Friday, March 27, 2009

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 56


This is week 56 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Oh my, oh my, oh my.... previous complaints about my choice of words pale in the face of this week's ten world challenge. What was I thinking? Where did these horrific words come from? Why, Lord, why did I pick them? I beg forgiveness from all of you who have had the courage to participate this week. It's one of those weeks when I wish I wasn't hosting because I could tip-toe quietly out of the room and skip the challenge.... BUT.... AGGGGGGGH! I HAVE to do it! Anyone want to volunteer some words for future weeks? Then I can be mad at someone else instead of myself.




The words for this week's ten word challenge were: partition, imagination, salvation, mirror image, green power, highway, roasting marshmallows, serial killer, autograph, cartography Mini Challenge: cell phone, Big Mac, panther, legendary, poets corner



Here's my ten-word offering for this week


In the bizarre cartography of his darkly confused and partitioned mind, serial killer Alph Langerford, saw all women as mirror images of his late mother. “My way or the highway,” she had said so often that he had felt it poetic justice to deposit her dismembered body, piece by piece, along the various roads he traveled, depositing an arm in Nebraska, a leg in Tennessee, and so on across the country. Her head he had left in Louisiana, where she had reminded him often, that her life had been ruined by his arrival into the world. Her heart he had dropped on a glacier in Alaska. His contribution to green power; in his damaged imagination he believed that its icy coldness would slow global warming for at least a thousand years. On this particular October evening he sat by a warm campfire roasting marshmallows and happily imagining the future crowds who would line up for his autograph, when they discovered that he was the author of the earth’s salvation, having solved global warming while ridding the world of cold-hearted bitches at one and the same time.




And here's my mini challenge:


Martin Migglesworthy, proud headliner for the cable TV show The Poet’s Corner, proudly read his latest masterpiece “Big Macs, Cell Phones, and the End of the World” to an appreciative audience. Not since his legendary masterpiece “Panther on the Path” had he written anything which resonated so with his listeners and readers. He might hate cell phones, but he loved cable TV.




And for the mega challenge:


Helen Herringsworthy could not believe that she was finally getting to participate in the legendary annual gathering known as the Poet’s Corner. Not only was she there, she was popular. All three books of her poetry: Roasting Marshmallows, Green Power Highway, and Mirror Images were selling like hot cakes and admiring fans were coming up to her for autographs. Autographs! It was better than every fantasy her imagination had conjured over the many years when she had been a mere visitor and not one of the “stars.” What made it all even better was that she was headlining with two of her own idols, Martin Migglesworthy, whose epic poem, “Panther on the Path,” she considered to be a masterpiece. The fact that he and her other idol, Benny “Big Mac” MacPherson, hated one another was a bit awkward, particularly given Migglesworthy’s reading of a poem complaining about the age of cell phones and what he labeled “fast food” writers, whom he alleged were “serial killers” of the English language. The allusion was not lost on the audiences and it was producing some pretty serious tension into the gathering. Still she was not going to let their drama spoil her own joy. Her own new poems “The Cartography of Salvation” and “The Partitioned Heart,” were being met with warm acclaim – even by Martin and Big Mac. This was a magic time and nothing could go wrong. Life was not just good, it was a “glorious rush of contrapuntal music, whispering in the wind of unseen stars.” A new poem was rising. It was the best of times.




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In last week's comments section, an Anonymous participant left the following offering towards this week's challenge. In case any of you missed it, I'm going to post it here. I also hope that if you didn't check back after Saturday, that you check out some of the late submissions we got last week. I will almost never single anyone out because everyone who participates is awesome, but I thought Gabrielle wrote something that is extraordinary and I hope you all will check it out here.

But here's what Anonymous had to offer with this week's words:

hi here is my contribution to the challenge.. disclaimer this is with malice towards no one or no religion...

The partition of India was an epic development in the 20th century. It was to intended to create a mirror image of the "Hindu India" with the "Muslim Pakistan". The imagination of the British, the Hindus, the Muslims and the rest of the world never contemplated that this was nothing but the beginning of the construction of a highway to many years of suffering for both countries and perhaps the world. The cartography of the Indian subcontinent had the autograph of the blood of a million people sent in either direction across the new borders. The cost in human terms of partition was more severe than a million serial killers let loose upon an unsuspecting population roasting marshmallows and enjoying the dying days of the British Raj. Today the Muslim world stands behind the green might of nuclear powered Pakistan, and the souls of the authors of the partition of India and Pakistan scream for salvation, as each day a new death is added to the tally of this event.



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Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: apoplexy, doctor, hummingbird, shallow end of the pool, brigadier general, mustard, greed, parallelogram, slumber party, casual



Mini Challenge: Mount Olympus, arsonist, portraits, birch trees, "that car needs a new muffler"




Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.



Enjoy! See you next week.




DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Please only sign into Mr. Linky if you are participating in
this week's Wordzzle Challenge.




29 comments:

jaycoles@gmail.com said...

Wonderful. I think I knew Alph's mother. Using her heart to slow global warming is masterful. Now I must go edit mind because I misread one of the words and need to put the "fix" on it. j

jaycoles@gmail.com said...

And I can't tyoe either. I must edit mine - not mind Jeeze

Carletta said...

Even when YOU think the word combos are hard you write brilliantly!
Although dark (I feel sorry for Alph's soul)your ten word was unique and I liked it.
Loved Helen's story - an inspiring writer who makes it. I wonder which Wordzzle writer will someday be Helen? :)

Thom said...

Very well written Raven. I'm glad that Helen's poem was being so well received. Gabrielle's poem was something else I tell ya. Very good and the Anonymous was so real life, which I'm sure it was meant to be.

Inquirer said...

This is the first time we have participated. It was a great writing and vocabulary lesson for my 9 yo son. Hopefully he will be a regular participant.

quilly said...

Your stories are brilliant, especially the first one! It's creepy and humorous all at once -- not an easy fete!

I have to tell you, working these words into a story already in progress is HARD. I think I'll go back to shorts!

Fandango said...

Well I'm glad Global Warming has been taken care of . Somebody had to pay a very high price for progress though.
Three great stories. The master at work as usual.

Dr.John said...

I found your first story different. I could relate to your character but didn't want too.
The other two stories were just great as usual.

Akelamalu said...

Oooer the first one was deliciously dark Raven!

LOl we both used 'Big Mac' as a nickname in the mega!


You do an awesome job of choosing the words each week, saying that next weeks words are already giving me palpatations! :0

bettygram said...

That first story gave an unusual look into a confused mind of a killer. It was funny and horrid.
The writer had the joy of being known, and being in the middle of a battle.

Emo Cat said...

What a great blog!
Thanks for putting so much time and effort into a space for those who enjoy reading and writing.
I enjoyed putting those words into a one-paragraph story. I appreciate your sharing a terrific exercise.
I'll be back!
Emo Cat

Melli said...

WOW! You reallllly got inside that sick demented mind in the first story! WELL done! I'm going to get back into this! I just need to be reminded that not ALL stories have to be chapters of a book... YOU do a great job with the story in a nutshell!

Dianne said...

Alph was chilling yet pulled at my heart

I love the book names - I found myself imagining their content

Anon's entry is wonderful

Anything and everything that Gabrielle writes is beautiful.

Akelamalu said...

I've put a new link up on Mr. Linky now as the previous one wasn't working. :)

lissa said...

I like your three stories and that they are related to each other is even better

The choices of words were odd that's what makes it challenging and even make us more creative with our words, thanks Raven!

Nessa said...

Wonderful. I love the idea of a green serial killer.

Richard said...

Loved your Mommy's boy serial killer story. The historic India submission submitted by an unnamed author was great as well.

Travis Cody said...

That first one is grisly, but also funny in a macabre way.

maxigenclik said...

Wonderful.

MommyWizdom said...

Hi, Raven. Better late than never, right?

I really liked your first story the best! Nicely done! And thanks for sending us over to Gabrielle's post. She's the one who needs to give out autographs.

MommyWizdom

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

Wow, great stories. I think our serial killers had something in common. I love how yours used the opportunity to help Mother Earth, haha.

Stephen said...

I just came across your blog today, and found that it had the word game going on. I think those games can be enjoyable, and I'm glad I found a place that has them. I don't have any stories ready for today's games, but I will probably participate in at least some of them in the future.

I looked over some of your past posts, including the first and second games held. I also read a few of the personal ones. This seems to be a very nice blog. I also read the "A Memoir of Life After Death" post, which I found very interesting.

I once participated in similar games which were held for a brief time on a message board. They had relatively few numbers of words, though, probably in the 4 to 6 word area. Some of my entries in those games I later reposted on my blog. A recent post of that type is The Cyclops and the Hockey Match

Another recent post was about a time way back in high school, when the teacher made the game into an assignment. In that particular case, the post in my blog is about another student's paper. It was funny enough that I remembered it, at least in part, approximately four decades later. My post about it is called A sly school paper

Stephen from Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
http://stephen-has-spoken.blogspot.com/

Thom - - Dr. John said...

Wow, how fun to see how the list of players is growing!

I liked your tie in between the 2nd and 3rd stories. The first though was too funny. Warped and twisted, but funny none the less.

I'm trying to get my writing groove back on and was able to come up with a couple of offerings this week.

Sorry, the first link I entered was wrong, so I re-did it.

ccorkran said...

Raven, great writings! You really got into your 1st characters' psyche. I hope I don't come across her head when I return to Louisiana. It appears that many bloggers can relate to a demeaning and emotionally abusive mother.

Thanks for welcoming me to Raven's Nest and your most kind words to this writing novice. Candace

Batteson.Ind said...

brilliant as usual!.. thanks a million for sharing! I'm really appreciating.. cheers!

DawnTreader said...

It's my first visit here and I had a go at NEXT week's words - but now I'm feeling a bit lost, when and where to put a link...?

Ms Dang said...

As usual...masterfully done. I'm still laughing over the first story, guess that tells a lot about my mental health :-). Week 57'll be a challenge, but what the hell...I love challenges.

roxanne s. sukhan said...

This was so much fun ~ me loves a good challenge. I challenged myself even more, by continuing the story I began writing with last week's challenge.

Thanx for inspiring me!

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