Hell is a State of Mind

I am a man at home folding my wife�s delicates.
Outside, there�s a ruckus, as usual.

It begins with the flies. Noisy, black flies.
I do not know exactly when�

Most certainly stop in and say I heard this story
about a city of red fire growing from your head,

hooligans dressed in red and white everywhere,
a kingdom of messengers with no king.



Descriptions from the writing page of Submishmash, accessed 29 October 2015. Submitted by Howie Good.

Theme IV

A false alarm,
caught in the act:
A joke on me,
my peculiar mistake.
The stalled car,
my experience
in a strange Sunday school.
The experiment I never repeated,
nearly on the rocks.



Essay writing prompts from English Composition Book One by Stratton D. Brooks (American Book Company, 1911). Submitted by Alex Albright.

Can I?

Write compound sentences
Use punctuation correctly in my writing
Plan a short story
Deduce information from a text and picture
Start sentences in a variety of ways
Use key events in a narrative to write a play script
Deduce information from a variety of sources
Use some compound and complex sentences to describe life in the workhouse
Extend my sentences using connectives
Use persuasive language to give my side of the argument
Use the language from a narrative text to create a poem
Understand a character�s point of view
Edit and improve my writing
Write a paragraph using connectives and a variety of sentence lengths
Use speech punctuation correctly in direct speech
Answer questions from a character�s point of view
Punctuate speech correctly
Use drama techniques to explore a character�s feelings
Use a range of more connectives to extend my sentences
Predict the next section of a story
Use the apostrophe correctly
Write a persuasive letter
Record speech
Plan a newspaper report
Write an informed letter
Write a diary entry
Create a non-chronological report
Answer questions from a report
Write a character description
Record speech correctly
Contract sentences
Write in the style of an author
Research an endangered animal
Recognise persuasive language
Write complex sentences
Create a slogan for my campaign
Collect research for a biography
Answer questions about someone�s life
Use punctuation
Write a letter to a pen-pal
Edit and improve my writing
Write compound and complex sentences
Write my thoughts and feelings about an event that has happened
Write a short diary entry
Use all the features of a dairy
Write an effective letter opener
Write a sports� commentary
Collect facts for a report
Generate questions for my report
Create a headline
Plan a newspaper report
Use punctuation correctly
Identify the features of an advert
Use persuasive language
Write a script
Research for a biography
Plan a biography
Understand the difference between direct and reported speech
Use direct speech in my writing
Use dashes in my writing
Use effective language to have an effect on the reader
Use complex sentences in my writing
Change the tense in various sentences
Group ideas into paragraphs

Can I?




From a 10-year-old's literacy exercise book, listing the learning objectives for one academic year.

Ultimately Terminal

There's something in me
that wants to make everything funny.
I do find life very strange by and large,
and how we behave even more so.

I mean it's not as if we're going to get out alive.



A comment made on a facebook writers' forum. Submitted by Angi Holden.