To stand at the edge
The red precipice
Must be 2,000 feet high
I crouch down
Inch forward
Lie flat
Wiggle further
And as I near the very edge
A chalk covered hand
Comes over the top
Taking a firm grip
A climber
Lean, lanky and powerful
Hoists herself up
Onto the flat beside me
Ropeless
Her legs
Dangle
Casually
Over the side
I urge my body
Hugging the flat rock
To make the final few inches
White knuckles gripping the edge
As I peer straight down
Into the dark, shadowy abyss
She reaches up to the sky
And shouts, “WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!”
I know we all live
In the same world
But
We don’t
Glen Canyon
Utah, United States
Taken during travels, 1996
Each week I provide a photograph of mine along with a single word. The challenge? Use the pic and/or word as points of inspiration to create something — a photograph, a painting, prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, longread or just a few words. You are welcome to use these two elements (photograph and word) literally, thematically or metaphorically. If you create both images and words, all the better.
To participate:
- Use any title you like
- Your response can be words and/or an image
- Better if the words are your own
- You may use my image in your post, or any image you have created
- Place the challenge’s Pic (if you use it for inspiration) and Word prominently in your post
- Mention that you are responding to the Pic and a Word Challenge
- Add a link to this post in your response
To help us find your response, you can also:
- Add a comment on this post to announce your response
- Apply the tag “Pic and a Word Challenge” to your post
Each week, I’ll list the previous week’s responses at the end of the new challenge. I may also share some on my social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.
Last week we hung in there… This week, let’s hang over the edge!

The word for last week’s Pic and a Word Challenge #20 was Tenacity, along with this photograph of a Ghost Gum tree clinging to a rocky hilltop in Australia’s Simpson Desert.
Six tenacious posts this week. Thanks everyone!
- To persevere and succeed., by Cherrytato
- Determination, by LadyLeeManila
- Tenacity, by Dancing Echoes
- Tenacity II, by Dancing Echoes
- Ohm’s Law, by Elusive Trope
- Hang On~Loop Poetry, by WritersDream9
Oh, and two additional postings for Waiting ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #19. (I just realised I hadn’t updated “This Week’s Challenge” on the Pic and a Word Challenge main page. Apologies to those who missed Tenacity this past week because of it.)