On the last day of Ethical ELA’s Open Write, host Denise Hill offered this invitation:
“Take a metaphor or idiom and reverse it or twist it up in any which way you choose – mumbo jumbo jam it!
Then write from the ‘sense’ the new phrase makes. It may be total nonsense. That’s perfectly fine! It may provide a ‘feeling’ or strike a memory chord or a fantasy chord with you in some way that inspires your poem today. Just go with it!”
Here is what came of my scrambling the writing on the wall…
The Wall on the Writing
In prehistory
cave-dwellers
dipped their fingers
into animal fat
charcoal
their own earwax
then dirt and ash
to paint their stories
on the walls
by flickering torchlight
over time
many caves
collapsed
to be reabsorbed
by the earth
In the course
of human migration
the region of the caves
became a fortified city
with iron gates
and great stone walls
one of which
was constructed
over the buried caves
It is said that at this wall
the great orators
gave their mighty speeches
humble petitioners
made their prayers
poets composed their epics
chroniclers penned histories
and storytellers
found their words
I do not know
if the wall
or the legends
are real
but I do know
that when I
hit a writing block
that I cannot
go over
around
or through
if I dig
deep
deeper
deeper still
within
I will find
the words
just human DNA
finding its way
with story
waiting
deep
deeper
deeper still
beneath the wall
on the writing
Stone Wall. jcubic. CC BY-SA 2.0.
with thanks to Denise Hill and the Ethical ELA Open Write community
and Two Writing Teachers for the monthlong Slice of Life Story Challenge
for story really is
in our DNA
lit bits and pieces 
Your poem completely painted a picture in my mind. I was surprised that this was a writer’s block poem though. It seemed to come so easily!
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I knew I wanted the scrambled metaphor to be a wall over some kind of ancient writing…then writer’s block came in as an additional metaphor. I decided to let it stay. Thank you!
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This was such an interesting prompt and it was fascinating to see where it led you. I love how you wove from past to present and from a broad view to your experience. Well done!
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I knew I had to end with a wall on writing…I guess this is a backwards design poem. What writing would be under the wall? That led me to caves, and the passage of time…didn’t expect writer’s block to show up. That was the poem’s choice. 🙂
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I love the helix that this poem forms and the way that you dug beneath the writer’s wall. I thought I saw that writer’s block coming when I first saw the scrambled idiom, but then as the first commenter said, it didn’t feel like you were blocked at all. This stanza had such natural flow:
It is said that at this wall
the great orators
gave their mighty speeches
humble petitioners
made their prayers
poets composed their epics
chroniclers penned histories
and storytellers
found their words
I could see that written on a wall.
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I feel like many walls or places may get this kind of credit…spirit of place, if you will. I wasn’t quite sure where this poem was going when I started – but then the images came, so I followed.
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Fran, I loved Denise’s prompt to twist up some figurative language and see what shakes out. In your case, it shook quite well and tumbled out perfectly. Our local coffee shop on the town square, 1828, was restored by the retired high school art teacher. He poured his heart and soul into keeping it like it has always been since 1828. In the process of the restoration, he found a lot of hidden walls and hidden writing. It’s fascinating to think about where the walls on the writing could take us. Clues to a life buried a layer deep. Whoosh! What thoughts this morning – and as always, beautifully written!
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I can only imagine the fascinating finds in the hidden walls and hidden writing, Kim – you know this sends my imagination out of orbit! Thank you for these lovely words. It was a great writing adventure!
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Reading your poem is like traveling a long, dark corridor. You take us down a long and beautiful path that leads us to writing once again. Exquisite.
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Thank you, Joanne, for traveling alongside me 🙂
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I love how you draw a path from history of cave paintings to oracles and writer’s block. I’d never have put them all together and so seamlessly. You celebrate the wall for what it offers you in digging deeper into yourself. Thanks for sharing.
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I wasn’t sure myself where it would go…I just kept writing. Sometimes we just have to trust in the process. Thank you, Margaret.
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Wow! What a wonderful ride through your poem. I did not expect the turns and depth that resulted from turning an idiom around.
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I really didn’t expect the turns either, Heather…this is where the writing adventure took me! It was great fun to write.
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How fascinating when you twist something around and it turns out not to be ‘mumbo jumbo’ but something quite intriguing. I love the thought of digging deeper and deeper down beneath the wall to discover that writing.
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Thank you, Celia – wasn’t sure where this would go, and so the unfolding was great fun!
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