Fujifilm X-T4, Landscape, Poetry
by Patrick Jennings

Windswept ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #385

Windswept, Highway 430, The Viking Trail, River of Ponds, Newfoundland, Canada

This is a bedraggled
Windswept spot of rock
On a far northern sea

The gales blow hard over open water
Make landfall with merciless ferocity
And there break the will of branch and limb
Leaving nought but the tenacious grass
Which cleaves to the rubble of shoreline stone

And here am I
Full face into this sunny storm
Turbulence heavy in my ears
As it ties knots in my swept back hair

I remind myself
Be supple
Like the grass
Bend with the buffeting
And I too can thrive

Even if life sometimes seems
A gale upon a bedraggled rock
There is no small victory
In the supple tenacity
Of just getting through a day
With grace and dignity

I may even find
A little peace in it
Perhaps some beauty
Like I do here
Today
On this western shore
Of Newfoundland

Windswept
River of Ponds
Highway 40
The Viking Trail
Newfoundland, Canada

Taken during  travels, 2023

Pic and a Word Challenge

Last week we felt Abandoned.

This week, let’s stand tall on a  Windswept shore. Or find something else to inspire you in this photograph of supple grass and broken stone on Newfoundland’s west coast. (Apologies for being late this week.)

The Pic and a Word Challenge is a weekly creativity prompt offered  Mondays.

With each challenge I provide a photograph of mine along with a single word. The challenge? Use the pic and/or word as  inspiration to create something — a photograph, a painting, podcast, video, 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 images
  • You may use my image to illustrate your post, or any images you have created
  • 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 — whether on WordPress, Instagram, Flicker, Tumblr, etc. — you can also:

  • Add a comment on this post to announce your response
  • Apply the tag/hashtag “Pic and a Word Challenge” or “#picandawordchallenge” 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.

The previous challenge was: Abandoned

Abandoned or Empty, Cabin 2nd Floor, Panther Paintball, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Challenge #384 ~ Abandoned

The word for last week’s Pic and a Word Challenge #384  was Abandoned, along with this photograph of an empty cabin attic at Panther Paintball in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

Four bloggers found discovered what had been Abandoned this week.  Thanks everyone! 🙂

View all the Pic and a Word Challenges, including the current challenge, on the Pic and a Word Challenge tag page.

Happy Creating! ❤