Top of the World

I'm listening to this song right now, Patty Griffin's "Top of the World." Its so sweet and I just want to put it on repeat here at work! Here's some of the lyrics, but go here to listen to it online:
Myspace Music Discography for Patty Griffin.
The album is "Impossible Dream." Select it from the discography list in the left section of the player.

For writing, read over the lyrics and imagine the scene. What song is being sung by the songbird? Why did she break the songbird's wings? What would you do? What kind of bird? What are others doing, wanting, singing?

"Top Of The World"

There's a whole lot of singing
That's never gonna be heard
Disappearing every day
Without so much as a word
Somehow

I think I broke the wings
Off that little songbird
And she's never gonna fly
To the top of the world now
To the top of the world

....

I wished I'd had known you
Wished I had shown you
All of the things I
Was on the side
But I'd pretend to be sleeping
When you'd come in in the morning
To whisper goodbye
Go work in the rain
I don't know why
Don't know why

Cause everyone's singing
We just wanna be heard
Disappearing every day
Without so much as a word
Somehow?

Gonna grab a hold
Of that little songbird
And take her for a ride
To the top of the world
Right now
To the top of the world

Prompts from a friend

More writing prompts sent to me by a writer-friend early in December.

From Naming the World:

1. Write about a secret from the perspective of someone with the below statement:
* I never told anyone.
* I did tell one person. God help me.
* I never told anyone, but I’ll tell you.

2. Try writing about something you do every day and take for granted.

3. Starter: "She didn’t want to go, but..."

4. Choose an object that interests you enough to suggest it could be someone’s centering symbol. Why does it carry a metaphysical force?

5. You found a feather on the ground on the way over. Start talking to a person you know about this feather.

6. Pick a character that you hate and find something you love about them.

7. What is your character's obsession?

8. Destroy something you love.

Sentence and Phrase Prompts from Marge Piercy's Hard Loving:

1. I was a rabbit with twigs for bones.

2. Sometimes an old buffalo man... stares from your face."

3. Succulent as a burst apricot

4. A phosphorescent smear

5. Peeling an orange

Lines of Poetry

Its been forever since I last updated the blog here, so here's a few writing prompts in the form of quotes and poetic lines:

"The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing." - Eric Berne, psychiatrist

"I dreamed a knife like a song you can't whistle." - Frank Stanford, "The Singing Knives"

"Which failure cannot cast down nor success make proud." - Robinson Jeffers, "Rock and Hawk"

"...at night he remembers freedom And flies in a dream, the dawns ruin it." - Robinson Jeffers, "Hurt Hawks"

"I'd sooner, except the penalties, kill a man than a hawk." - Robinson Jeffers, "Hurt Hawks"

"We are safe to finish what we have to finish." - Robinson Jeffers, "The Bed By The Window"

"Be angry at the sun for setting." - Robinson Jeffers, "Be Angry at the Sun for Setting"

"Stark violence is still the sire of all the world's values." - Robinson Jeffers, "The Bloody Sire"

"Old violence is not too old to beget new values." - Robinson Jeffers, "The Bloody Sire"

"wore down on their wings" - Robinson Jeffers, "Their Beauty Has More Meaning"