This
meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Computer issues led her
to bow out for a while. The meme was too much fun to let go, and now
Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a
movable feast.
Essentially
the aim is to encourage us to write. Each week we are given a choice
of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image. What we
do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a
poem, or treating them with ignore... We can use some or all of the
prompts, and mixing and matching is encouraged.
Some
of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on
their own blog. I would really like it if as many people as possible
joined into this fun meme, which includes cheering on the other participants. If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud. And huge thanks to those of you who come back, sometimes time after time to cheer other contributors on.
The prompts will be here this month, but they are being provided by David M. Gascoigne. An additional prompt from Charlotte (MotherOwl) is to include May Green in your take on the prompts.
This
week's prompts are:
- Lions
- Resources
- Choice
- Course
- Systematically
- Predator
and/or
- Occasionally
- Firestorm
- Land
- Sight
- Reproducing
- Humans
This is David's last week of prompts and I thank him for challenging us all. Next month the prompts will be here too, but they are being provided by Hilary Melton-Butcher
Have fun.
If only LIONS could talk. What might they say? How would they view their two-legged PREDATOR? Occasionally the tables are turned of COURSE, with the lions becoming predator, and what a FIRESTORM that unleashes. Do you think the lions might say, “These HUMANS, these supposedly wise beings, keep on REPRODUCING with out any end in SIGHT and continue to occupy more and more of our LAND. Not only that, they set about to SYSTEMATICALLY kill all of the other creatures we need to SURVIVE. Bush meat, they call it. We have fewer and fewer RESOURCES left and nowhere to live. So OCCASIONALLY we kill one or two of them, but we eat them, don’t we? It’s not out of CHOICE, they don’t even taste good. But there is such a hue and cry and no effort is spared to exterminate the poor lion, who after all was merely satisfying his hunger. That’s deemed unacceptable, while rich people from North America fly in for the sole purpose of killing us so that they can hang our head on their wall. Something is wrong with this picture.”
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: Something is very wrong with this picture - as it is with so many of the pictures that humans paint.
Deletethecontemplativecat here. Excellent, unexpected. I really appreciated it.
DeleteWell done, David. Something is very wrong with this picture.
DeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
Good prompts. Good thoughts. Good reads.
DeleteWish I had found leisure these days / this month to contribute.
The peace of the night.
Sean Jeating: It is lovely to see you here, even if you don't have time to participate. I was just about to send you an email to check up on you.
DeleteYes, and yes, and yes again.
DeleteVery well said and done!
DeleteGood use of those difficult prompts :)
DeleteHi David - I wonder what a pride of lions would say - your serious pondering thoughts are so right - we, humans, do so much damage without thought for beast or animal, even life itself ... thanks for your take. Cheers Hilary
DeleteDavid was a single minded predator. He systematically set a course to destroy his rivals. They had a choice of course. They could do things his way, or face the firestorm that disagreeing with him would produce.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally someone would challenge him. They lost. Quickly and decisively. He always took the lions’ share of the profits but in those cases he took everything, and moved on. Out of sight, out of mind.
‘He is not human’ one of his rivals said. He took my money, my assets and my land, leaving me with nothing. While I struggle to survive his resources and his wealth are reproducing faster than rabbits.
‘So what does he spend his money on?’
’ The environment. Repairing the damage done, protecting what remains, encouraging bio diversity and giving hope to upcoming generations. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, perhaps his actions will ensure a place in the heaven he doesn’t believe in.’
Sue, you are nothing if not brilliant. The way you have crafted this story is simply terrific.
DeleteExcellent story.
DeleteA wonderful use of the prompts! Mine will post at 2a tomorrow on my blog, I'll come back and add a link when it does.
DeleteI love the twist at the end!
DeleteWery well done indeed. I like David.
DeleteHi Sue - I thought you were going to launch into a tale of David and Goliath ... but this was very different - a great take ... cheers Hilary
DeleteI can see right away these words aren't going to fit my current story. I like David's story very much.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I look forward to seeing where David's words take you. Interestingly I could see ways that they could be included in your current story...
DeleteI also found those words a tough nut. But I see that you found a way to use them anyhow :D
DeleteAnd yours too.
ReplyDeleteRiver: Thank you.
DeleteDavid is a staunch environmentalist! Good work.
ReplyDeleteJenn Jilks: Both Davids are indeed staunch environmentalists.
DeleteResources and funds had been systematically stripped from the sanctuary where injured and endangered lions were housed. One by one smaller, less popular species had been moved to other sanctuaries and zoos, till only the big predators were left. It had about broke the old man's heart.
ReplyDeleteHe straightened his narrow shoulders. The way he saw it, he had no other choice. Somebody had to do something and it was damn sure no one else was going to. Maybe if all the bloated, blowhard politicians saw one of their own caged next to his lions they'd loosen their purse strings. He grabbed a dart gun and with determined strides headed into the night.
Sandra Cox sandracox.blogspot.com
Well done, Sandra. I hope their aim is true and straight!
DeleteSandra Cox: Like David I hope his aim is true. Or that the lions get him...
DeleteSome things take extreme solutions.
DeleteVery well done! I used to go to a big cat "rescue" in Florida not far from where I lived. I think they should have been rescued from the rescue as the pens they were kept in did not give them much room to really roam.
DeleteI like this idea of caging one of the "fatcats".
Deletethecontemplativecat here. I love this.
DeleteUh oh. What an enticing story. I hope it works out.
DeleteHi Sandra - great idea ... only usually done by cartoonists - I wonder if the Romans had done something like this in the past ... interesting thought - cheers Hilary
DeleteEC, Nice twist at the end. Good on David!
ReplyDeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
I'll be about it and be back.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: As always I am looking forward to seeing where the prompts take you.
DeleteMy story will be over here.
Deletemessymimi: I have read your story - and applauded.
DeleteLions are Resources!
ReplyDeleteCountries this week where they roam are changing Course from hunting and instead are Systematically inviting visitors to their countries by protecting this apex Predator. Now let's see artificial intelligence do that! Thank you my elephant time friend. I love you
Cloudia: Lions are a precious resource, and I hope we haven't left protecting them too late. Thank you for joining us again. Hugs.
DeleteYes, lions are precious and i hope such a plan works.
Deletelove this!
Deletethecontemplativecat here. AI has a way to go.
DeleteWell written!
DeleteHi Cloudia - congratulations on your entry - cheers Hilary
DeleteVery nice!
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe resources were abundant at Lion's Choice as I systematically picked out course after course like the actual predator could.
Well done! It sounds like a place my Brother-in-law, whose appetite is legendary, would love.
DeleteMike: One of my brothers would love that place. And would probably spend the afternoon sleeping it off - again like a predator.
Deleteshort and sweetly done!
Deletethecontemplativecat here. Good job, you predator, you.
DeleteShort and stuffed ;)
DeleteClever Mike ... interesting thought - cheers Hilary
DeleteLovely stories. Still thinking.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D: Thanks for reading - and I hope that your thoughts take you somewhere and you come back and share.
DeleteHe leído esas historias que se han publicado, ahora solamente hago el comentario como lectora. Buena inventiva han tenido las historias que ke leído.
ReplyDeleteUn abrazo
VENTANA DE FOTO: said 'I have read those stories that have been published, now I only comment as a reader. Good inventiveness have had the stories that I read.
DeleteA hug;'
Thank you so much. Have a great day.
Humans are Systemically damaging, by Choice, the Resources of Land and Reproduction; thus making the Sight of Lions and other Predators at work, a mild one , in comparison.
ReplyDeleteOf Course, we are only Occasionally able to control the Firestorms following the above damage.
Well done!
DeleteDUTA: How I wish you were wrong.
DeleteGood job, Duta!
DeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
A (sad) story for our times.
Deletethecontemplativecat here. Good use of words.
DeleteWell said.
DeleteAnother short, short story. Good.
DeleteHi DUTA - rarely do we manage to control the firestorms we've experienced - cheers Hilary
DeleteThanks EC and David ... I'm sitting here with a blistering headache and full of cold - so feeling 'frot' - I'll be back ... cheers H xo
ReplyDeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: Poor, poor you. I hope you get better quickly. Full of cold is a truly awful feeling.
Deletethecontemplativecat here. Headaches are the worst, they are sneaky. Hope you are better.
DeleteMy story continues here.
ReplyDeleteCindi: I have already read and marvelled at your continuing story.
DeleteThanks for excellent prompts, David.
ReplyDelete'Lo,EC:)
Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com
Hi EC and David - thanks feeling easier today - so hope by tomorrow it's essentially gone. First set:
ReplyDeleteOh! the choice for predators surveying the grasslands … lions are an apex carnivore, but their range over time has been systematically reduced. The way we, as humans, live and allow others to live has most certainly changed – humans are, sadly, self-interested ...
Cheers - Hilary
Thumbs up, Hils. Glad you are feeling better.
DeleteSandra sandracox.blogspot.com
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Like Sandra I am very glad you are starting to feel better.
DeleteYour take on these prompts is sadly, painfully true.
We take so much more than we actually need.
DeleteI'm glad you are feeling better.
Good that you're feeling better, and good use of the prompts too.
DeleteThanks for your comments ... David has given us words to make us think ... cheers Hilary
DeleteOccassionally, a firestorm hits all land within sight. I simply and humbly request that the most dim-witted of survivors don't take to reproducing more humans. Enough already! Oy.
ReplyDeleteLove to you, EC.
Rawknrobyn: Hear, hear. Too much already.
DeleteHugs and love to you too.
Unfortunately, who is to decide which people are too dimwitted to have children?
DeleteGood point. The most dimwitted of all (e.g. Trump) think they're stable geniuses. But in this scenario, I decide. No worries!
DeleteWell written. Is it a scfFi?
DeleteRobyn - such a good thought - we'll nobble ourselves and thus less humans - in fact the Wars are doing some of it for us. Well done - cheers Hilary
Deletethecontemplativecat here. Fun words!
ReplyDelete“...In the jungle, the mighty jungle…the lion…” Dammit, Leo growled. Bathsheba licked his face, “It is only for this night!” They had looked at the firestorm as it burned south of the Savannah sending a flood of animal fleeing. It had been a delight to see. Being chief predators, Leo and his mate had systematically hunted every antelope leaping.
With their bellies full, Leo and mate Bathsheba curled up under the Land Rover and watched the humans as they sang that damn song around the fire pit, swilling beer.
Leo and Bathsheba had a choice to make: Follow the course of nature and cull out those humans or they could set about the business of reproducing.
They, of course, set about doing what they do best.
Susan Kane: I find myself hoping that they found the time and energy to do both of those things.
DeleteNice use of the prompts!
DeleteFun use of the words.
DeleteHi Susan - wise decision on this apex species' part ... much more enjoyable one presumes, especially as already replete. I hope they move off for this next episode in their live?! Cheers Hilary
DeleteAs I write on my blog: "Back almost painfree, magazine sent to the printer, garden weeded, dome almost rebuilt, now almost normal blogging is resumed." And here is my WfW continuing the story of Susan na d the hatching.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): Welcome back. I am heading right over to read your continuing story now.
DeleteAlways enjoy these, even though my brain doesn't want to join in as putting two thoughts together is a challenge right now :) Thank you for hosting, always appreciate reading such interesting stories, yours included. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: Thank you. I hope that your Covid induced brain fog leaves - and that you regain your sense of taste and smell.
Delete