Yard Sale (5-Minute Freewrite - #1)
My First FreeWrite!
Earlier today, I was talking to @mikesthoughts, and he told me about freewrite. It intrigued me, so he showed me his latest freewrite Yard Sale. It was so well written, that I could not tell that it was freewrite. I was inspired, so he linked me to the original prompt, Freewrite 109: Yard Sale, by @mariannewest. There are so many useful links and guides to that post! I had to try. So, without further rambling, this was my FIRST freewrite, with the prompt Yard Sale.
Yard Sale
You lay all your childhood on a table, free from the dust that it gathered. Priceless; everything you hold dear to your heart. Price tag; you must give a value to each one.
Irony of life: sometimes, we have to let things go, even if we want to keep them close. There is no price that could match the experiences that they gave you - there is a price that can help you move forward.
Letting go - a tough challenge. Humanity does not like change. The world is full of it. You better have change, the sweaty guy that just bought your childhood toy only has a $20 bill. You tagged it at $10.
Do not cry. Do not cry. You no longer have that teddy-bear that you cuddled with whenever you felt down. Who is going to be there to hold you now? He is gone. Don't you dare cry! You have to be the bear now. Turn the frown upside down, that money that it earned, can give you another day. Look at it like a sacrifice. Maybe not. If you think your teddy-bear sacrificed his life for you, you could feel worse about yourself. That is not what the bear wants you to feel.
Maybe you should be happy. Knowing that he left his heart behind. His chest sewn shut by your skilled mother. The buyer will never know that he purchased a bear without a heart. You do. Keep it close, its heartbeat calms you.
Now that it is over. There are things I'm really tempted to change. I won't. That goes against freewrite. I only fixed typos/spelling mistakes. I hope you enjoyed it - I love the quirky and random elements that somehow emerged. The most dangerous writing app is quite a useful and fun tool, although it puts a lot of pressure! Hopefully, freewriting is something that I will be doing more regularly. Maybe daily, who knows!
Join Die Hard Steemit and Isle of Write on Discord
Join the Steem Poets United on Discord
Editing is the life blood of poetry. It is what separates the end t from the chaff. What cleans the kitchen every night so your sink doesn't stink.
Free write is awesome to get your words out and let associations flush forward. I feel like it is the way images are best expresses.
For example I would say the first two stanzas are preamble where the speaker is warming up. Then we see the best image wit the sweaty guy with a soaked 20 dollar bill trying to buy a treasured childhood toy. This line is brilliance. I can tell the image showed up in the head and appeared. Whereas all the proceeding was abstract and obscure commentary.
I think free writting brings those images forth and editing parse down the obscure to let thoughts shine through the sweaty men and their butt wet bills from back pockets.
Well done! I enjoyed this.
That is definitely some stronger imagery! Yeah, in poetry, many times I think of the abstract and I have to pause to match that with a descriptive imagery. Maybe that's the natural process or simply that I am not as used to doing it. I like obscurity, yet a balance with descriptions is always nice so that the reader is not lost.
I see how poems can be developed from these freewrites. Sometimes, even just one line or one phrase can develop to be something much more meaningful. Thank you for the comment - I love how much effort you put into it :)
Sometimes freewrites hide within themselves small crumbs of truth..nice first freewrite! Keep it up! :-)
thank you! I am not sure how much they hide the truth. It seems to me that they reveal it ;)
That was my same idea .. hide in the sense of guard it within themselves like a treasure 😉.. and sometimes I am surprised of what comes out.
Welcome to the Freewrite! Oh how true it is when we park with our old beloved items. It's hard to let them go, but we need to make room for new!
thank you! I did not realise what a nice sub-community this is! I'll definitely be looking to read and write more freewrites
You did fantastic! Keep it up! I just started (just started as in a while ago but only like a month? Ish?) at any rate. Keep it up!!!
thank you! I will keep doing this - I was not expecting such good feedback. I checked out your last freewrite and it is pretty good too! love the direction in which it went.
Thank you so much! I hope you do keep it up!! 😄
Welcome! This was so sad. At least the new owner doesn't have the bears heart. Nice freewrite and please do write again! : )
I will be trying to keep it daily! I was not expecting such good feedback
You should definitely do more freewriting @poetrybyjeremy! I really enjoyed reading this one.
yay! thank you :D Whenever I can, I will be doing a freewrite. Hopefully daily. So far already have done my second one :)
Oh, a teddy without a heart - but really, with one to give strength.
Wellcome to the freewriters!
Thank you for the welcome :) It's interesting how my brain decided to go there. The longer in a freewrite, the more obscure and strange (yet real) the writing becomes.
Yay! I'm so glad you found the freewriting community! It's a fabulous writing exercise and has helped open my mind to writing SO MUCH MORE! I love the challenges and I love what you did here. Just letting your thoughts flow brought out so much in so few words! Love it!
I’m also helping out with prompt delivery today! If you want, here is today’s #freewrite prompt
Thank you for the invitation! I have already written it - it's my fourth one and I couldn't be happier about participating!