Receipts for Life Spent

Receipts for Life Spent
By Emily J. Lawrence

Someone ate bacon and eggs
for breakfast. For lunch. For
dinner. I don't know. But
someone had bacon and eggs.
With a coffee and three refills.

My alarm clock rouses me
at 5:15. I have nowhere to go
but I need to feed my plant.
I tell it I'm alone. You're supposed
to talk to plants. I tell it I'm alone.

I keep all my receipts in a drawer.
They tell me I'm alive. The hair
cut I got a week ago. My hot
water bill. I have my paycheck
stubs. It proves I lived those days
I don't remember. Those boring days.

My office goes out for drinks. I'm
not invited, but I have work to do. I'll
be here until eleven. A new apartment
complex will be build with unsafe materials.
I'll be here until eleven thirty, in green
iridescent lights, like windows on my computer
screen, blocking out figures and numbers.

McDonald's at midnight tastes the same:
like grease. I toss my waded paper at
the outside trash can. It bounces off the rim
to the ground. I leave it there. I walk up
the sidewalk, shivering at the sound of
barking dogs in dark yards.

I think I'll quit my job. There's no
reason to work this late. I only
work to buy food and it's never
that good. I put the Daisy Market
receipt in my drawer, a memento
of Cornflakes, milk, and bananas.

This world has to be a mistake. Or
at least something went horribly wrong.
Now that it's a piece of trash, would
God to bend and pick it up?
I wouldn't. I won't waste my time.

A scrap of something blows along
the ground. It blows under my shoe and
I step on it. It's a piece of paper, I pick
it up. A Denny's receipt. Someone had bacon
and eggs. And coffee with three refills.
And they lived today. I put it my drawer;
I am not alone.

Syntactical Qualities of Strong Writing

This is a list of characteristic to which strong writers adhere. I'm reading them for homework (Writing Poetry by Michelle Boisseau, Robert Wallace, and Randall Mann) in my Poetry class and thought they would be helpful to other writers.

1. Place main ideas in main clauses and subordinate ideas in subordinate clauses.

2. Use parallel structures for parallel ideas.

3. Put modifiers next to the nous they modify

4. Use active voice. ("The dog bit the boy" vs. "The boy was bitten by the dog.")

5. Vary sentence structure.

6. Set the most significant part of a sentence at the end.

7. Use unusual syntax only when appropriate to meaning.

8. Break any rule that makes you sound ludicrous.

Quiet Girl

I'm taking a Poetry class right now and am tasting words for their flavors not only as building blocks for a story and it's like my mind is being revived. I should not have lost the love of words in my attempt to write stories for poetry is part of prose.

Quiet Girl Sewn in a Blanket

By Emily Lawrence

Quiet girl. Quiet girl. Quiet girl.

Quiet girl. Quiet girl.

Forgotten voice. Forgotten voice.

Written voice.

Blanket white. Blanket white.

Rose petal blanket. Chick fluff blanket.

Waiting girl. Hiding girl.

Sewn up girl in a blanket.

Bread steam blanket.

Will anyone ever come for me?

Quiet girl. Quiet girl.

Sleep-drunk eyes. Hidden mouth.

Quiet girl.

Writes a poem to say her words.

Goodtheme

Today marks the beginning of Goodtheme, a cross between a book club and a writing workshop. I've been wanting to start something like this for 2-3 years. When I returned from my church's mission trip two weeks ago and went to morning church the next day, I sat in the pew scribbling on the back of the bulletin.

What I wrote were the preliminaries to the literary club that met tonight. I had no idea those who showed up would. I'm so glad they did!

Really, it's such a great set-up. We all know and love each other. It's safe and a great opportunity for fellowship. Which reminds me, I should take refreshments next time.

I'm very excited about this! And, another member told me the same thing as we were leaving.

Dear God, please use this as a chance to bring us closer to You and Your truth.