writing

An Inkless World – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
Imagine us, unable to scribble out our mistakes
quietly living on old crinkled pages, 
with the choice to erase or forcibly remember
all that we previously could coat in ink 
and forget.

The blunt tips of charcoal and pencil lead
smudged beneath our oily fingers 
would have to do,
no mediums of the black and blue variety
at our fingertips anymore.

You would go into hiding, unable to face
the temporary permanence 
and all the other oxymorons in this world
we used to ignore.

In this world, we'll fade into the background
no matter what words are written down.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I’ve had some major writer’s block and frustration with my work lately, so it was interesting to explore writing in the actual subject matter of this poem. Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. I hope you guys are having a wonderful weekend. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Soar to New Heights – Poem by Me

Brooke2 Comments 
Good things are coming
and you can feel it when you're
flying high, clothes billowing out
like a roll of silk unfurled
with the wind.

Sweetness settled on your teeth
and in your gum line, on a sugar
high and ready to fly

Keep flapping the wings taped
to your arms, stretch out to full 
wingspan or else you may fall

The air will carry you even 
if there's smoke as long as you
keep going.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It’s some cautious positivity for those of you who need it– I know I do. Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments! Have a great rest of your Sunday. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Let’s Talk: Quality Over Quantity in Blog Posts

Brooke3 Comments

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to give you all a quick update on where I’m at with this blog and changes for the future. I know I’ve talked several times about sticking to a stricter posting schedule, but I always kept trucking along with my daily posts and various topics covered. Junior year has been overwhelming thus far and I want to make it easier on myself while still providing content for you guys. If you’re interested in hearing more about my thoughts on this and where this blog is going, keep on reading!

First of all, I would rather underpromise and overdeliver content for you all than overpromise and underdeliver. That’s why I’m somewhat disappointed but still going to say that for now, I will only be posting once a week on Sundays. Of course I’ll throw in bonus posts sometimes, but I want to have quality poems/other types of posts to share with you all, and right now that’s just not possible if I’m trying to post every single day. I’m also hoping this will motivate me to come up with new ideas for you all.

I’m choosing quality over quantity for the time being as I want to be proud of the work I produce for this blog, and this will honestly make it so much easier to write good content (or at least I’m hoping). I hope you guys are okay with that.

Additionally, I know lots of bloggers don’t actually post every day. I’m not trying to use that as an excuse, but it just makes sense that I would eventually scale back the amount of posts per week after over a year of posting almost daily and finding my direction on this blog. I don’t want to write half-hearted content just to get a post up, and I think I’ve been doing that subconsciously lately since I’m so short on time.

I’m so thankful for anyone reading this post (or anyone who has read any of my blog posts) and I hope you stick around to see what’s to come! I’ll still be taking requests and writing challenges as always.

This blog has been such a wonderful creative outlet for the past 15 months, and I know it will continue to be. I want to keep the content fresh and make sure I’m not burning out, and I hope you all understand that. Thanks so much for being here if you’re still reading! I appreciate you all. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

At The Desk – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
The light streams in through the blinds,
but it can't kiss your skin from the window
when you're sitting inside, cooped up.
The work never ends if you don't cut it off,
and you'll end up waiting forever if
you're waiting for a time where you can 
sit outside in the sun without a care in 
the world.

I hope you enjoyed this super short piece! At the time of writing this, I felt pretty overworked so I made it a point to give myself a break and try to have a more balanced weekend. Make sure to do that– this piece is more of a mini-warning than anything else. Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Smoke Over the Fence – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
Fences keep out many things, but 
smoke isn't one of them. Let it curl

in the air over the backyard walls, 
disappear into the night while the

scent lasts. The grey shapes against
the twilight could be beautiful if

we looked up and saw them.

I hope you enjoyed this super short piece! It was pretty much inspired by going in my backyard and smoke drifting over the wall from my neighbor’s house. Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

We Continue To Bleed – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
{a moment of silence, first and foremost}
remember those who have come before,
and who have been lost along the way.
remember the ruin of fires and broken
buildings, the rebuilding and the pride
of getting to stand tall once again. 
love trumps hate, and people are stronger
than you think.

I don’t want to say too much– that’s why this poem is short in the first place. Please remember to take a moment of silence in your day in memoriam of the lives lost on 9/11/2001. Thank you. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Brewing Now – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
The wind is blowing a different way today.
You can tell by the palm trees' screams--
the tide is turning, the page has been flipped
over. Every way you can think to say it,
insert it here: {it is a new day and times are
changing}. The sun is shining brighter on us,
and the sweat collecting on the napes of 
our necks is glittery and beautiful, no longer
disgusting. Let's not jinx it, but you know
what is coming.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I thought it was kind of a fun one, and it’s a self-aware manifestation in itself. Good things are coming soon, people… I can feel it. Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Taking Too Much – Poem by Me

Brooke3 Comments 
Are we just fooling ourselves, fooling
each other, or is this how we take

advantage? I want to know but I don't
want to ask, and that's a common theme

with you. I want to be the better person
but I don't want to do it myself-- 

does that mean you're the one taking
the high road? Am I holding even

more pieces of you hostage by asking
these questions and using precious

moments of your time? Too many questions,
and I'll only be taking more from you

if I ask them.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! Please feel free to leave feedback and writing challenges in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Join and Submit to Intersections Magazine!

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to talk briefly about something super exciting I’ve been working on! I’ve always wanted to start my own literary magazine, and I finally decided to run with my ideas and try to get it off the ground. It’s for teens, by teens, so there are age limits– we accept submissions from youth ages 13-19 and we accept staff applications from high school and college students. If you’re interested in learning more about the magazine, keep on reading!

Here’s the mission statement from our website: We seek to bridge the gap between literary work and the current state of our world. We would love to see writing that tackles serious topics that affect youth today, including but not limited to social justice, mental health, and the current COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal is to amplify the underrepresented youth voice, and be at the intersection of imagination and reality. This is an interactive publication, and we want pieces published here to open up a conversation.

Additionally, I had the idea to work on a special project called the Redefine Rejection Project. Rejection is a huge part of life, and it especially comes through as a hard punch in the literary world. It’s so gut-wrenching when you pour your heart into a piece and it gets rejected from a contest or publication, but it doesn’t define you or your work. That’s why I wanted to highlight work that people have had rejected.

Here’s the description of the project from our website: We want to start a conversation about rejection in the literary world. Feel free to share a favorite line (or multiple) from a piece of yours that’s been rejected from a contest or publication. These will be shared on our social media accounts and on a special section of our website. You may choose whether you would like to be acknowledged or you would like the line(s) to be recognized anonymously. Rejection doesn’t define us, but we can redefine rejection.

If you’re interested in submitting to the magazine, please use this form or check out our website to find the same form there.

If you’re interested in applying to be on our staff, please use this form or check out our website to find the same form there.

If you’re interested in submitting a line or a few lines of your work to the Redefine Rejection Project but not submitting to the actual magazine, please use this form or check out our website to find the same form there.

If you have any questions, please message me or leave them in the comments so I can address them! I would love for you guys to check out the magazine. You can also check us out at @intersectionslitmag on Instagram, and we’ll probably make a Twitter account soon. Thank you so much for your support on this blog– it’s one of the main reasons I thought taking on another project like this would be possible 🙂

Brooke

Let’s Talk: Writing About Coronavirus

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

Today I wanted to discuss my thoughts on writing about coronavirus. It makes sense to write about things that affect you and you have personal experience with, which means a lot of writing about coronavirus is happening right now. I’ve written a couple pieces about it myself on this blog that you may have seen. I’m not saying it’s a good or bad thing– no writing topic is simply good or bad. If you want to hear the rest of my thoughts on this hot topic translating into your writing, keep on reading.

As I already briefly mentioned, I think it’s so important that we see pieces that reflect the crazy times we’re in now! However, I know that for me personally, it’s really hard to put my own personal twist on this topic. I’ve been very careful about social distancing and there’s only so many things I can write about being stuck in my house.

I’m also lucky enough to not know anyone personally who’s had the virus yet or particularly suffered from having the virus– my family members and friends are thankfully safe. I don’t have a personal experience to write about in this area, and I’m not in a place where I want to find one.

I’ve come to the point where I want to write about anything else as an escape from reality and a reminder of different, happier times. If you’re at that point too, that’s not a bad thing either. Write about whatever comforts you and gets you through living in these times.

Conversely, if you need to write about COVID-19 and related things to cope with the situation and get those feelings out on the page, of course do that! Besides, who am I to tell you what to write anyway? 🙂 As we’re all probably familiar with, writing is just another form of freedom of expression that makes our lives more bearable.

As with any topic you plan to write about, write your truth, and write it your way. I have enjoyed hearing about other people’s perspectives on this situation– the bad, the good, all of it together. This is definitely a strange time that needs to be documented, and there’s plenty of free time to sit down and document it. Similarly, there’s plenty of free time to read about it and keep up with the news.

There’s also so much going on in our world right now that’s not directly related to COVID-19. 2020 has been an absolute rollercoaster, and the political climate is intense right now in the USA because of the upcoming election. You can write about these topics if you want without mentioning COVID-19 at all, and they’re just as relevant!

I hope this was sparked some inspiration or other thoughts for you all! I just wanted to have a sort of reminder that this is a great time to write, whether it’s about what’s going on in the world or not. Please feel free to leave your thoughts on this in the comments. Stay safe and healthy out there!

Brooke