Aphorisms are short sayings usually with some moral or meaning… kind of like a mini-fable! 🙂 But, a lot of times, they can end up being used as clichés, standing in for thinking about the concept more deeply.
A cliché is so…cliché, but anything can be interesting if you take a closer look at it. Sayings turn into sayings for *some* reason, after all. Take an aphorism from this aphorism list and ask “why”? or “how could this be played out”? in a specific scene or setting. Then write a poem or a tiny story that illustrates the idea in the aphorism, takes it literally, or interprets it in a different sense.
So, for example, with “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” you could write a poem about the value of something had versus a greater thing which you don’t actually have. Or, you could write a poem about a person who has a literal bird in their hand and has to decide whether to let it go in order to maybe get two that are in a nearby bush. Or you could write a poem about birds, one of which is a rare species, the other of which is common, or write a poem about how to get a bird (metaphorical or literal) into your hand in the first place.
Featured Poem
Thanks to everyone who participated in our recent poetry prompt. Here’s a poem we enjoyed from L.L. Barkat…
Dandelion
I call you gift
from the divine
mine, seeded
everywhere,
everywhere offering
early nectar
for spring’s first
bees,
the honey
promised
already
in your wheels
of brilliant
yellow
which I welcome
as gold,
pure
gold.
—L.L. Barkat
Photo by Tracy, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Sara Barkat.
L.L. Barkat says
Thanks for featuring my poem. 😉 (I will make you some dandelion leaf salad in return.)
Sara Barkat says
Hooray! (As long as it doesn’t *just* have dandelions in it 😉 )