these high expectations of me?

I thought they would be guides for me, no matter who I am or what I become

I thought for sure these guys had the right manuals on how to love and raise a child

I'm so afraid I will be a  disappointment if I can't rise to the top

And be what they expect me to be

As the days to my first day on Earth get closer

I keep hoping I'll find a way to be what 

Mom and Dad want, me, not to lose myself

Is that even possible? I remember how Mom felt when talking to Dad

About how she did it all for her parents

All my senses got on high alert as her heart raced

I felt the burn of her stomach,

The tightness of her fists 

And then I felt a big warm hand on my head

That was my Dads I just know and he said

Yeah, maybe we should be careful not to burden

Our child with our hopes and dreams of him or her

And let him or her be 

Peggy Elms, writer

Thursday, July 18 2024

2 DRAFTS

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites me. -Oprah Winfrey

Prompt: What excites you?

    There is always something sad going on in the world and if you look at what good is going on, you'll know you have this power to focus, teach, and share all that we are excited to do

    These days a lot of us are gardening. I was talking to my neighbor this morning, sharing tips on our gardening, from something as small as adding fertilizer to our different vegetables we went on sharing our summer recipes. She uses arugula, fennel olive oil, coriander, and strawberries, and mixes all that up. I promised to pick some coriander and strawberries for her.

    Small things, but we both went back to our houses with a smile in our hearts. That afternoon I got out my ingredients and made that mouthwatering salad recipe she told me about and added my little twist to it. Feta cheese, the juice of a lime, cucumbers, tomatoes, chopped basil, salt and pepper and offered it to her family.

                She didn't expect it and she hugged me warmly. It felt good to accept the hug, the appreciation. Yet it also made me so happy to give this gift with the only thought of my neighbor and the connection,  we made that morning. 

            I didn't run a marathon, nor did I save anyone from drowning but I shared my love of food and caring for another human being and what was even more magical was that she accepted it for what it was simply.

            That is exciting to the bone for me.  

Peggy Elms, writer

Thursday, July 18 2024

The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity. -Amelia Earhart

Prompt: Write about something difficult to do

    Sunday is the day I will tell my boss that it is my last shift

    How is it so hard for him to be civil to his coworker? How can he be the guy that everybody likes? He smiles and talks to everyone that walks into the shop.

    He's been here forever they say. To my honest surprise, I don't get him. He is so phony, even his clothes look phony on him. He has this allure about him. Always making sure everyone is watching his every move. He prepares the most disgusting desserts even if he knows I have diabetes. Believe me, diabetes or not I wouldn't have a piece of these awful chocolate, caramel, peanut buttery rocks even if I could have them. There is always a batch in the kitchen fridge, which annoys the hell out of me. The smell of them sticks to my lunch bag forever.

    How do I tell him I'm not going on that family/colleague closeness workshop not next weekend not ever. Just the thought of me having to spend two days and nights which I am not paid to do.

      It's just a no can't do.

Peggy Elms, writer

 Saturday July 20 2024

Prompt: Write about thoughts about the poem or write about the moon

Many poets have written about it in my childhood  I remember

The cow jumping over the moon by Mother Goose's ''Hey Diddle, diddle''

There is also the memory of the sad story of a man on the moon who had to stay outside to cut logs, something about him being caught in mischief and parents asking us as kids if we saw him. I never did see that image and so.

Many singer-songwriters have written about it

Using descriptions of it such as the dark side of it from Pink Floyd

Then Cat Stevens's song in which a woman claims 

To bear him a boy with the moon and a star on his head

Here are only a few I can recall listening to 

These songs as a  young girl

It is an intriguing rock to watch from afar, 

To dream under it makes me yearn for a better world

Peggy Elms, writer

Saturday , July 20 2024

Prompt: What does the fortune cookie say? What would you find?

Inspired by a picture of 2 fortune cookies and chopsticks 

    Good, the fortune cookies were on the table then it was bye-bye and see ya. I don't know why I accepted this blind date invitation from a friend of a friend's,  coworker's brother anyway. Am I so lonely in this world that I need to go so far to find someone to love? This is a fourth time removed acquaintance, Gheez! I'm so fed up with forcing a relationship on myself. Why couldn't I just say no?

    Perhaps,  I shouldn't even give a damn about that person being rejected so much, but about myself spending an evening with someone who clearly didn't want to be there.

    Through dinner, he dropped several text messages. To a friend, to a co-worker, and then he said, to his mom. Really? While silly me respectfully kept my phone in my purse with the sound off. I didn't even prepare a plan B with Carla in case this blind date was hell. 

    And please, after wolfing down all his eggrolls, wonton soup, his Moo Goo Gai Pan, chicken Chow-Mein plus Shrimp rice, he had the gall to dig his chopsticks in my beef and broccoli while asking me if I minded him tasting my food, it looks delish he said. 

    Do I mind? Is he serious, I can't stand other people's forks, spoons, or chopsticks on my plate.

        Now, in the safety of my car, no Mr Pig around and the knowledge that I will never see him again. Still, I needed to see what my little fortune cookie had to say about my future. 

        That is-was-will never be the guy for you.

        I smile now remembering that it was the same writing on my bill.

Peggy Elms, writer