Hello everyone, it’s a sunny Monday morning here at Celebrating Change Blog HQ, and I think we’re long overdue another writing prompt. So here is a little snippet of what we got up to at our May session, which you might like to try as well.
We started out by reading this wonderful poem by Jacqueline Saphra, published in her TS Eliot Prize-shortlisted collection All My Mad Mothers, which you can buy from Nine Arches Press (or order at your local library).
My Mother’s Bathroom Armoury (click here to hear Jacqueline reading it)
Beehive proppers backcomb teasers
Pinpoint pluck of fearsome tweezers
Leak of mouthwash morbid flavour
Dutch-cap dusted snap-shut cover
Glint of sin and lure of danger
Woman’s flesh a fading treasure
Braced for pain but honed for pleasure
Caked on flakes of failed concealer
Tell-tale cheeks of blusher-stealer
Crimson smear of lipstick wearer
Smile expander mouth preparer
Burning bleach a making-over
Smudged remains of caked mascara
Iron clamp of eyelash curler
Usual instruments of torture
Bath brimful of scented water
Mother’s tricks will pass to daughter
This year next year sometime never
Lots of discussion ensued! We made our own lists of objects that in some way defined us, or which gave an insight into a person close to us. We tried to keep our focus on the things within a small or defined space. We thought about objects in our handbags, our car glove compartments, our fridges. We wrote about the apps we have on our phone and what they say about our interests and priorities. We thought about objects we have lost, or been forced to leave behind us. We remembered the stuff we used to use on a daily basis, but which now dates us and highlights all the small changes that happen in the mundane course of our lives. In a very short time we had the beginnings of some really interesting self-portraits – perhaps you’d like to have a go too?
