We are, each of us, life’s canvases

d’Verse prosery

Friends, today we aspire to be poems, rather than to write or read them. Tune in to the rhythms of your heart beats and breaths; experience the air, its temperature and direction; take in the colors and shapes of your surroundings. Your senses produce letterless words; heed the language of being; listen to the song of Is.

This day, today, we shall each eschew the computer and bring no book – for this one day we’ll give to idleness. Our fingers shall find no purchase on our keyboards; our hands shall remain empty of pens and papers. On this day, our goal is not to create, my friends; but, rather, to be created. We are, each of us, life’s canvases.

So, go forth and be, dear friends! Today is your final lesson as poets – sometimes, nay, often, we must do nothing… but be.


The prompt

d’Verse prosery is flash fiction with a beginning, a middle and an end, in any genre of the author’s choice, no longer than 144 words. This very short piece of prose must include an assigned line from a poem, within the 144 word limit. Writers may change the punctuation of the assigned line, but they may not insert words within the quotation.

The assigned quotation was:

And bring no book, for this one day
We’ll give to idleness.

-from William Wordsworth‘s poem ‘Lines Written at a small distance from my House

70 thoughts on “We are, each of us, life’s canvases”

  1. “Your senses produce letterless words; heed the language of being; listen to the song of Is…” Wise words, and fortunately my deafness doesn’t come into play when listening to the “song of is.” Brilliant advice David. 🙂

  2. I often feel overwhelmed with all the things I could be doing before I even start doing them. This is a beautiful reminder to drop everything once in a while. To just sit, breathe and observe.

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