Velvet Verbosity

Good morning! I am inexplicably delighted that it is Tuesday. Perhaps because Tuesday is not Monday. Perhaps I am still riding high on the good news of a friend. Perhaps because I am just poking my head out of a long, blue funk, and I always feel hopelessly hopeful (hehe, oh yes I did!) upon emergence from blue funks. I also tend to fall in love with everything and everyone, and that is the corny mood from which I greet you this morning.

Before you reach for the Pepto Bismol, or sacrifice a cute fuzzy bunny in order to reduce global saccharin levels, let’s get to the 100 Word Challenge. (Rules, such as they are, are here.) Last week the challenge was “Openings”. Openings are many and varied, from a first move in Chess to opportune positions on a playing field, from beginnings to premiers, from the gaps in things to a clearing, like in a forest. I tried to find a good quote on “openings”. There were few. I did like this one by Daisaku Ikeda, a controversial and dynamic Buddhist leader.

You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life. This is not an easy struggle. Indeed, it may be the most difficult task in the world, for opening the door to your own life is, in the end, more difficult than opening the doors to the mysteries of the universe. ~Daisaku Ikeda

Here is what our my readers had to say about “Openings” in 100 words. First, Secret Agent Mama rings in with another poetry piece. I can barely keep my head around writing exactly 100 words, but to make that work in poetry form simply blows a few circuits in my brain. Hopefully I don’t need them.

Like the flower blooming in spring,
I am.
My petals outstretched towards the sun, absorbing warmth,
They are.
Drops of rain wash over, cleansing my soul,
It does.
So purely my eyes release tears,
I weep.

Like the flower, I am so delicate,
Penetrable.
We are colorful, fragile, and free;
Abundant.
Seasons of life, so much endured,
Metamorphosis.
Yet the rain still beats down, washing,
Cleansing.

Time changes so much–years escape,
It continues.
And like the fragile flower, I’m anew,
I grow.
Looking for openings to find warmth,
I search.
Still the sun comes out and together,
We discover.

Ever faithful 100 Word participant LouCeel has taken flight to England and left behind a few hot and bothered mommy bloggers with this one.

You bless -
My Eyes - meant to see you, explore you, see the line of your hip, the swell of your breast, recognize danger and keep us safe.
My Ears - meant to hear you and know your voice, your laugh, the sweet sounds you make during love.
My Nostrils - meant to smell your pillow when I’m alone, so I feel close to you when I’m not.
My Mouth - with lips to kiss you where it hurts and tongue to taste you in times of intimacy, teeth to nibble those sensitive places you like being nibbled.
Your presence, it blesses my openings.

Say it isn’t so, but I haven’t written my 100 words yet for this challenge. I’ve been really chewing on this one and have yet to be inspired. Don’t worry, I will rise to my own challenge. There’s something brewing in here that I can’t quite get a grasp on yet. It could be the sinus infection I’m suffering from has gotten into my brain. Great, two brain eating episodes in one post. If this keeps up, I’ll be a drooling idiot within the year.

This week’s challenge comes from the The Conscious Reader, Ninth Edition. My first choice was to choose a word from the actual book I’m reading this week, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond, but five random finger points produced only dry, scientific or political terms like “exterminate” and “sulfur” and “leaders”. While I understand that given the right mood those words could be inspiring, I just wasn’t feeling it. However, if you feel a burning need to write 100 words on sulfur, please do. I’ll be, er, interested to read them. In The Conscious Reader, my first finger point landed on:

The Point