⌗WEP Challenge February 2019, 28 Days

With the Insecure Writers Support Group I am participating in the WEP challenge. To know more go here.

28 days

my contribution : a short story.

               The clock is ticking. Sam observes the seconds' arm click onto the next black button. The face stares back at him callously. It just records Time. No care for a petty human life.

Sam rises and brushes a lock of carrot red hair from his eye. He shuffles into the kitchen. Sets the kettle on the gas ring and fires it up. He grab his 'Best GrandDad' mug from the slender wooden peg. Two spoonfuls of coffee, a rush of sugar. The kettle whistles and he pours the water.

Out of the window, the goat is munching at frosted grass. Beyond he can watch the white horses crashing onto the rocks. Sam shambles back into the sitting room. He reaches for his tobacco and takes his pipe from the mantelpiece. He drags on a frayed jacket and steps through the glass door. He settles on the bench, brushing droplets from the nooks of the stone.

He feels guilty at smoking while he sips the scalding drink. What difference would it make now ?

The surgeon had been adamant, There was nothing left he could do. Sam had scratched down the words in his diary the day before, when he got back. 'February 1st, only 28 days more to go'.

He taps his pipe on the fence of the compost heap. Crossing the threshold, he picks up the paper. He throws it onto the table. He won't be reading it. Let others worry about the news. the ringing startles him. He eyes the telephone: a monster about to erupt into his gloom. he doesn't pick it up. It seems to toll forever.

He is floating above a pine forest, snow glistening from the branches. The treetops look so insignificant. he feels a surge of peaceful bliss. The banging insinuates itself into his dream, gnaws at his brain and his body plummets back to earth. The soothing image disappears. Wrenched from his nap by this intruder, his eyes open. He stares at the damp-stained ceiling. The banging doesn't let up. he swings his feet onto the floor and sticks his toes into his mules. he steps down the hallway, fixing the front door, clenches the knob and turns it.

Patty is standing on the mat.

"Granpa !" 

She collapses at his appearance. He catches her arm and draws her in. He leads her to the settee and lodges her between two cushions.

"Is it true ?" She looks up, pleading.

Sam remains silent but his gaze expresses it all.

"Oh! Granpa, why didn't you say anything ? Mummy was frantic with worry when the doctor told her. Why don't you answer the phone ?"

"I..." His voice falters.

"She wanted to come herself but..."

" I know."

"Don't worry Granpa, I'm going to take care of you from now on."

"I'm alright."

"How can you say that ?"

"I've had a good life."

"Don't you want to make peace with your daughter ?"

"If she needs to, she can."

Sam's eyes are two saphires. Patty breaks down and sobs.

"Oh, Granpa, please..."

©susanbauryrouchard

⌗28 days February 17th to 19th. SONG, DANCE, FILM

MY CONTRIBUTION FOR SURRENDER, CREATE, SURVIVE.

SURRENDER TO HIS CHARM.

HERE IS A SONG BY LEONARD COHEN

FIRST WE TAKE MANHATTAN.

Sexiest 'First we Take Manhattan' ever.

CREATE YOUR SONG

HERE IS A SONG BY CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG

THE SONGS WE SING

The beautiful daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. Franco-British, like me. I saw her growing up, although she is a little younger. Her songs speak to me in a way no other songs do. As though the words were taken from my thoughts ! Definitely a soulmate.

the songs that we sing

To know more about Charlotte :

her biography on Wikipedia

her film Jane Eyre

SURVIVE

Here is an extract from Man on The Moon  with Jim Carrey

I will survive

last scene of the film


Another favourite of mine with Jim Carrey, by Michel Gondry,

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

⌗28 DAYS WRITING CHALLENGE Feb. 16th HEAL

Yesterday evening I went to an event at my local cinema : a documentary followed by a debate. The theme was REGENERATION.

As our planet has been able to regenerate itself after cataclysms like the ice ages, the meteor strike that wiped out number of species, including the dinosaurs, nature has a way of always landing on its feet. That includes all living species, plants and animals...and HUMANS.
So the body can regenerate, healing itself if left to its own devices. The argument of the documentary is that the brain, the most powerful of human organs, fabricates the right tools to cure all ills that can put the whole into jeopardy.

The documentary focuses on examples of individuals suffering from illnesses as divers as MS, diabetes, depression, colon cancer, tumors...who thanks to drastic changes in their rapport with and treatment of their body enabled it to heal itself naturally. Without surgery or chemical drugs.
A miracle, you might say ! No a lot of common sense, an open mind and a capacity to listen to one’s body and heed the signals sent. It’s a bit like when you don’t put your safety belt on and your car beeps annoyingly until you do what it says. The brain through its neurological system, our own built-in computer, receives from and sends messages to your organs, skin, muscles etc...
So basically if you feel a headache coming on, instead of popping pills, you try and figure out what your brain is trying to say: stop reading, turn down the music or switch it off, stop whatever your doing and rest. Drink plenty of water. Okay so this is only a headache. What about MS. The doctors say you are dying basically and that the lesions are irreversible. Your body says otherwise so listen to what it has to say. 

The people who bear witness in the film and who have survived and healed themselves, all were thought mad, eccentric, by their doctors. They stopped all conventional treatments, left their hospital beds and embarked upon a patient and sometimes long road back to full health.
What did they do ? The majority started by a period of fasting of several days. They changed their eating habits to more natural and fresh foods. They changed their environment to a more healthier one: less pollution, less man-made noise, less intrusive artificial light. They increased the quality of their sleep by reducing the level of stressful activity. The idea is to cleanse the body first so that the appropriate actions can be taken to refuel it and let the brain do its the work.
The changes produced new symptoms, but ones that indicated that the body was starting to work towards recovery.

The documentary went into great scientific detail as to the bodies’ mechanisms of self-regeneration. The usefulness of bacteria, nutrients, air, water, moderate exercise in a pleasant atmosphere, feelings and emotions. Doctors, neurologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists and specialists in alternative medecins all contributed to build their case.

Throughout the documentary, a parallel was drawn with how nature regenerates itself if left to its own devices. Soils pronounced dead are just exhausted. They need rest and nutrients. Forests grow back if they are not tampered with. Man-made constructions if abandoned are taken over little by little by nature. Agriculture does not need chemicals. Weeds are not bad, they enable the earth to breath, drain water. When fallen leaves rot, they create mulch. When apples fall, they attract insects and worms who feed the earth. Permaculture strives to recreate this natural environment by using the land as it is, without clearing or destroying the natural order but by planting the appropriate product in the right place. They then strive on their own.

This is not some readymade recipe. Each individual responds best to what works for him/her. The time it takes for the body to regenerate depends on each person’s ability to adapt. The path is first intellectual, then physical. You have to yield to the belief that life is always stronger than death. That the confidence you place in the survival instinct of your body is total.
Of course there is nothing new here. We have just forgotten about it. Chinese medical practices, Hippocrate, Jung, among others are quoted.

The documentary doesn’t exclude necessarily all medical advances over the last couple of hundred years but denounces the excessive use of drugs and invasive surgery.
Personally I was convinced before I even saw the film. I have suffered from severe depressions. I have been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and been treated over the years with drugs and psychotherapy. I have been told that I will have to take regulation drugs to avoid mood swings for the rest of my life. I have always fought against the need to take drugs and decrease the dosage whenever I can. This illness is my brain telling me that things have to change. I have adjusted an awful lot of things in my life and strive to keep working on relentlessly healing my body and mind. Each person can find what they need and apply it.

here is a link to the trailer of the film.

Enjoy

Writing has always been my refuge and most prized creative outlet but theatre, dancing, singing, photography are also constants. I need to walk in nature, travel to the sea regularly. I have been practicing yoga for twenty years, do-in for five. I have increased organic foods: fresh fruit and vegetables that we buy every week at the market, produced locally; tea, coffee, flour, rice, pasta, sugar, milk, cream, yoghurts, cereals from an organic shop. We eat red meat only once a week, fish and chicken too, organic eggs moderately.....

⌗28 days challenge Feb.15th, BROKEN.

BROKEN

The night is darker than the most bottomless
pit. In the shadows, sleek lizards slide
over strewn rocks and worms dig into the earth.

No lights bother the surface or reaches the rim.
A stain of ink can swallow all colours.
The moon rises and catches the ghosts by surprise.

The trees' outlines stretch over the lawn.
The wooden barn is now distinct among the pebbles.
No one has stepped among the brambles in years.

The silence is streaked with the night owl's tune.
Lonely crickets chirp among slender prairie grass.
Ivy overgrown attacks the walls.

If nobody claims the farm, in a few years,
the roof will cave in and the door will stick open.
hinges dislodged.

All the childhood memories,
the quiet meals,
will be forgotten.

©susanbauryrouchard

⌗28 days challenge Feb.12 th, DANCE

The 28 days challenge is a writing exercise from Anita Ojeda. Write on a word a day and post it to your website/blog and also on the group page on Facebook.

if you would like to contribute please contact Anita at
https://anitaojeda.com/welcome-to-the-write-28-days-blogging-challenge/

Dance

Dance, hover, glide. Across the floor, slippered steps.

Arm-beats, soaring towards the sky like an eagle,  

fingers splayed, the tips of its feathers at the end of majestic wings.

Torso taut, strut. The strum of strings twitch my muscles.
They launch my limbs into a story, an opera all my own.
Hips hop, thrust from side to side, forwards; circle an imaginary globe.
I ride on a ray of golden light fallen on the tiles through the window.
On the terrace, my body skates on the breeze. 
I remember my dance-partners down the years: lovers, friends, 
my own flesh and blood. Emotions seep into the choregraphy: 
it shifts, it whips up fanciful turns. Lyrics trigger new adours. 
My voice grasps at fleeting words. I dive into song. 
My breath rises from the depth of my core, and fuels my fervour. 
My soul swoops into the music. I become whole and rise to a paroxysm. The sound flows into silence. I rest, spent.

©susanbauryrouchard

⌗IWSG February 2019, Drawing and writing.

The question on the Insecure Writer's Support Group this month is

When you are not writing, what other creative outlets do you have ?


When I’m not writing and watching tennis, I like to draw in a notebook. It’s more like coloring actually. Patterns, Mandalas, Landscapes. When I travel, I like to draw what I see out of my window, on a train, from a hotel room. I use pencils. Sometimes I take photos while travelling and then try to reproduce them with a pencil and then paint. Books also inspire me and I paint pictures of the images that have appeared in my mind. I’m not a very good artist so sometimes I need to draw lines to position the elements in my painting. I am messy too.
In my writing my confidence grew by taking courses, giving and receiving feedback. So I suppose my next step in drawing and painting will be to take lessons. In school, I loved to draw maps and color in the different types of landscapes, geological features or natural ressources.
In my writing, I am also inspired by pictures or paintings. Finding the story behind the scenes, or inventing one.
I think all creative activities are inter-connected in some way. They feed each other.


If you would like to sign up to the Insecure Writers Support Group, go to this link :

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

What I find pleasure in the most is the creative process. Getting my work out into the world is the drag: the competition out there, the disappointments. Discouragement is my worst enemy, perseverance my best friend and positive feedback from fellow writers, again, again and again. But it is just as rewarding to witness the success of others whom you’ve helped to improve.


An example of a sketch. Looking out of the window. B&B Stratford upon Avon. Virginia Lodge. Tim & Kate Wright, 12 Evesham Place.
On A Living Shakespeare Course at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. September 2013. Saw Hamlet, All's Well that Ends Well, As You Like It and Candide by Voltaire, adaptation by Mark Ravenhill.

And a painting inspired by Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke. Sorry, my scan is not big enough !

My new blog

https://lifeinpoetry.home.blog/2019/02/03/frost