Zoom into the Imaginative Storm 8-31-24
Under a murder moon, we all need extra happiness and a reason to dance
Please join us today for the Prompt of the Week at 9 am PT / noon ET. Click here for the Zoom link.
And please invite anyone you think would enjoy our session to join us! You can share this email or send them the link to our new webpage, https://imaginativestorm.com/writing-prompt-of-the-week.
This new page explains how the Prompt of the Week session works and why it works. Maybe it will encourage more people to try it out -
The Zoom links for both Saturday and Thursday sessions can also always be found in the footer at imaginativestorm.com.
Next “Write What You Don’t Know” 10-week Zoom course begins October 8
“Navé is a superb facilitator, the other participants are smart and supportive, and I’m writing more freely than I have before. It’s working!”
— S.K., New York City
Grab your spot now! Click here to register.
Last week’s Exquisite Storm: “The Electric Air Crackles”
An Exquisite Corpse (so named by the Surrealists) is a “found poem” made up of disconnected parts, but we prefer to call it the Exquisite Storm. Each writer in our Saturday Each writer in our Saturday Prompt of the Week session offered one line from the 10-minute piece they generated.
Last week we were inspired by a detail of Frida Kahlo’s painting Self Portrait on the Border Line Between Mexico and the United States. The title comes from the first line, spoken by Barbara Benedict. To hear it read aloud by the writers, click through to YouTube.
The electric air crackles, snaps to a lightning round of fanfares. We will walk in a rain of glittering trinkets of joy, all true believers in a world of choices. Under a murder moon, we all need extra happiness and a reason to dance. Our eyes fluttered, then closed, anxiously, devoured my body. I'm here with the true believers. sweating, breathing in, breathing out, in this holy war within myself. Far away from the lonely mountain. Has the sacrifice happened already? The mysterious rendition of how weather was made at this point of inception, where the holy war happened in the above. I quake, the divide difficult. Both of us thought to crack the routine. That moment when night intersected day. The sun should scare us all with its fangs directed to man's ancient earth. Thank you for the holy war. Like the trickster god Loki, it keeps us on our toes. Give me some of your fire-rang-down from the mysterious rendition of the moon. And the sun vomited rays and the moon split asunder, and the cosmos returned to a beginning, a gulf overwhelmed by chaos. That arrow is fletched with luck. I love the moon. When I'm in the desert with my partner. I love to go for evening walks, with the moon shining down on us. No end in sight, just the weeds popping up between the cracks and the paving stones. We create stories to give us and our blinking minds some assurance that there is a story. The unexpected reception tumbles up and over the unsure pathways. Stairways to nowhere, or the sky, where did it g0, the mothership? Keep walking forward and believe truth is your touchstone. Meanwhile, the decapitated temple of my heart calls for rain, the blue egg sky cracks at last. The tears fall Wanton; it’s about time. And then it happened, the light went sideways like an ice cream dream that never melts. As we traveled, stories unfolded in our minds— unexpected wonders fueled our longing hearts.
ORDER OF SPEAKERS: Barbara Benedict, Melissa Malm, Jocelyn Wasson, Maria Wasson, Maru Ortega, Dar Vander Hoop, James Navé, Martin Dilger, Arlene Shapiro, Zebith Thalden, Elaine Heveron, Lou Faber, Kelsey Walters, Linda Smith, Andrea Davis, Ruth Upton, Simon Leadbeater, Allegra Huston, Lyn Rothman, Katerina Tana, Regina Ress, Krista Thornburg, Sadie B, Susie Shipman, Dragon Rose-HeArt, Genevia Hendry, Kathleen Wilson
This week’s Imaginative Storm podcast
In this week’s episode, Navé is joined by his long-time friend and spoken word poet Jim Dwyer.
Jim has been a cornerstone of the LEAF Poetry Slam and is equally accomplished on the page, dedicating his life to honing his craft. Listening to Jim's poetry is like viewing a museum-quality tapestry—each word is intricately woven into a cohesive, logical, and artistic whole. In this episode, Jim shares stories from his early days, reflecting on his journey as a young poet, his time in bands, and how he's cultivated a meaningful, lifelong relationship with the stage. We dive deep into the impact of Poetry Slam on culture, the craft of writing, and Jim's unique ability to connect with audiences. At 74, Jim still brings ageless excitement to every performance, proving that artistry knows no bounds. Jim and I share much in common as contemporaries, and our conversation explores these shared sensibilities. I thoroughly appreciated this discussion, and I hope you will, too. Enjoy the show.
If you’d like to make a contribution . . .
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The Prompt of the Week will remain free to all who want to join us. Please invite your friends!