We sprawl in the grass,
watching
pictures in the sky.
Pointing,
as the puffy images pass-
he sees what I can’t find.
“See the dragon.
wearing
a wide-brimmed cowboy hat?”
Laughing,
“And look, there’s a cat
next to a Radio Flyer wagon!”
Patient with my blindness,
he points,
draws in the air with his fingers.
For a split-second, I do see
the dragon,
the hat,
the cat,
the wagon.
Then the wind
kicks up,
my moment of clarity
used up.
My imagination
stifled
by absolutes and responsibility.
Prepared
to do it all again,
my son’s vision carries me.
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This is what I came up with for the second week of Quotespiration. Here’s this week’s quote:
“I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them. But they answered: “Frighten? Why should anyone by frightened by a hat?” My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly.” – from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
If you’re inspired by the quote, please join in! All you have to do is write a response in less than 1,000 words, post it on your blog, then go to Anecdote Love’s site and link to that post.
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I wanted to bring your attention to another fabulous (super-talented) writer – Suzanne Purkis at Lucid Edit. I’ve read her writing for a long time now, and her stories always pull me in with her creativity and masterful use of imagery. Well, Suzanne recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds needed to help her complete her novel, The Ending. If you have a moment, please check out her campaign page – she’s got a video explaining her novel, and a link to an excerpt so you can read for yourself. If you aren’t able to contribute, I hope you can at least leave her an encouraging comment 🙂
Have a wonderful Thursday!
Exquisite job! My kids and I always try to see pictures in the sky! You captured those moments brilliantly! ♥
Thanks, Kathy! Clouds can be great entertainment. Sometimes the kids will play the cloud game with me, but not as often as they used to 😦
Great job Janna, and great use of the quote. This reminded me of my childhood when we would see who could find the craziest looking thing in the clouds.
You have to be quick on windy days, though. As soon as you see something, it morphs into something else! Thanks for stopping by, Mandy!
It’s clouds illusions I recall . . . 😀
🙂 Clouds can be ‘moving’ artwork. Thanks for reading, Nancy!
I love to lay in the grass with my children and do that.
Me too, Becca. Gives me a glimpse into their minds 🙂
What are you doing up at his crazy hour? I thought I was alone. I was having a “I Am Legend” moment. 😉
Haha…in my defense, it’s only 10:30 in Arizona. I’m making myself step away from the computer by 11. This 4 hours of sleep a night isn’t cutting it. I just need to get over the idea that I can keep current on blog stuff. At least my comments will be up to date and I can sneak in some reading during my breaks tomorrow 🙂
And I guess the obvious question would be, “What are YOU doing up at this hour?” 😛
That is fair. I’m up until 2 or 3 most nights because I don’t work or have to get up early.
That makes sense, Becca. I stayed up til 2 last night and I was sorry at 6am when I had to get up to drag the kids out of bed for school!
I loved watching the clouds with my kids…I still do it from time to time!
It’s easy to get too busy to notice the clouds… but it’s a great time when we do, Suzicate!
Looking up is a good thing, Janna. We miss so much when we keep our heads (and minds) in a downward position.
I agree, Debbie!
Clouds. Wonderful!
Clouds never get boring to me. Thanks for stopping by, Widdershins 🙂
I absolutely love finding shapes in clouds (in fact, I probably stare at them too much when I should be writing) 😉
Haha, they can be distracting, but sometimes I think we need the break, Dianne!
When I was a child, I liked to lie on my back on the grass and look up at the clouds floating by in a blue sky, like the photo you put up for this post. Skies around lakes and other bodies of water, beaches, often put on such wonderful shows that spark our imagination.
I don’t have much opportunity to observe beach clouds, but lake clouds are nice, too! We should all take time out to see the clouds once in a while. I’m glad you stopped by, Carol Ann!
Lovely image, lovely words!
Thanks, Allen!
Great response to the prompt! I remember doing something similar as a kid 🙂
I wonder why we stop. It’s so relaxing to watch the shapes. Thanks for reading, Eleni!
I think I’ll have to take up cloud-watching again 🙂
I hope you do, Eleni. It’s amazing what our minds can make of the clouds!
Once the weather gets warm and the ground dries a bit, I might have to take a blanket to the backyard and watch the clouds.
I think you should, Patti. Who knows, the birds might come over and keep you company 🙂
Guessing the images drawn by clouds and interpreted by the mind – a fabulous game which we all played once. Sigh! Happy carefree days – dreams floating by —-
There were some nice things about those days, Eric. The irony is, we rarely realize those were good days because we’re so intent on “growing up” 🙂
Great piece Jannat! Thanks again for participating:)
Thanks for hosting the challenge, Lady Harvey 🙂
you captured the clouds so well
I’ll check out Suzanne’s page
Thanks, Patty! I haven’t taken photos in over a month, but luckily I had several cloud pics I took over the summer. I don’t know what my problem is, but I hope I get inspired to get the camera out again soon 🙂