This weekend’s challenge is quite appropriate for my feelings this week. Our challenge this week is to give a 33 word summary of how to exorcise our demons. My questions to myself when preparing to write this are: Which demon? Am I exorcising my self-loathing? Am I exorcising my lack of worthiness? Am I exorcising feeling like a shoddy wife? A bad mother? My fear of abandonment? My need to hurt myself to make the pain in my heart go away? My generally pessimistic attitude? How about exorcising the demon that tells me that for the seventh entry in a row my Trifecta/Trifextra piece has not placed and that, therefore, I am not as good a writer as I fancy myself to be?
Well, just as last week, this is a community judged piece. On Sunday evening, you can return to the challenge page and click the star next to the three pieces you like the best.
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Close my eyes.
Visualize a black box.
Fortify the walls.
Put a lock on it that would shame Fort Knox.
Throw in fears, doubts, hatred.
Shut the lid.
Lock it.
Swallow the key.
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December 30, 2012 at 4:02 PM
My mother told me about this box when I was angry, which was very often
Well written.
P.S: Your demons look like mine
December 31, 2012 at 12:25 PM
And here I was thinking it was a ‘me original….’ It is still a good tactic.
December 30, 2012 at 12:36 PM
I hope pandora’s box is acid proof… I’d imagine bile and hatred can cause wear and tear over the years.
December 31, 2012 at 12:23 PM
I guess that would depend on how long they can live without thought or air…
December 30, 2012 at 6:55 AM
We all need to learn to unlock our boxes, ourselves. Writing helps. And impure a good writer so keep letting that out.
December 31, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Thanks, Gina. Part of the reason I write is to slay these demons one by one as I let them out.
December 30, 2012 at 4:04 AM
Please don’t judge your ability to write based on our picking or not picking you. Barbara is 100% right up there ^.
I like this response very much. Sometimes you have to force yourself to be brave, right?
December 30, 2012 at 4:05 AM
Oh wait, I just realized my comment is going to go above Barbara’s. ha! Okay, down there.
December 30, 2012 at 5:04 AM
It’s not about winning, I know. Certainly not a plea for pity. It was more a comment based on using anything as a means of self-flagellation.
December 29, 2012 at 10:03 PM
Oh, I like this one! Great idea of compartmentalizing, but get rid of the key to the compartments! Nice!
December 29, 2012 at 7:15 PM
Very nice, but without the contents of that box, would we be writers?
December 29, 2012 at 2:42 PM
winning writing challenges does not a good writer make . . . just sayin’
Keep that bocx close by – but be ready to open it up and let the good fly out.
December 29, 2012 at 2:43 PM
*box (fat fingers)
December 29, 2012 at 2:59 PM
I thought you were making a new word.
December 29, 2012 at 2:59 PM
Thanks.
I agree.
December 29, 2012 at 10:56 AM
I have a strong feeling that this time the demon is going to be vanquished:-)Such wonderful poem-loved every word!My fav line ?”Put a lock on it that would shame Fort Knox”.
December 29, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Thank you! It’s funny how a thought can begin with 100+ words and then word by word, it has to be whittled it down to brass tacks.
December 29, 2012 at 12:05 PM
True-its like a piece of art & once you graduate to being a master(or should it be past mistress?lol!)sculptor,the “whittling” becomes more precise & economical:-)Am hoping that after a year at Trifecta,that is next year this time,I will be at least a few steps ahead of where I am now
December 29, 2012 at 12:41 PM
In my humble opinion, that’s the purpose of these writing challenges: improvement of the art. It’s really not about the winning, it’s about the growing ability. Winning a Trifextra or Trifecta weekly challenge doesn’t really take a place on a CV or portfolio. Lol.
December 29, 2012 at 1:08 PM
I agree:-)
December 29, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Oh I like the way you’ve managed to sum up basically all of mankind in 33 words!
December 29, 2012 at 10:10 AM
December 29, 2012 at 5:03 AM
We all so need that box
December 29, 2012 at 9:05 AM
The great thing about it is that it lives in your head, if you make it there. My kids spend so much time visualizing the box before they go to bed that they are asleep before they can even start throwing the scary stuff in it.
December 29, 2012 at 4:29 AM
This is beautifully written and well said. And don’t even give a thought to your Trifecta demon. Your stuff is good.
December 29, 2012 at 9:03 AM
Thanks, Lumdog.
December 28, 2012 at 9:36 PM
I want a black box like that. I’d swallow ten thousand keys if that would keep the ‘bad stuff’ locked inside forever.
P.S. You’re a fine writer. I know not placing can be a blow to the ego (I don’t place a lot) but don’t let that shake you
December 29, 2012 at 9:03 AM
Thanks Janna.
December 28, 2012 at 6:38 PM
You are not a bad writer!! This piece proves your fear groundless. It is most excellent. If only these anxieties were so easily put away!
December 29, 2012 at 9:01 AM
December 28, 2012 at 4:22 PM
So very, very good.
December 28, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Thank you, Paula!
December 28, 2012 at 4:02 PM
I loved this & quite honestly, so many thoughts are in my head after reading it, I can’t put them into words. Very powerful.
December 28, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Thank you, Jane!
December 28, 2012 at 3:04 PM
Great post. I want that box.
December 28, 2012 at 4:27 PM
That’s how I got over nightmares as a kid and it’s what I tell my kids to do when they are scared.