The Shape of the Darkness
This is, in some senses, a hard week to be a writer. And in other senses, it’s the only way to live through this week, to describe, as Dimas Ilaw did, the shape of the darkness as it overtakes us. “We need writers because we need someone to articulate everything that arises within us in response to the brutality of our lives. Because, after this nameless cry has found a semblance of words to frame it—at least enough to be sentence-skeletons, enfleshed enough to hold together as a mass of muscle and skin and anger—then we can grasp it. Then we can act.”
But maybe you don’t want to read Ilaw’s whole essay, although you should. Maybe you’re still reading. Maybe you’re making up your mind. Maybe you’re making excuses. Maybe you don’t have words.
Would you like some words? Warsan Shire has words for Home.
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
your neighbors running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilet
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough
the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important
no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here
I don’t know what to say to you, other than do your job. I don’t know what to say to you, other than keep making words. Keep telling stories of what could be, and what was, and what might still be. You’re a writer. For all of our sakes – write.
I’m supposed to have a chirpy intro text here for the Roundup but I’m not feeling it today, and maybe you’re not either. I’ll write it, though. And I hope you’ll promise me that you’ll keep writing.
And once you’re done reading through the Roundup, keep scrolling down to check out who won the popular vote on both grids. If you earned the highest number of votes in any challenge, you are this week’s Crowd Favorite. If you came in first, second or third, you get “Top Three” honors. Grab your badge from our sidebar.
Looking for your badge? Both grids have the same Winner, Editorial Staff Pick, and Top Three badges. It doesn’t clutter up our sidebar, and they’ll still look pretty on yours!
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #375
I could write a whole lot of explanation around this phrase, but I’ll take my own advice:
Know what you want to say, and get there cleanly.
(need some assistance? check out our writing help section.)
Shameless plug: If you’ve been wondering how to get from “that prompt’s in there, I guess” to “this story seamlessly and effortlessly integrated a complex set of prompts” have we got a class for you. Registration is open for all members and nonmembers.
Not a shameless plug, but a roundup: Hey, so I’ve talked a lot about point of view. One huge mistake you can make with POV is trying to do a Big Reveal for your readers when your POV character should already know what the reveal is. Consider making your reveal a surprise to the POV character, or not having them be shocked by something they should have known all along, ok?
That’s it for this week! If you’re lost in the middle of the grid and wondering how you can get a little more feedback on your posts, check out our membership perks! If you’re more the self-help type, remember to scroll through our writing help section for tips and tricks. Even if a post isn’t directed at your favorite grid, there’s probably a handy hint for you in there anyway!
Everybody: before you go, please take some time to leave your favorites a little love in the comments, and don’t forget, the Weekend Writing Showcase opens tonight at 6pm Eastern US Time!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #374
The thumbnails are now sorted in order of most votes to fewest. Ties in the overall number of votes are broken by number of editor votes.
Congratulations if you’re at or near the top! Writing well is hard work, and we’re honored you’ve chosen us this week to showcase your entry.
If you’re at or near the bottom, don’t be discouraged. You’re in the right community for learning and growing as a writer, and we are always available with resources for those who ask nicely.
To our readers and voters: thank you! See you next week.
Nonfiction Challenge
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Loading InLinkz ...About the author:
Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.
