DISCUSSION THREAD -- January 2024 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge

[Bren G]

@reiver33 .... Don Juan, Move Over .... This story is a perfect illustration of the proverb: "A moment of uncontrolled passion, a lifetime of regrets."

@Bren G .... The Little Things of Life .... The story reminds me of the proverb: "We can count the number of seeds in an apple, only God knows the number of apples in a seed."

Interesting @Parson . What does it mean?

 

[Provincial]

Interesting @Parson . What does it mean?

No doubt @Parson will put this better than I can. I’m just looking for brownie points.

I expect the apple seed thingy was suggesting that if an apple seed is planted and then grows into a tree which produces fruit, it could be said that the seed contained all the apples which the tree produced. Each seed, if fertile, would certainly have the potential to produce apples, but you can’t tell just by looking at it how many will be produced. Unless you’re someone who exists outside of the flow of time, in which case you can see the seed’s entire existence all at once and you already know how it is going to work out.

 

[Parson]

Interesting @Parson . What does it mean?

I used it in a children's sermon, where I heard it first I do not know. I took an apple and had the children gather around and I cut the apple up. Then we counted the seeds (there were only 3 of them in that apple?!) and I said that we all could see what was there, but only God could see what was to come. So, as his boys and girls we shouldn't feel like we were what everyone could see, but we could be much more and God could see that and would help us become that. Just like he could see how many apples one seed planted could produce with God's help from the tree that grew from the seed.

@Provincial .... I think you summarized the essence of the proverb very well indeed.

 

[Bren G]

Well done @Provincial and wonderful lesson @Parson. You both made me the wiser today. Who knows what's in store for me after you planted this seed in my brain!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Bren G begins ancestry.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

chrispenycate begins from nothing.

 

[Parson]

@M. Robert Gibson .... I, For One, Welcome Our Robot Overlord .... A story that points us to a cardinal rule of leadership.

@chrispenycate .... Origin lacks Everything .... Chris points to a truth which is not immediately obvious.

 

[Provincial]

.... Origin lacks Everything .... Chris points to a truth which is not immediately obvious.

Ironically, this says the opposite to your story about the apple seeds - or does it?!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I ...uhh... apologize for any heart attacks I may have caused here. You're not imagining things. Well, you may be, but as far as there being a story in there with my name on it, that part's true. Hey, after all, it IS the last day....

 

[Parson]

Ironically, this says the opposite to your story about the apple seeds - or does it?!

I'm not sure it is opposite. It's more like looking at my point from the side. --- I'd be happy to discuss this further, but suspect we might be in danger of breaking the rules if we do. So we can either wait until after the voting or go to a "Conversation" or let it set where it is.

 

[Parson]

@TheDustyZebra .... You, Sir, Are Not as Charming as You Think You Are .... Dusty is definitely seeing Red as someone has ending and beginnings explained to them.

 

[Starbeast]

I've been cutting it close with entries lately. However, I'm happy to add my tale.

 

[The Judge]

Another month when I'd had no ideas, but then a walk threw up an opening line. And it's just occurred to me that I was perhaps subconsciously influenced by TS Eliot's lines in Little Gidding, the last of his Four Quartets:

What we call the beginning is often the end​

And to make an end is to make a beginning.​

The end is where we start from.​

​

 

[Ursa major]

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The Challenge is now closed, and the poll is now open at the link below:

POLL -- January 2024 75-Word Challenge -- READ FIRST POST!​

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[Victoria Silverwolf]

TheDustyZebra begins girl power.

Parson begins faith.

Phyrebrat begins transition.

Starbeast begins adoption.

Elckerlyc begins continuation.

The Judge begins questioning.

Ursa major begins futurity.

___________________________________________________

Vote:

I have to go with johnnyjet for an imaginative work of magic realism/surrealism/urban fantasy/cyberfantasy/etc.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Voted for @Christine Wheelwright

 

[Pyan]

Shortlist: @Provincial , @The Judge , @Christine Wheelwright

Vote: Christine Wheelwright

 

[Stable]

I voted for @Phyrebrat
Shortlist was @Cat's Cradle , @TheDustyZebra and @The Judge .

I am in awe of how some stories don't seem so short, even at 75 words. <3

 

[Provincial]

Shortlist: @Provincial , @The Judge , @Christine Wheelwright

Vote: Christine Wheelwright

Thanks hugely @Pyan for the shortlisting, especially in such good company. Utterly unexpected!

 

[Provincial]

What we call the beginning is often the end​

And to make an end is to make a beginning.​

The end is where we start from.​

This quote has made me go into philosophical mode.

I haven’t read any TS Elliot, so I don’t know how he generally approaches life - does he encourage people to live it to the full, for instance? I hope so, because otherwise the folks who need that message the most aren’t likely to read his stuff long enough to get it. In my experience, for an awful lot of people, ends remain ends. They choose to look back at what has happened, not forward towards the good stuff which could happen, or even refuse to look forward at all because the unknown is intrinsically terrifying.

Are there any poets who tell you that the future is not more scary than the past, because it looks pretty much the same? That nothing much is different beyond the top notes? That the joy comes out of your own heart, not out of new circumstances, and that the potential for change, not actual change, is what makes new beginnings exciting? If so, please point me at them!