Message in a Bottle #27
Origin: Isle of Write
Sender: @geekorner
Recipients: Steemit Creatives
Islander Highlights - Week 6!
Greetings one and all! It's been a bit silent on the Isle front. Or rather, all your lovely pieces of art have washed upon our shores without stop, but we've been a bit too busy to let the world know that we are still here, still alive. Busy with surprise moves to the Isle, refurbishing of old abandoned cabins, or just ye olde taking care of cats and herding them all to try and get all the things done all over the Isle.
Be as it may, the cats have come back bringing word and song of deed and writings of all sorts. We hope it won't be as long until the next missive, but until then, let us speak of what the loyal (green) cat-horde has brought back!
Non-fiction:
@raj808, the self-professed "Scuba Scribe" begins the long and (not so) harrowing tale of a scuba trip that changed his life. Rowan's writing is always a pleasure to read, so give it a go. Three parts, linked is the first:
I finned languidly in the light current, following my buddy through the winding paths between the boomies. The panicky feeling of constantly checking depth/air faded with my profound calm.
Scuba Scribe - Diving Elephant Rock and the Shimmering Night - Part 1
@katrina-ariel, known for her yoga pieces and lovely photos, gives us a poem she reads for us and accompanies with music. Nice tunes, nice vocals, nice words. A lovely piece to listen to.
I’ve been a warrior
I’ve been a queen
Now I find myself
Somewhere in between
@tygertyger recounts the tale of her Russian great-great-grandmother and her matrilineal offspring. Women of revolution, of taking their fate in their own hands, and who stood for things.
It did not matter to them that she had openly sided with them many times, or that she was the kind of person that fought to make people lives better.
Zoe’s Daughters or a set of Russian nesting dolls
Fiction:
@chrisroberts revisits an American folk hero, placing him in a near-futuristic setting, in a very American story about the human spirit.
So after more than ten years of impeccable driving with a perfect record, John Henry was forced to give up his car. He was one of the very last.
@mitthradiumn brings us an extremely irreverent look at how the forces above and below look at humanity and follow the social movements of us mortals, which also acts as critique on "divine morality."
"We can't segregate the gays dude."
"We sent them to Hell until literally this morning."
"Times change."
Poetry:
@reewritesthings shares a simple post about the origin of her strength, of who she is.
Marked in my skin
is the smile
of my father
@lazarus-wist has a number of very sparse poems, and I mean this as high praise. They deserve more attention. This piece is about individuality and relationships. Then again, which poem isn't? The universal through the personal. That's poetry.
then what I’m really saying
is I disagree that
either of us has a rightful
claim to individuality.
@poetrybyjeremy shares another poem from his Sombre Days, a poetic chronicle of his growing up. This time, fittingly, it's about trying to not grow up, to not change.
Petals withering
stifling my throat,
but I am not ready
to show everyone
my true colours.
@mamadini tends to write very soul-baring poems. This one takes it to another level, even for her, recounting her emotional upbringing and flight-turned-journey to mental independence.
I became strong the first time I ran away
at six to get away from death by the hands of a man
death from the end of a broken bottle,
death from the dankness of a root cellar
death with every breath
Free-write:
@mariannewest's plucky band of adventurers has set their shack on the Isle's shores, so I thought we could give them their own section here.
@byn's weekend free-write (which is a 3-part prompt written over 15 minutes and not 5, for those who are not aware), recounts the story of a bonding trip undertaken by a loud father and a recalcitrant son.
“Sorry about that, I guess I inherited mom’s weak stomach.” I knew that the mention of mom as weak would make him happy. I was right.
Starting Fresh: Three Part Weekend Freewrite
@bennettitalia takes on children's fairy tales for this stream of consciousness poetry for the free-write. A prince in search of a running princess is the theme.
I saw you run off
You can't have got far
On foot
Without your pumpkin car
The Slipper - a poem for Freewrite - before midnight
@marie-jay has been knocking it out of the park. I came across many entries of hers that I wanted to include in this over-view, but settled on this one, as it is a great example for what micro-fiction often does very well - surprise you. And what could be surprising in a story about a probably stolen iPhone seller? Well, read and find out!
Just give me a hundred bucks and it's yours...take it off my hands and I'll be on my way...
Reminder, if you'd like to be considered for being showcased in these posts, don't forget to make use of the #isleofwrite tag, and no, it doesn't have to be the first tag! Just to make sure we can find your writing. The cats, they get easily distracted!
Do you believe as we do that Steemit Creatives deserve recognition for their hard work and talent? If so, please help us in our mission to reward this creativity both on and off Steemit. Upvote, resteem, follow!
Are you looking to help a community dedicated to the respect and encouragement of Steemit creativity? Please consider a donation or delegation to Isle of Write. All of our account earnings go back into the Steemit Creative community.
If you'd like to wash up on our shore,
a click of the map brings you straight to our door!
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
Are you looking to help a community dedicated to the respect and encouragement of Steemit creativity? Please consider a donation or delegation to Isle of Write. All of our account earnings go back into the Steemit Creative community.
If you'd like to wash up on our shore,
a click of the map brings you straight to our door!
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
Very beautiful island
Thanks for the feature guys - only just found this post now. Lot's of great work on display here; @mamadini's poem in particular struck a chord, so thanks also for introducing me to some more great writers.
Hey! Your poems are really good. I wanted to share three of them here, but this one stood out to me the most. I'm hoping you'll get more attention, as your pieces really are worth it :)
All Hail the Isle! The most productive and loving server (regarding steemit) on Discord.
Thank you. <3
I keep finding amazing writes through these highlights
You are too kind and we've been too remiss. Thank you for sticking with us in our lull!
I'm looking forward to this week's highlight, so I too may find pearls found by others.
And yes, it's a great server. Great due to having people like you and everyone else on display here. And no, I'm not talking about the quality of art, but the quality of people :)
These are all awesome reads though I have not read all... I have left my trail on the ones I have read and had something to say. Thank you for sharing... Now following :)
Welcome to the Isle @tezmel! Thanks for reading and following!
I enjoy it when these curation posts come out. So much good content, and being given the best ones is so much fun.
This time I had to do the job myself, but it meant I saw even more stuff :D
Wow!! Look at all these wonderful writers!!! And thank you for giving the freewriters a section!!! So happy about that!! Such a talented bunch!!!
The freewriters are such a great and talented group, we're lucky to have so many at the Isle!
Hey, they deserve it! Thank you for being part of the Isle Marianne! <3
I can't wait to read these pieces. I really enjoyed your teaser descriptions. I did read @bennetitalia and what a treat!
There is so much good stuff coming out of #isleofwrite!
Writing the teasers was a lot of fun! Especially @byn and @marie-jay's, so I'm glad you liked them! :D
I certainly do! Take care. :)
@Geekorner really did a great job on the teasers, you're so right. @bennettitalia has volunteered his own talents for next week's highlights so stay tuned!
Absolutely! I look forward to more!
What a collection of talented writers! Thank you for including my poem/song. I'm honoured. This is an excellent curation effort, thanks for putting this together, @geekorner.
We're honored to have such talent on the Isle and lucky to have @geekorner to help keep us moving along!
You're a source of joy on the Isle Katrina. Thank you for being part of the community :)
And you're welcome! Nothing like sharing great content with others, and helping good content reach more eyes. Win-win!
Thanks for the mention!!! I'll go check some of these awesome people out as well!
Thanks for being part of the Isle and for checking out your fellow Islanders' work! That's our goal!
Thank you! I'm sorry, I somehow missed this comment!
Your content is consistently good, I love coming across it byn :)
Thank you so much! :) It means a lot and I really appreciate the support!
Thanks @isleofwrite! <3 Thank you @geekorner for this curation post!
Thanks for sharing your talents with us!
There were actually two posts of yours I wanted to include. Thank you for sharing this good content! And it was my pleasure to feature it! :)
Thank you so much @geekorner! ;)
Is there anything you're NOT good at, @geekorner? This is so thoughtful, well written, and engaging! Thank you for "herding cats" - rounding up some of the best of IOW - and, of course, there is more, always more, if we just click on those hashtags; #isleofwrite, #freewrite, #steemsugars, #fiction, #poetry, #writing, just see where a click of a hashtag takes you, and how many writers you can meet.
There are plenty of things I'm not good at. There are even some things I'm quite bad at (like spatial awareness, even with maps). I'm just showing my good side off here. Much better than the alternative.
And well, you know how it is, taking care of the IOW and this curation post are also akin to herding cats, but I was thinking of the literal sense, heh.
And yes, so much good content. This post was hard to write, because of how much lovely content was left out :(
Thank you for your support and love Carol :)
He's a treasure for sure!
Thanks for mentioning me! I'm thrilled you liked that particular story, especially as it was a bit different from what I normally do!