When the Carnival Comes to Town

Bright lights. Big top tents. The sound of laughter and carnival music filling the dusky night sky.

A reminder of Sunny Worthing

These are the things I think of when I imagine the quintessential carnival of movies and books. Remember the cotton candy? The sugar disappearing on my tongue,  turning it a bright blue. Elephant ears sanded with coarse grains of sugar. Corn dogs on popsicle sticks,  enrobed with a crispy batter, golden brown.

I must say, while I have been to a seafront pop-up amusement park and the circus, there is a certain charm to carnivals. There is something ethereal, almost terrifying at times, about the affair. The idea of having your fortune told in a stuffy tent, walking blindly through a house of mirrors and gawking shamelessly at the "freaks" creates a magical world outside of time.

This is a little poem of when the seafront was filled with lights for a weekend. When I wandered in the dark and felt lost in light.

Carnival Rides

The sun has fallen

          Below the horizon

And walking along the boardwalk

          Are couples,
                        Singles,
                                   Groups of errant teenagers

It's dark; streetlamps light the way

          And strung along are Christmas lights
                        Baubles of glass and power

In the distance, something spins

          A swirl of flashing lights
                        A cacophony of screams

The carnival has come to Worthing

            Night rides fill the street
                        Lining the rocks
                                    Like colorful beach huts

In the daylight, they are amusements

But in the moonshine, they become more

            More fun
                        More exciting
                                    More of a temptation

The Other Side

It's been a good number of years since I participated in writing contests, HarperCollins and a number of other creative writing endeavors. I remember a time when I would go searching google for contests without entry fees, comb through author blogs and websites for inspiration and challenge myself with prompts and topics outside of my comfort zone.

But... I stopped. In truth, I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps I have too many artistic outlets to let any one take over for too long? I entered college? I started working? I discovered a love of fiber arts?

In any case, the recent acquisition of a new phone and the pre-installed applications led me to start reading news articles again. That will be a topic for another day but to continue... Flipboard utilizes a very similar idea to Pinterest, where users "flip" articles onto their boards and create "magazines" of associated content just as users "pin" onto their "boards" on the latter. In any case, you can add a number of topics you're interested in to follow articles other users have flipped, or you can add your own while browsing the internet.

It was through Flipboard that I found myself reading about a number of free entry fee writing contests while eating leftover pizza (don't judge, I know you've done it too) for breakfast and drinking my coffee.

One entry that caught my eye was hosted by Cha. Cha is an Asian Literary Journal founded in 2007 and based in Hong Kong. They have a strong focus on Asian themed work as well as showcasing Asian writers around the world. This ties into another article I read about the paucity of female Asian American writers, but in truth, both published and unpublished authors, there are quite a few if you take the time to look. Many do not have traditional Asian names - Chen, Patel, Wong, Kim - just to name a few from different cultural backgrounds, or they use pen names, evven use their married surnames.

To take a leaf from these articles, today's challenge will be to participate in the Cha "The Other Side" Poetry Contest. Unfortunately, that also means there won't be an entry until the contest winners are announced; however, use the opportunity to think about what the phrase means to you and how you're going to interpret it. Write one, two, or even three poems, each no longer than 80 lines and submit it according to the guidelines in the link above. Until then, tap away at that keyboard, scribbling on scraps of sheet paper and perhaps you'll see a post referring back to this one in a month or two.

Will you delve into the world of science fiction/fantasy? Conjure up days of long past? Or perhaps make it a personal anecdote?

Daily Writing Challenge

Browsing on the internet for prompts and challenges is a challenge in itself. Sometimes searches yield gems, treasure troves of inspiration, and other attempts result mermaid's purses dangling off the hook, or even old boots.

As I sifted through sites, blogs, boards and articles, I found Nighthag's Corner which had a number of prompts each day to choose from, giving you the freedom to stay in your own comfy little niche or to branch out into other genres and styles.

For December 14th, the prompts were as follows:

Daily story starter

Write a short story of at least 750 words using the following opening sentence
     He was going to be late home again...
     They were searching house to house

Writing theme

Write a poem or short story of at least 750 words inspired by one of the following themes
     Red dress
     Hanging tree


And the last... (which I chose for today)

Picture prompt

Write a poem inspired by the picture below

Words adrift

And sentences lost

Paragraphs twisted

            On a floating page

Crushed pulp

And dried sheets

Bound together

            Into a novel

Books

…of truth

…of lies

…of heartbreak

Of the unknown future

So, what would you write today? :)