Free choice December: An emulation from a poem (pg30) from Slick Reckoning by Ken Belford.

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Whatever happens.

Life is deceptive

and I stumble. I’m flawed.

Love makes infinite

use of finite signals.

It’s hopeful to think

of living, not as a constraint and

not as something short,

but as something

that is free-moving, one day

after another, building on itself.

By day I favour happiness, but by

night i’m offbeat, and I stumble.

I’m flawed.

Past memories force me to

overthink. These thoughts drown me.

And I stumble and i’m flawed.

Days feel shorter.

They speed by, taking me

with them.

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This piece is an emulation from the poem from page 30 of the book Slick Reckoning by Ken Belford. It came from my writing journal after we were reading poetry in class and I picked up Slick Reckoning and was reading the poems, which I really liked. And then I chose a poem to emulate from and this piece came from it. At first I was following the same style as the original poem but towards the end I drifted from the exact style of the poem and just wrote whatever came to me. I decided to post this piece as my free choiceDecember because I liked how this emulation turned out.

Here is the original poem:

Whatever happens.

Language is deceptive

& i cheat. i’m flawed.

Poetry makes infinite

use of finite signals.

It’s understandable to  think

of roots, not as constraint &

not as something temporal,

like trust, but as something

that is free-moving, one day

after another, when idea’s surface.

By day i favour names, but at

night i’m offbeat, a far cry from

the narrative quickstep &

forced memory prompts

made of gossip and strings.

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I used the prompt of “U is for underground” but with the letter R for rental shop.

U IS FOR UNDERGROUND
What to do there: Spend some time on the Underground, or Subway, or Metro and focus on the people and situations you notice. Find evidence for the following: discovery, delight, amusement, envy, ambition, solidarity, longing, loss, vulnerability, anxiety, isolation. This could work just as well on a train, a bus, a ferry or a plane.

 

R is for Rental shop

A rental shop can be a very busy place at times. With workers rushing around grabbing boots, helmets, and skis or snowboards. Customers filling out waivers, trying on boots, and getting everything figured out. With all different kinds of people in the rental shop, a lot of different emotions and feelings can be seen and experienced. There are people very nervous or anxious as it is there first time skiing or snowboarding. They don’t really know what to do and just hope they’ll be a natural. There are also experts, who know exactly what they want and how they want it. Going to set skis is a breeze with experienced individuals, they are confident. A few children are crying, with their parents trying to comfort them, or just blatantly ignoring them. A few children are laughing, excited to get out on the slopes. There are workers chatting, some seem tired, others are just happy to be making some money. There’s also some music in the background. Some people are coming to do some snow sports all by themselves, some are with their family’s or friends. The rental shop is such a great, diverse place.

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I will be using the prompt of “S is for sports stadium” but using the letter I for Ice rink.

S IS FOR SPORTS STADIUM

What to do there: Arrive early. Write about the place filling up. Write about the thrill of being in a crowd at a sports game about to begin. Write about different roles people have in that setting. For added effect, write in the first person plural in the voice of the crowd,: “We…”. End your story just as the whistle blows, or the players run onto the field, or the national anthem is sung. For guidance, read Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” You could combine this with the previous exercise, R is for Ring.

 

I is for Ice rink

The doors slide open, you walk into the rink. There aren’t many people there as it is 5:45am and there are only a couple workers, some figure skaters, and a few coaches in the entire rink. The rink is pretty much silent. The rink is still asleep, just as everyone there wishes to be. In dressing room three, the figure skaters are getting there skates on. The jackets are all hung up around the room, the shoes lay under the benches, and each persons bag laying near their feet. There are a few small conversations but other than that, almost no one is talking. We have to get on the ice in 5 minutes and a few skaters just showed up and are rushing to put their skates on. We start to file out, heading towards the ice and we finish putting on out gloves. We stand by the benches until the the clock hits 6:00 and we all step out on the ice.

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image: http://www.laughinggif.com/gifs/fyx3mpnkoq

 

This anecdote came from a writing journal we did in the class. The prompt I chose was “Laughing until our stomachs cramped and our eyes cried was the best feeling…” and it reminded me of a story of me and my best friend on vacation in Mexico a few years ago.

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We were probably 12 or 13 or so, me and my best and lifelong friend Jane were on vacation and we happened to get a room together, which normally doesn’t happen, but it did. We also shared this room with another friend, but during all this, she just wanted to sleep.

So here it goes. We were just laying on bed after we got all ready to sleep after a long day of relaxing on the beach. I really don’t remember how exactly this happened, but one of us probably made a joke or said something funny. Maybe made a funny face. But all of a sudden, we could not stop laughing. And I mean, could not stop. We were laughing so hard we were crying, clutching out stomachs, but we could not stop. Every time we got close to calming down, even just looking at each other would start up the laughter once again. This went on for hours.

At about 2 in the morning, Jane decided to get up to go to the bathroom, just across the room. As she was walking there she noticed a puddle on the floor. We all got up and turned on the lights and discovered that the ceiling was leaking. What an end to our night. Though we thought this was pretty funny, we ended up finally going to sleep after this and just telling our parents about the leak in the morning. But this goes to show that as long as you are with your best friend, everything will be okay, and even the bumps and obstacles in life can be dealt with. And everything in life is funnier when you’re with your best friend.

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[image: https://giphy.com/gifs/cute-fashion-smile-Qn2VBnllygRPi ]