7:54 a.m. — Atlanta
listening to Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffett. He’s good for what ails you.
Hello all! Ready to rock and roll? What’s that? Can we just roll for now? Sure. I know: everyone is in the post-December doldrums. We’ll start with something nice and easy and I’ll throw you in the deep end next week.
Routine is defined as a usual course of action, the beaten path, hum-drum
Have you heard the saying: In a rut? Rut = metaphor: narrow, monotonous routine
With me, so far? Theory [all mine]: December, whether we take part in the holidays or not, is four weeks of colour, song, festivities and festiveness. Then we wake up one morning and it’s January 1st and we are supposed to return to our routines, as if December never happened. Do we wonder why so many of us feel grey and uncreative. Being winter in our hemisphere doesn’t help.
Jot notes on the following: How important is routine? When is it good; when is it bad? What happens when routine is broken? How do you feel when something usual and expected doesn’t happen? What does that say about us, our lives, our world?
Look over your notes, ponder, and choose the truth you want to convey about routine. Convey this truth in a poem that shows what you want to tell us.
If you want to rock a little, consider, given the meaning of routine, writing the poem in a form that matches, and therefore supports and complements what you say.
That’s it. When you have a poem, post it on your blog and return here to give us a link. Then, come back in a few days and see what others have written. If you have a question, ask. Remember that there is no wrong way to approach this. The objective is a poem, any poem that your brain allows to happen. Follow that tangent. Who knows what may happen.
I will see you Thursday for a State of the Blog address; Friday for the roundup of prompts; and next Tuesday for a found prompt.
Happy writing, everyone.
Bonus track bless his 64 year old heart.
tmhHoover
08/01/2013 at 8:52 am
Very insightful thoughts for so early in the morning. You got me pondering ,so early in the morning. In a way January is a relief from all that non-routine. Kind of like when the kids went back to school in the autumn. Obviously I am showing my true colors, It appears I like being in a rut – who knew?. Have a great week.
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 8:56 am
I wallow in my rut, Teri. The older I get the more I like routine, possibly because so much unexpected happens in our lives. The only reason I go with Skip to buy groceries on Sunday is because I can hardly say to my beloved that I really just as soon not leave my cave, thank you very much!
vivinfrance
08/01/2013 at 8:58 am
Margo, you’ve been reading my mind. This is what I’ve just put on my blog, before reading this:
Winter
It was my intention
to do so much today,
but
lethargy and indolence
have stolen my get-up-and-go.
Writing seems too strenuous,
too much effort is needed to sew.
It might be better just to sit and think
for a while, go with the flow.
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 9:01 am
Lordy, I do love serendipity, ViV. What fun. Well, not the feeling. I’m trying to force myself to creak back into creative with the small stones… when I remember to write them, and post them. Nice rhythm, by the way. The rhyme words set it up well.
Hannah Gosselin
11/01/2013 at 7:52 pm
Oh, yes…I read you that day…and I, too had decided to sit…and watched an excellent movie…”Sarah’s Key.”
The quote at the beginning and end was this, “When a story is told it is not forgotten, it becomes something else; the memory of who we were, the hope of what we may become.” I liked it and wrote it down.
You capture the sentiment of a winter feeling well, Viv!
rosross
08/01/2013 at 8:58 am
http://roslynrosssmallstones.blogspot.com/2013/01/routine.html
JulesPaige
08/01/2013 at 9:04 am
I’m waiting to get my blood drawn (give me the dang pencil already!!) Anyway I am out of my routine for the moment…
Just thought I’d let you know that if Elvis were alive (today being his birthday) he would be 78!
I’ll have to listen to Jimmy later as I’m at hubby’s work – the blood draw is for his new medical insurance.
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 9:08 am
Jules, I love that as you sit waiting for your life’s blood to be taken, you grab a few to write! You are a beacon of light in the grey!
I shall go listen to some Elvis songs. When we visited Graceland in October, we were struck by how small and homey [ugly furniture, but homey] it was and how lovely his grave is. I’m glad we went.
JulesPaige
08/01/2013 at 9:23 am
It’s Twilight Zone time again…I actually wrote about routine (that’s why the word sounded familiar) just before we left the house – but being that I have yet to breakfast I might be slightly faint of heart…anyway as I look at it an upside down drop…
http://julesgemstonepages.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/mindful-8/
(Hey If I didn’t have a laptop to bring with me to hubby’s office I’d have just brought a book or snagged some paper and a crayon. After all mornings and sharp objects are not a good combo.
Well it is part of my routine to write in the morning…maybe not so early as my daily piece today!
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 9:29 am
Did you see ViV’s comment? Twilight Zone again. I’m assuming the upside down drop refers to the poem [it does look like one] not your blood.
I hate the fast thing and then they warn us we’ll feel faint because they are drawing blood!
julespaige
08/01/2013 at 11:27 am
Funny…I guess we are all on the same wave length. Yep, an upside down drop for upsetting routine. It wasn’t so bad. Just a finger prick. But she had to squeeze hard and have me drop my hand off the table to get enough blood for the test. To my, “I’m alive, I’am alive!” her response was, -”Have you been watching Frankenstein lately?” …The best version by far is Mel Brooks’.
Did you know that (at least) I don’t get your reply notifications in WordPress. I don’t mind checking back every now and then. At least I’m getting you back (Your post that is) in my in-box.
In general I’m fine. Just need to lower a couple of numbers. Less eggs and low fat cheese. I can do that. I hope though that my slightly elevated numbers doesn’t up our rates. Now time to eat something and let my son know he can bring Son of Son over.
Have a great day – what’s left of it!
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 12:34 pm
NO! NOT THE EGGS AND CHEESE!
As far as I can tell, we are back to normal with wordpress and having to tick the little box. Give it a try and we’ll see what happens [MUAHAHA].
I hope you and son of Son have a lovely afternoon.
julespaige
08/01/2013 at 1:14 pm
OK! I got this one…Son of Son is watching a Thomas video.
Cheers!
Misky
08/01/2013 at 11:35 am
Good evening. http://miskmask.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/the-skiver/
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 12:35 pm
Well, hello there. Evening? She cast her eyes over at the tv clock and gasped. Where the hell does it all go!
Misky
08/01/2013 at 12:38 pm
Whoosh. It all goes whoosh.
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 12:40 pm
Carol Carlisle
08/01/2013 at 1:29 pm
Cheese burgers
They’re all about checkers table cloths with
towering mustard and catsup squeeze bottles
shoved aside for the red plastic basket filled with
the crinkling oily cheese stained paper
we pull apart to find our prize
Cheese burgers in paradise!
Now what was I suppose to write about? Routine? Boredom, sometimes then there are the familiar everyday rituals that make life grand. Nows the time to look for them
Happy New Year Margo thanks for the song!
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 3:54 pm
You nut! Happy New Year, Carol
Carol Carlisle
08/01/2013 at 2:29 pm
I turned my cheese burger poem into a whole post http://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/everyday-rituals-drive-away-the-winter-blues/
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 3:55 pm
On my way.
barbara_y
08/01/2013 at 3:05 pm
I’ve been wandering around the house griping about not knowing what day it is, and feeling pretty generally out of sorts. Since I don’t have much structure to begin with, the holiday season does leave me disoriented.
http://roughwords.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/cross-pollination/
barbara_y
08/01/2013 at 3:10 pm
Just noticed the time fibers in this thread. Yep.
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 3:49 pm
Exactly. Time vs routine. Time = routine. Time // routine.
margo roby
08/01/2013 at 3:49 pm
Thank god I decided to put weekdays in the post titles! We’ll know at least three days, when we are.
barbara_y
08/01/2013 at 4:56 pm
amen.
Hannah Gosselin
11/01/2013 at 7:39 pm
Seriously…every little bit helps, Margo!!!!
markwindham
09/01/2013 at 11:04 am
I’ll play!
http://awakenedwords.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/routine/
margo roby
10/01/2013 at 7:47 am
Well, yay! I’ll come over now.
Hannah Gosselin
09/01/2013 at 11:07 pm
Oh, hi!!! It was Tuesday!! I’ve been unplugged for two days…trying to catch up 3-D and kicking a two week old cold…WHAT!? Kinder-guy has brought home every plague available so far and I’ve gotten them all…like six of em’!! I know what that sound is..it’s the world’s smallest violin playing, “Cry me a River!!” Wahhh!
I hope to catch up with this one…I will you know. 
’s to you, Margo!
margo roby
10/01/2013 at 7:52 am
I do know, Hannah! You can write on how illness breaks routine
. Get better, you hear?!
Hannah Gosselin
10/01/2013 at 9:23 pm
I hear. Made some soup today…I could smell for a little while…breathing is getting easier…I am on the mend…it’s like me to have a fit just before things get better.
Hannah Gosselin
11/01/2013 at 7:31 pm
There…this came to me, Margo…so glad and so thankful for the nudge. You’ll see how your thoughts on the end of holidays and routines fit in.
’s
http://wordrustling.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/unexpected/
margo roby
12/01/2013 at 9:55 am
On my way!
Misky
11/01/2013 at 12:39 pm
Last one. http://miskmask.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/the-woman-of-derut/
purplepeninportland
17/01/2013 at 10:45 am
Better late than never!
http://purplepeninportland.wordpress.com
margo roby
17/01/2013 at 10:53 am
Absolutely! I was beginning to look out my window for you, so to speak. Glad you made it.