Conversations

Photo by Monica

at http://monicasmindlessmutterings.blogspot.com/

and http://familyaffairphotos.blogspot.com/

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Suggested prompt...

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There are some very interesting conversations going on

down there, eavesdrop a bit and share with us.

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Jill had only a few minutes to gaze around and take in the dynamic array of colors in the umbrellas overhead before Lane walked in.

Lane. What a gorgeous, well-to-do, gregarious friend. She'd known Lane for over ten years and each year brought them closer and closer together. They thought nothing could dampen their closeness and both of them knew with great confidence their friendship could survive anything.

Lane sat down and looked at Jill with her widening smile and added a wink of the eye and said, "You better cancel your afternoon commitments now because we're in for a long haul today." Long haul was their code word way of saying there was something to share with the other that was going to go way beyond a mere lunch hour. A long haul was serious business and could only be used in dire emergencies.

Jill laughed heartily and said, "You've got to be kidding! Could you have given me a little more notice? Sheesh, girl! Ok, let me call my assistant."

Lane settled into her seat and threw her expensive handbag over the back of the chair while Jill carefully laid out rescheduling items over the phone. Lane glanced in every direction and tried to take in the myriad of guests around her while even surveying the passersby. She calculated the risk of being in such an open venue but, with much chagrin, decided there would never be a good place or a good time. Today is the day and it's been on her mind all week. It had taken up to today to find the words.

Jill closed her cell phone, dismissed the creeping feelings of guilt for last minute cancellations with clients, and turned to face her friend. Long hauls always required immediate need and urgent attention. "Lane, what's going on? What's up with the long haul?

Lane's expression quickly grew pensive, her eyes met straight on with Jill's, and she softly whispered, "Jill, it's cancer. And it's aggressive. And, um, the doctors are in agreement that curable treatment is not an option. They collectively have measured my future at just a few months."

Silence. There was only silence. Jill lost her breath as though she had been hit by a ferocious wind. All of the conversations around her melted into a dim, roaring white noise. She looked up and felt her emotions swirling like the intricate patterns of the gradient blues in the umbrella overhead.

It was going to be a long haul.

~ Denise ~

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE! If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Tall Tale

Photo by Lisa

Lisa's blog - Wearin' My Heart on My Sleeve
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Suggested Prompt...
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Use the age, height, magnificence of this ancient tree

to inspire your writing in some way today.

__________________


Guardian of the forest, Nature's Shaman. Towering above all other flora within site...you are the watcher and reservoir of wisdom. Here before man arrived in your kingdom, but soon meeting your demise. Piercing though the canopy, in the distance you see the smoke from the diesels that power the generators. You hear the growling of the chain saws, the thunder of falling comrades. Only to wait for the inevitable end. Hundreds of years gone, prematurely, at the hand of the reaper's greed.

~ Dan Felstead

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Love

Photo by Brett Trafford

visit his site 365 to 42 for more beautiful photographs.

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Suggested Prompt...

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A love story or poem is always good writing.

Get a bit passionate today.

___________________________

Use me up
Then cast me down
Like a pebble crude upon a beach.
I'll take the ebb and flow of guilt and cleansing,
Letting them erode me to reveal something purer
Hidden beneath the waves.
And even though you cannot see me
You'll tread on me often enough,
Not realising how perfect an object of your perfection
I have become.
But in becoming I undo myself
And watch the stitches fall,
Just as you,
Upon a beach at sunset
Forget,
That without the pebbles you will sink into the sand.
And like me, despite your own attraction,
Easily overlooked and quickly forgotten
When the sun casts its coffin,
Rolls its lot,
And heads for the West.

~ Sacha van Straten

It was a difficult decision picking just one of these lovely writings of love. But I thought Sacha's poem captured a unique view of this photo beautifully. Thank you, as always, to all that write amazing pieces here.

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

I - Sunday's Alphabet Prompt

Photo by C. John Edwards his blogs are -
http://scriptorsenex.blogspot.com/
http://cjeinexeter.blogspot.com/
http://cjehebrides.blogspot.com/
http://pensbyetal.blogspot.com/
and website -
http://www.johnsbooks.org/galleries/gallery%201.htm

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Suggested prompt...
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I is for Insect

A bit of writing celebrating all things creepy & crawly.

Ode to a lady bug... story of an inchworm... poem for a centipede,

be creative and open to many legged possibilities.

____________________________

Butterflies
Flutterbies
Birds better beware

Sun blockers
Shadow makers
On grass and on smooth shiny hair

Monarchs to moths
Have wings that are soft
And fall like gold dust in the air.

Flying machines
And pretty colored things
Real and fantastic and fair.

~ I.N.Kwell


One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Prayer

Photo by Basir Seerat
visit Basir's photo blog at
http://www.basirseerat.blogspot.com/
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Suggested prompt...
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Write of faith or prayer.

__________________________

You lift me up;
Swift:
Your sword catches the
gleam of my anguish,
cuts the belly of it.
I bleed.

Thank you.

~ Shawn Michel de Montaigne

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Quiet Life

Photo by Jessica
Visit Jessica's 365 Day Photo Project Blog

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Suggested Prompt...
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Tell the story of this picture.
Or use it for a poem.

_________________

Quiet life Tanka.

Rusty, tin-worn roofs,
Lay to rest the memories
Of gentle days past.
We wandered through green orchards
Once, which now become fallow.

~ Sacha van Straten

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Worn Grave

Photograph by François Dubeau
François' photos and a link for his art can be found at -
http://www.francoisdubeau.com/photos/
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Suggested prompt...
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Tell me the story of this warn wooden grave marker.

_______________________________

Moss covered,
Overgrown,
Resting place,
Name unknown.
Crumbling marker
Of crumbling bone.
We are but actors in this place, a brief cameo before the curtain’s drawn;
It’s a sad truth we all must face, The end begins the day we’re born.
So while you’re here, your life embrace: Who will remember us once we’re gone?
Father, son,
Sister, brother;
Loyal friend,
Loving mother,
Neighbour, mate,
Secret lover.
Life is fun,
Life is toil.
Laughter, tears,
Midnight oil.
Sadly missed,
Sent to soil.
Moss covered,
Overgrown,
Resting place,
Name unknown.
Crumbling marker
Of crumbling bone.

~ J Cosmo Newbery

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Discovery

"Discovery" by Paula P.

His website is http://www.thinkingphoto.blogspot.com/

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Suggested prompt...

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Paul's title of this photo of "Discovery" is a perfect prompt,

use the image and this idea of human discovery for your writing today.

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When I was little, I suppose,
Chewing fingers or sucking toes
Had the charm of distant seas,
Full of knowledge, sport, and ease.

Then we learn as we grow up,
And have in hand a half-filled cup,
That foreign lands can pique and please
Like pretty girls who flirt and tease.

What we discover and desire
Can raise us up until much higher
Than birds aloft we climb, intense
And lifted with love by every sense.

Yet as we age, our comfort zone
May shrink so small we’re left alone
To question eternally where we’ll reside -
In glorious light or darker side?

~ Sometimes Sophia

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Story in the Clouds

Photo by C. John Edwards
his blogs are -

http://scriptorsenex.blogspot.com/

http://cjeinexeter.blogspot.com/

http://cjehebrides.blogspot.com/

http://pensbyetal.blogspot.com/

and website -

http://www.johnsbooks.org/galleries/gallery%201.htm
~

Suggested prompt...

~

Stop and look up at the clouds,

there is writing there. Share how you are inspired.

_________________________

Riley stared acoss the open water. The quiet breeze filled his lungs with the damp tang of salt and minerals. Blinking, he tried to rid his eyes of the grit and salt collecting in the corners, most of which had come from tears.

His breathed hitched. Tears. He was nearly empty, his face convulsing as the thought of her so far away wrapped his mind in a blanket of white pain. Nothing came, except two small drops that evaporated quickly in the air.

He lifted his head up, staring off into the long distance between the shocking white of the clouds. They billowed slowly, rolling, coiling: liquids of different densities dancing with one another in the silent dance of phase changes.

A cormorant soared overhead, searching for fish in the bay. Flight. Riley shook his head. There wasn't much time. The last flight out for the next week would be leaving within the hour. He waved to the bird and turned, running to his car, calculating the time and distance to salvation.

Behind him, the clouds continued their quiet pas de deux, slowly disappearing into a haze of azure memories.

~ Irish Gumbo

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Kitten

Photo by BLOGitse
More of her wonderful photography and
links to her other blogs can be found at
http://blogitsephotos.blogspot.com/

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Suggested prompt...
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A little kitty tale.

_____________________

No pictures please,
I'm trying to hunt.
I'll catch these fleas,
Out back or in front.
So if you could
Get out of my way,
I'll lick them good -
You won't need to spray!

I've spotted one!
Hiding by that rock;
I'll swat to stun,
Then while it's in shock
I'll pick it up,
Bring it in and place
It by your cup,
And tongue-wash my face!

~ Marc

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

H - Sunday's Alphabet Prompt

Photo by Jim Pankey "WildSpirit"

Jim's Photography can be found at

Picasa and Fotothing

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Suggested prompt...
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Write a poem inspired by the hawk in this photo.

Remember - All prompts beneath the photos are only suggestions.

You are free to use the photo to be inspired to write any way you desire.

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Behind you the tsunami rises
Before you the tornado of evil
The smoke of success trails
from your wings--
Soar!

~ Shawn Michel de Montaigne

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Ancient Stones

Photo by Reno

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Suggested prompt...

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Tell an ancient tale inspired by the Colosseum.

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Gordianus blinked rapidly in a futile attempt to rid his eyes of sand. Full summer in Rome and the white-hot disc of the sun was just past the zenith. The buzzing of flies was thunderous in his ears, almost drowning out the roar of the cheering crowd. Gordianus could feel the flies crawling over his chest and belly. Their feet were like feathers on his blood-streaked skin, and he thought it would have tickled if he hadn’t been in such agony.

Gordianus corrected himself: part of him was in agony, the part where a huge tiger had mauled him, shredding the belly flesh. He could not feel his legs. He realized he could not move his legs. Judging from the unnatural twist to his abdomen, Gordianus thought “I must have broken my back when the tiger pushed me backward over the rock that had been behind me”. His throat spasmed as he sucked in a wheezy lungful of air, grit scouring his raw windpipe. Gordianus coughed weakly and spat into the sand under his right cheek. It felt warm and wet. He could see four fat drops of blood beading up on the sand, hard and bright in the unforgiving sun, like the eyes of a tarantula.

Gordianus felt a wave of dizziness was over him. He was beginning to feel cold as the blood leaked out of his ruined abdomen. He became aware that his left arm was pinned, held under something large and furred. Swiveling his head, he turned to find his face mere inches away from the enormous fangs of a dead tiger. The mouth was gaping open slightly, a thin foam of bloody spittle trailing out onto the sand. Gordianus could smell the remains of its breath, a steamy combination of wet iron and rotting meat. A huge paw rested on the sand between them. He resisted the urge to reach out and shake it. The eyes of the tiger were half closed as if awakening from a pleasant nap. Just beyond the thickly muscled shoulder the blade of a heavy sword jutted out from between two ribs, its hilt against the sky like the mast of a macabre ship. Gordianus realized his last blow had been lucky. He must have hit the lungs even as the tiger was ripping into Gordianus’ belly. “My friend”, he thought, “If only we had been sleeping, lying on the plains of my homeland. I am sorry you and I have come to such an end.”

The gladiator’s eyes began to dim, and he knew he was dying. He lolled his head back, seeking one more glimpse of the Colosseum that had been his second home. He waved his right hand feebly in goodbye; the approaching slaves thought Gordianus was trying to send them away. They hesitated, in awe of the fighter. Gordianus’ mouth twitched up in a small smile, shuddering as the final breaths left his lungs. As his vision went black, he mouthed a prayer, beseeching the gods to allow his soul to rest with all the others trapped among the stones of this arena.

The tiger said nothing, mute and unseeing, Gordianus’ hand resting on its massive paw.

~ Irish Gumbo

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Field of Gold

Photo by Basir Seerat

visit Basir's photo blog at

http://www.basirseerat.blogspot.com/

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Suggested prompt...

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Write a poem or short story as you are inspired from this photo.

____________________

Seeking refuge
I wade, uncertain.
Through these field
of wilting lives
I moan, longing.
For I refuse to believe
that I stand against
the drying pain, alone.
That somewhere or here
I will be found, consoled.
In this sea of dying hope
I thought I saw them, waving.
But like the arid air
this earth breathe,
they're just there, too, waiting.

~ droL

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.

Roses

Photo by Kathryn

for more of Kathryn's photography visit -

http://www.pbase.com/katwilkens

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Suggested prompt...

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Write of the beauty of a rose.

__________________________

Roses are all very lovely, but the red rose is the most alluring, the femme fatale among the pretties that could snap your neck with a passionate kiss. The red rose is a seductress, tempting even the most logical to abandon care and jump through through flame to be cradled by satisfaction. Oh, red rose, as soft as a virgin's thigh, scraping like a cloud against a flushed cheek as the chin inclines toward first kiss. Yes! Red rose that wraps the moment in silk, tilts the universe a few degrees, and unleashes the darkest desire, the wanton need to know better and say yes regardless. The red rose stands out among the crowd of fragrant beauties, flashing crimson intention and more than willing to be our partner in crime.

~ Killerwit

One week after the photo or picture is posted I will pick one offering to put beneath the image. This is a way of celebrating exceptional creativity. Any and all posts are available for your creative mind to make an offering at any time (even ones where a writing has been placed on the front page like this one). If you are new here and want to offer to every image here, feel free. We are writers, WRITE!If this is your exceptional writing posted here on the Front Page Pictures, Poetry & Prose invites you to include the Exceptional Writing Award Button on your blog. Visit the Exceptional Writing Award post for the details and the button to download.