Wednesday, August 01, 2007

3 Word Wednesday XLVI



Welcome to Three Word Wednesday. Each week, I will post three (or more) random words. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write something using all of those words. It can be a few lines, a story, a poem, anything. I'll also attempt to write something using the same words.

Leave a comment if you participate. Many fun and interesting people might visit your blog.

This week's words are:
Gray
Fathom
Memphis


It's the lasting imprint
Of a cold, gray summer day
Thousands came and millions wept
Unable to fathom the reality

It's tears that never ceased
That you can't see, but feel
It's the music you can still hear
In your mind and in your ears

It's the feeling that others
Have tread these same streets
And the haunting sense that
Someone is just beyond your sight

It's the history in the walls
Echoes in the wind
Voices from the past
Shadows on the sidewalk

It's crossing the Mississippi
Feeling the ghosts surround
Knowing I'm almost home
Or maybe I already am

That's Memphis to me

"I'm walking in Memphis. Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale. Walking in Memphis, but do I really feel the way I feel..."

44 comments:

  1. Alright-I am the first comment but I don't know yet if Memphis has a meaning so I am not finished but this will still be the link.
    click here

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  2. gray day, got the blues
    I've never been to Memphis
    hard to fathom, no?

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  3. Mine is up.

    Memphis??? Do you know how hard that is for an ongoing saga set in London? Especially when the episode is already written? But I did it. (I think the challenge is harder since I started N&S, because I already know where I'm going, and I have to make it work). :D

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  4. Hi! When I first saw the word 'fathom' I thought it said 'fathorn' until I cleaned my computer screen!
    Click here.

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  5. I met a boy who died in Memphis on what i imagine to be a gray day.
    Can't fathom how anybody would be so sad, he would take out a gun....Loved that boy once. Most people thought we were married and made for each other

    Now that I have depressed y'all. That isn't my 3WW. It will be fiction, fun and up tonight

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  6. ok I am here... I am thinking.. these 3 are tough for me! I will have a go at it this afternoon!!

    Do you play singles or doubles? Competitive?

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  7. My first 3WW

    http://walktotheleft.blogspot.com/2007/08/three-word-wordnesday-01.html

    Hope you'll enjoy reading it;

    Lissa

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  8. I had a hard time with this, CSS woes have turned my brain from its Muse to frustration, but...

    http://meeaugraphie.com/2007/08/3ww-tourist-trap.html

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  9. OK, today is a comedy, I am the joke - this link REALLY works -

    Tourist Trap

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  10. mine's up :)

    short and sweet as usual.

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  11. Mine went in a totally unexpected direction. Hope everyone likes it.

    http://www.herburban.com/?p=2019

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  12. I loved the words and posted. Have to take a nap before commenting. No perspective on if it's good or not
    courtingdestiny.com/archives/2007/08/01/bone-3ww-little-nibbler-if-you-read-only-one-blog-this-year-pia-savage-4/

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  13. Oh it's on my sidebar post-link from the main post

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  14. Hey, look at this, I've got mine posted and it's still Wednesday!

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  15. Here is my attempt:

    http://fledglingpoet.blogspot.com/2007/08/tears-of-slate-and-silver-three-word.html

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  16. I meant to write a clever post, but everything isnt black and white... its more gray right now. Posting on these words will be difficult as I am off to Philly (unexpectedly) not Memphis... I cant fathom how I can get it all done!!! UGGGGGGG so sorry! Have a great week! =]

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  17. hey I posted...its really really short...especially for me...Ill be back later...if you read mine please link your story in a comment, I couldn't find everyones last week!!!

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  18. better late than never.. had no internet all day while they "upgraded" their system......

    heres mine
    http://why-paisley.com/2007/08/01/3ww-2/

    i still haven't figured out how to link it on comments... sorry...

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  19. Thank you all for participating this week! The proper noun was a first for 3WW :) Can't wait to get around and see what you all did with it.

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  20. i got one written this week! it's here.

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  21. Apologies to our American friends but I couldn't resist the temptation. Here it is:
    http://writersnoteobook.blogspot.com/

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  22. No story this time. I used the words for my usual post. Maybe next week or next month.

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  23. Nice poem, lots of ghost appearing in posts, come to think of it, this August will make it 30 years since Elvis died in Memphis...

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  24. We've never been to Memphis, but I can feel the streets beneath my feet.

    Thanks Bone for your words.

    Rose

    xo

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  25. It's the lasting imprint--you're right and you captured it.

    But I read this last night and couldn't comment

    Because we all want to feel our imprint on this earth after we're gone, and if we're not Elvis or have kids, or did something so exceptional or what people perceive to be exceptional, we leave no lasting imprint

    I think many people have kids in the name of leaving an imprint though they would never admit that

    I think people who have come to the realization they can't or shouldn't have children yearn for that imprint, forgetting that isn't necessarily the most deserving, most talented etc who leave the largest imprints but it's usually an accident of fate

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  26. While your entire poem is amazing, Bone, this part struck a chord with me:

    Knowing I'm almost home
    Or maybe I already am

    That's Memphis to me


    Home means different things to different people, and I think we've all had that sense a time or two.

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  27. Lightheaded & Paul & Alison: Thanks for participating.

    Sage: Yes, it will be 30 years August 16th. I mean, that is, if you believe...

    Rose Dewey: Thanks for your kind comment.

    Pia: So what you're telling us is, you're All Shook Up? ;-)

    I think most of us hope to leave some lasting impression. I guess I hope to have affected a few people in my life in a positive way.

    TC: Thank you. I had written the rest and went back and added that last stanza later.

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  28. Wonderful poem- kind of sad and very emotional

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  29. I started my "stranded" in Arkansas story which is all true. I couldn't write it all today tho, there'll be more in the next few days too.

    p.s. yep we went thru Memphis (we go thru there seemingly a hundred times a year)...

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  30. Great poetry, Bone. That's unusual for you (not the great part, but the poetry). I enjoyed it... these Memphis moods are all so strange to me. I guess it's because I'm from California and Memphis is just another word (or world, which is what my fingers wanted to type first) to me.

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  31. Also wanted to say that I turned my 3WW post from April 11 (lost waved lines) into a short story and submitted it to the Mississippi Crow Literary Journal for publication and THEY ACCEPTED IT. It will be in Issue 6 when it is printed this fall. Now that my novel is done and I'm not quite ready to start another one, I've been looking at a lot of my old pre-N&S posts as short story material.

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  32. Excellent poem, Bone. There is still a lot of Memphis I have yet to see or experience. Your poem makes me want to go back and see all I missed.

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  33. Very nice. I suppose I should've seen Memphis coming in the end (it was one of the words after all), but then I ain't so bright ;-)

    I think expecting this to lead somewhere other than where it did was one of the reasons I found this such a pleasant read. You let me drift somewhere I wanted to go, then surprised me with your actual destination at "crossing the Mississippi."

    Nice piece.

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  34. Hi Bone! I've not been to Memphis yet, but I really want to go after reading your wonderful poem -- especially because of the "Echoes in the wind/ Voices from the past/ Shadows on the sidewalk". I hope I get to go sometime soon.
    :)

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  35. Mine is up; it's kinda pathetic, but c'mon -- Memphis?????? lol

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  36. oh my god! I think this has got to be my favorite of yours!!! Its all so good!!!! I would be attempting to publish this if I were you...in like a travel mag or something!!!!

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  37. I'm late this week. Sorry! These words gave me a problem, but it's up now. Go here Memphis In Her Dreams

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  38. I don't really have any camping secrets. We're still looking for the perfect campground...hoping this place we're going is nice and not too wet. We seem to be in our Monsoon season now...today we got about 3 inches!

    Your poem was really great.

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  39. My first 3 Word Wednesday, and I may have cheated (used a variation of one of the words).

    My story begins like this:

    On her first visit to Memphis, Lydia begged her husband to take her to the storied waters of the Mississippi. His family looked at her with bored surprise; she was from up north. California. They eat raw fish out there. Leave their windows open all the time.

    “We’re almost there,” Joe said, succumbing to familial pressure.

    Lydia leaned forward in the passenger seat and rolled down the window to breath the used up Memphis air, heavy with 8-cylinder exhaust, two pack a day exhalations, and . . .

    The rest is here:www.bloodmother.com

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  40. Lissa: Thanks, Lissa. And welcome to Three Word Wednesday :)

    Shelby: Can't wait to read about your misadventures. I love crossing the bridge over the Mississippi coming into Memphis.

    Gay: Memphis is just another word

    Interesting you should say that, as I wrote a small bit about California after I visited there my first time, and I said the exact same thing. Until you visit a place, it's just a name.

    Congratulations on getting the story published! That's exciting.

    Herb Urban: Thanks. There's still good live music in Memphis. Just have to look for it sometimes.

    Carlos: Thank you. Hearing something I've written is a pleasurable read is always a nice compliment.

    Clare: I think it's worth a visit. I've been a few times and I've always thought you could feel the history there.

    Manky: I feared Memphis might prove tough, but I think everyone handled it quite nicely.

    ATag: Wow, thanks Tagster! I've been thinking about starting to look for places to submit a few things.

    Annie: That's quite alright, Annie. Better late than never :)

    Renee: The perfect campground? Is that anything like the perfect cheer?

    Thanks :)

    Sandra: Oh wow, a preview of your piece :) Thanks for participating and welcome to 3 Word Wednesday.

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  41. Well, I could not participate. But looking at the words, I do not relate to Memphis. May be it was a good thing for me not being able to post.

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