Tag Archives: communication

Things People Say

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Day Nine of NaPoWriMo.

Today’s prompt is inspired by the work of Sei Shonagon, a Japanese writer who lived more than 1000 years ago. She wrote a journal that came to be known as The Pillow Book. In it she recorded daily observations, court gossip, poems, aphorisms, and musings, including lists with titles like “Things That Have Lost Their Power,” “Adorable Things,” and “Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster.”

The prompt:

Today, I’d like to challenge you to write your own Sei Shonagon-style list of “things.” What things? Well, that’s for you to decide!

And so:

Things People Say

“I understand.” A phrase often misunderstood.
If one truly understands,
there are many more effective ways to say so.
Better yet,
illustrate the understanding through actions.
Show, don’t tell.

“Are we there yet?”
Often responded to with a white lie:
“Almost.”
If one feels compelled to ask, the answer is
most likely “no.”

“I love you.” Best said when true.
Often withheld until one’s paramour has said it first.
Show, but also tell.

“Thank you.” Not said often enough.
Tell, and show,
at minimum seventeen times per day.

If and When

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Day Six of NaPoWriMo. The prompt:

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of the possible… not on what has happened, or what will happen, but on what might happen if the conditions are right. Today, write a poem that emphasizes the power of “if,” of the woulds and coulds and shoulds of the world.

If that’s what you want, I guess I could do that:

oceanside

If and When

If
you got to work in the early morning and began wondering what time I would rise from bed and what I might make for breakfast and whether I preferred my eggs scrambled or poached and did I sit at the kitchen table with the newspaper as I ate or maybe on the porch swing so I could smell the spring flowers,

would you call me and ask?

If
I wondered what you were thinking as you gazed silently out the car window on those hot summer days when we drove through the valley with the fields full of big round hay bales that remind me of cinnamon rolls,

would you tell me when I asked?

If
we walked together along the beach in the waning hours of a warm autumn day and spoke of our dreams and hopes and fears and those silly notions that pop into our minds sometimes or the songs that get stuck in our head all day or what we like most about Sunday mornings,

what might happen then?

When
winter comes, perhaps we can sit at home before a warm hearth, enjoying one another’s company, comfortable in our answers,

no questions asked.

Communique

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pen

Thank you for your recent reply.
Okay, so technically you didn’t respond.
But may I humbly submit that
your nonresponse was, indeed, your reply.

Actions speak louder than words.
Non-action can speak just as loudly.
And your non-message has come through
with absolute clarity.

Silence isn’t always golden.
Sometimes it’s a cheap substitute
for honesty.

So here I sit in silence,
forging ahead with my own inaction,
and wondering to myself
as to whether or not

you’ll get this message
which – of course –
I won’t be sending.

The Daily Post discover challenge: Apology