21 Questions

21 Questions

Do you need a map or a nap?

Is today a "dip" day where  the energy of wings or fleet feet  would help?



To push beyond your ennui, try a list of pairs.  Ask a question. See what happens when you pair two items.

Just permit free association to take over and don't judge or edit.  Go as fast as you can and let your inspiration take you away.  Move until you have hit number 21.

Here's a start:

What do I need -

1     frosting or the cake
2     leaves or stays
3     trinkets or trades
4     bows or whens
5     bravery or a kite
6     milk or pencils
7     magic or  mocha
8     salmon or a scream
9     tirades or tennis balls
10   singing or flames
11    doilies or disgrace
12   monkeyshines or darkness
13   fright or sherbert
14   bubbles or incubation
15   spindrift or tin foil
16   honey or pintos
17   radiance or a gum drop
18   clutter or a stun gun
19   meringue or perpetuity
20   bongo drums or a secret
21   yogurt or merriment

Then begin again with another question. Break away from ordinary with the questions also. Try rhyming.

What happens at twilight -

l       bluebirds or howling
2      thirst or the worst
3      blood or floods
4      maybes or fleas
5      locks or kiddie blocks
6      freedom or kingdom
7      icicles or tricycles
8      harmony or charm
9      ridicules or barnacles
10    moonsbunnies or  funny money
11     highways or one act plays
12    nickles or pickles
13    clay pots or knots
14    crowds or clouds
15    soup or droop
16    arrangements or endangerments
17    puddles or cuddles
18    rice or thrice
19    playmates or paperweights
20    mushrooms or classrooms
21    free will or a duck's bill

Creative Write:  Try several questions for your 21 pairs. What does Monday sound like?  Then try a freewrite mixing all the words.

The Meaning of Life?

People are not looking for the meaning of life. People are looking for the experience of being alive. 

- Joseph Campbell

Have you ever written about the meaning of life or your experience of being alive?   

List five areas that create a kaleidoscope of your life. Consider relationships, influences of nature, the meaning of home, your favorite music, a job or avocation, a spiritual connection. 

After you complete your list which could include ten of life's joys and challenges, bring them together with sounds, tastes, scents, textures and reveal your thrills and terrors.

Don't forget to include the little things that you take for granted.  Begin with a simple wonder and see where it leads.

Bench on the Petal Trail

Bench on the Petal Trail

Benches seek relationships. Arrivals or departures fuel stories or poems. Emotions rise and fall. Ask a few questions, then design scenarios to probe. Search for surprises and the unpredictable.


Consider the possibilities of this scene:


What happens right before or after arrival? Who walks in? Who rises to leave?

What dialogue follows if she dropped her words in haste? Should he retrieve them?

Who holds a breath or hums a tune?

Would a dog add to the scene? What breed and what behavior adds or distracts?

Let a father and daughter share a secret here.

Show a mother’s struggle with an adult son.

Who has a beginning or stages an abrupt ending?

How does the light affect them?

What happens in the empty spaces if love fell through?

Creative Write: Delve into this scene along the petal trail to inspire ideas for a story or poem. Follow one of the questions or create your own to reveal a relationship in progress.