Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Turning

We are walking in a forest of wild ink, when she says, “Lie on the leaves with me.”

I’ve never been able to resist a bed of fallen leaves or the pull of prompting ink. So, I lie down next to her, my left arm so close to her right arm that I can feel her thoughts several moments before they grow into words and spill out of her lips.

“Tell me a story about turning into one of your parents—which, for you, might be something desirable,” she says. “Or recite me a poem about resisting such a fate.”

“Wouldn’t you rather hear a real story? Perhaps, one where I turn into a raven? Or the poem in which the raven I turn into goes on a raw nonsense and pickled eyeball diet?”

Smiling, she says, “Give me poetry. Some treats shall never be denied.”

Quite pleased, I start reciting:

the taste of nonsense
(thick!) tends to stick to the tongue,
so I peck eyeballs—

And I am very good at pecking, so by the time the first scream begins to gurgle in her throat, my wings are caressing the clouds, and my stomach is consuming all the good and the bad and the mad she has ever seen—delicious.


photo by Jack Taylor, on Unsplash


- for Poets and Storytellers United (Weekly Scribblings #55: “What You Resist,You Become., Writers’ Pantry #56: Random Bits of blog-Housekeeping) and Twiglet #212 (“we lie close”).

59 comments:

  1. Ooh, how deliciously horrifying indeed! A wonderful interpretation of the PS&U prompt, and an inspired marriage of that with the Twiglet. (Thank you for leading me to Twiglets.)

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  2. I love this, Magaly! I have a thing for eyeball eaters.

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  3. I love the wordplay in the title and the setting of leaves, Magaly, as leaves turn in the autumn, and the idea of a ‘forest of wild ink’, and the direction in which you’ve gone – with Rosemary in the piece with you, prompting you! You had some fun turning into a raven. 😊

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  4. At least this way she won't turn into her parents.

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  5. Eyes are so precious that it might be quite hard to receive some enthusiastic responses to this piece Magaly. Whether we be human or bird there will be a time when we might hate ourselves for being what we are...unless we are poets then we can do or say what we like!

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  6. I love that I was able to read this story, alone in the eerie quiet of the snow while everyone was asleep and dawn only just showing up. I was as happy with this delightfully shivery treat as the raven with its snack.

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  7. "Consuming all the good and the bad and the mad she has ever seen" it is very different to see through the eyes of another. It begins a whole new level of understanding. I like how we move from the ground looking up to the sky looking down. So much there is to see in between.

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    1. Thank you, Lori. And I agree, everything changes--especially us--when we look through someone else's perspective.

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  8. I read an alternate reality story once of a woman escaping a slavery - she turned into a bird, possibly a raven to fly away. Though she knew doing so would change her fate and would make it impossible for those she left behind to find her...

    Sanity, is over-rated (so I've heard). ;)
    ~Jules from Twigs

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  9. Love how you 'posed' her demands ... this is an incredible bit of writing.

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  10. w o w...

    love, kisses & magical wishes...
    ~*~

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  11. Magaly! I am grinning! oh..so dark and beautiful..everything I love and more!! How I feasted on this dark enchantment..I feel the inner child in me glimmering with this raven tale. Beautiful photo too..Have a gorgeous day

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    1. I am so glad, Victoria. Because it was a delight to write!

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  12. She was hard up for "companionship" and also very gullible. Those two don't mix and she was badly taken advantage of.
    Magaly, kudos and shivers from here.
    ..

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  13. This is GOOD!!!!! This is so good! I love this tale! Big Hugs!

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  14. ...didn't even want to go there - sometimes it's best to not dwell on the past and make up your own stories - and that's what she did! A really cool conversation poem.

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  15. The pull of prompting ink. I like that.

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  16. Very richly written piece Magaly... Just love the notion of 'wild ink'!

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  17. Giggles and snicers, this is soooo good


    (✿◠‿◠)

    much love...

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  18. You had me at lying in the ink. I read it so innocently that the end kind of shocked me. It was as if in a different language, which I strangely understood.

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  19. Such horror in the pecking
    Such comfort in caressing
    the clouds so precious
    pickled delicious
    no, not eyeballs
    but something else
    the ravens calls.

    P.S. I don't want to turn into any of my parents. :D

    Love to you, Magaly.

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  20. OOh--I can't say delicious, but so wickedly fun

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  21. I'm so glad I read this AFTER breakfast! Who needs real stories when you can go anywhere you want in flights of poetic fancy? Love this!

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  22. Rather hear a "real story," really keeps us wanting more! A "real" story that at first seems mythological. What a way to get off the subject of parents. Very nice.

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    1. Oooh, a very intriguing idea... Your comment almost reads like a prompt.

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  23. Such a dark tale, Magaly...so unexpected!

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  24. This is delightful horror. I so love it and it brought cackles galore from me. "We are walking in a forest of wild ink" of course I was taken in to your story from the first line. :)

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