Saturday, September 14, 2013

Prompt #163 – Changes


As summer draws to a close and autumn begins, there’s a familiar feeling of seasonal change in the air. That turned my thinking to changes in general and how changes impact our lives. So ... this week, let’s not go with an obvious change-of-season theme; instead, let’s write about changes (other than seasonal) that have occurred in our lives.

The psychology of change is an involved subject but, without getting into the details, change (for most of us) is accompanied by a range of feelings, including relief, hope, fear, disquiet, or expectation. Sometimes we resist change. Along with change may come feelings of impermanence, loss of control, uncertainly, self-doubt, fear of surprises, and concern about the ripple effects of change. Sometimes, though, we welcome change and look forward to happy outcomes.


Things To Think About:

1. Are you usually comfortable or uncomfortable about changes in your life?

2. Frame of mind can impact feelings about change (fearful people fear change, hopeful people look forward to changes for the better). Has your frame of mind been a consideration in how you dealt with a change in your life?

3. Have you ever had a change forced upon you (change of job, position, marital status)?

4. How has a particular change rocked your status quo or shaken you out of your comfort zone?

5. Have you experienced a change that you feared but which brought positive results?

6. How has a change in your life made you stronger?

7. Have you ever had a significant “change of heart” about someone or something?

8. What does the statement “people change, feelings change” mean to you?

9. What's the biggest change in your life?

10. What change do you see in yourself following a specific life experience or series of experiences?

Starters:

1. You might start by making a list of important changes that have occurred in your life and then selecting one to write about. Think about changes you have resisted or welcomed, and why. Think what the outcome of a particular change was.

2. Try to reach the universal through the personal. Think about how readers will “feel” your change incident.

3. Now, for an added challenge: I’d like you to include a change within your poem—that is, a switch from the change you began writing about to something else—a shift in subject, tone, thinking, imagery. Work with making an unexplained connection between the two parts of your poem, and be sure to think about what you want to “say” and what you actually “say.”

Examples:


11 comments:

  1. Adele! Your image this week is stunning. I recognized it immediately as Bolton Abbey. Have you been there? It's a mystical place. Do you know the Wordsworth poem (and the white doe)?

    The poem is very long, but a beautiful read. here's a link for anyone interested: http://www.bartleby.com/270/1/49.html

    On re-reading it this morning after reading your prompt, these lines particularly struck me in relation to your subject,

    What harmonious pensive changes
    Wait upon her as she ranges ...

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    1. Well-observed, Jamie! The image IS of Bolton Abbey. I've been there, but the photo isn't mine. I use a royalty free, free-use image site, and that's were I found the pic—it evoked, for me, a sense of both seasonal change and change in general. So glad you like it!

      I read the Wordsworth poem many years ago and was very happy to read it again. As mystical as the abbey. Thanks so much for the link!

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  2. Change is such a universal theme -- we're all subject to changes in our lives, and I suspect that we all fear change at times. It's good to write about things like this. Thanks, Adele.

    Jamie, thanks for the link to the Wordsworth poem. I'd never read it before.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment, Rich!

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    2. You're very welcome, Rich!

      Jamie

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  3. I'm new to your blog, Adele, and I just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying it! Thanks!

    Barbara R.

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  4. wrinkled skin
    hanging off bones
    baby skin long gone
    creaking joints
    flexibility a dream
    tick tick tick
    tick tick tock
    the door to youth
    is locked
    the key lost
    only open mind remains

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    1. Lovely, Risa! Scary changes in a way, but part of the natural order of things.

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    2. I almost missed this one, Risa! Thanks so much for sharing! The open mind is key, isn't it?

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    3. Thanks, Adele and Jamie! I hope it is the mind that's most important! And, Anastasia Clark is one of the poet examples for this next prompt. Oh, what a small world! She is our poet laureate here and I often go to her workshops and meet-ups.

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    4. So interesting, Risa, that you have met one of the example poets! Small world, indeed!

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