I signed up to receive writing prompts from my friend, Lisa, and I confess I’ve been doing the easy ones. She just sent me an impossible one. When I read the prompt I immediately shut down and headed for the delete button. But then I thought a moment. How would I answer that? What would I write, if it is something that immediately throws such a wall up? Talk about the ultimate writing challenge. I thought there was absolutely no way to answer her prompt, to come up with anything. That made me realize I had to try.
What was the horrible prompt?
She asked us to write a love song to our bodies.
Stifle that immediate, uncomfortable emotional response you just had. Set that aside, and pause a moment.
Could you answer that?
I figured out a way to answer it, I challenged myself to write something, and it’s nowhere near what was probably intended by the prompt. I know it’s going to upset those family and friends who read this, but keep in mind that this is my honest response to myself, right or wrong, healthy or not. And, hey, it also made me laugh when I wrote the first line. Laughter is always a good thing.
What would be your honest response? Could you be honest? Give it a try. I dare you.
Here’s my writing prompt response, my love song to my body.
It could be worse.
The red hair could be redder. The freckles could be frecklier. The weight could be heavier. The reflection, the view of my mother, could be clearer.
The anger could be fury, The hurt could be betrayal. The loss could be permanent. The sense of not getting ahead could be falling behind.
Who I see might become what others see. They might quit filtering me through a lens of personality.
A love song like this becomes an exercise in pity.
But, it could be worse.
Son, me, husband, facing the sun
Lisa Stowe - The Story River Blog 
Now, i will sit up late trying to meet your challenge. love jani
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I love my body
This I can say
It took 60 years
To feel this way
I could not love
the strong young body
That lifted the car
Off of my Daddy
I would ingest poisons
Between my babies
In my twenties
My body kept on loving me
I love my body
That hugged cancer
Until it left
Stronger than the malignancy
I love the way
My body forgives
And lets me try
Again and again
My body is my dearest home
Housing my rocking mind
And aging bones
I love you body
What a wonderful prompt and powerful way to say good night. Thank you giver of prompts and dear sister for the challenge.
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What a hard writing prompt. I do like what you’ve done with it. (But the smile couldn’t be bigger in the photo.)
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Oh, wow, Lisa. When I came to this post I was very surprised and after reading it I’m truly amazed. There isn’t really a word for how I feel; it astounds me that something I put together from my own head could spark so much reaction and thought from someone else, and yet it’s obviously not my doing, but what you brought to it that’s so powerful. Thank you. This made my whole day because I’d been noticing silence on the tumblr and was trying not to assume that meant no one wanted to do the prompts anymore (there we go again, my brain jumping to the most down-on-myself conclusion). I hadn’t even thought that anyone would be responding the way you did, because duh, I made these up and I don’t have that kind of impact! So I’m just floored.
You and your family look lovely and close. 🙂
By the way, I actually don’t have intentions for the prompts or what I think people should/will write from them. I pick prompts that I think I will want to write from (or need to write from), and then give them a once- or twice- over to make sure they’re not just applicable to me, and that’s it. And even so, things don’t go as intended: I’ll write a prompt thinking it’ll push me to address x topic, but on the day that I open it, it will suggest something entirely different to me, and once again I’ve managed not to discuss x!
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