Written as part of Kevin’s No Theme Thursday. I’ve always wanted to try this form, so thanks again, Kevin — and Pooja, whose entry made me thoughtful today.
Six Word Story:
Our stories may yet become songs.
Inspired by watching a YouTube story about Laurel Canyon in the mid to later 60’s–an area musicians like Joni Mitchell and the Mamas and the Papas moved into in an effort toward living in an ideal creative environment. Joni called it a place where no one locked their doors, and it sounds like they almost had quite the Utopia.
Utopias are nearly impossible to sustain, so eventually the situation devolved, however the idea of creative and meditative communities has always drawn me in… the notion of found family formed around on mutual love for a certain way of being.
We all, like this community, go through times of uncomfortable change, where a new expression hasn’t supplanted the previous, yet what we’re used to no longer makes as much sense. Speaking for myself, I get frustrated when I find myself repeating the same stories, as they begin to sound like excuses.
But stories repeated can be nurtured into songs, as in Joni’s Ladies of the Canyon. Of all the songs on the album, For Free is probably my favorite, since that song, but performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, brought me to seek out Joni in the first place. Who would have thought she would make a wonderful painter, too? In an interview she said those who knew her early in life when she was more of a dancer, were startled to find her out there performing folk rock songs.
Here’s a performance of hers from the year I was born:
Oh no, the rain has stopped. Does that mean I have to get out of bed?
~ Singing Gecko 
14 responses to “Repeated Stories”
Great SWS, Stephanie! I find these to be quite interesting and fun. I, too, thank Pooja for introducing me to them. I had never seen them before. And ultimately, while humans will be humans, I think the important piece is that we continue striving to be better and work towards common goals. It may not be perfect, but every little bit helps!
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My first version included “Humans find it hard to sustain utopias”, which I changed in favor of placing the emphasis on utopias themselves, perhaps intuiting what you mention so wisely here, that it’s not necessarily the form but the aspiration behind our efforts which gives them life. As limited as we may find ourselves, humans are still pretty cool. 🙂
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We do ok, I guess. 😄
Room for improvement, but then again, that could be said about most things in life lol
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So glad you decided to write a SWS and really enjoyed it. Went well with the image. Happiness is not a constant and therefore I guess Utopias can’t be either. We just need to cherish our happiness when we find it.
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What a beautiful comment; I’m not sure I missed it before. Thank you. ❤ That’s it, somehow we must do things to keep from getting too sticky-fingered trying to hang on to what will flow.
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My pleasure and yes absolutely.
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That’s awesome! Never heard of six word story, might have to try that at some point! Very introspective, as always 😊
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Turns out it’s a Hemingway thing, but I learned of it here at WP from PoojaG 🙂
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Nice!! Very cool, simple but I’m sure also not so simple and very thoughtful, if I’m making any sense 😆
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Perfect sense! For me it’s a huge challenge, since I tend to go on and on, and on. ^ . ^
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Me too 😂 shortening stuff can be hard sometimes, hah
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[…] Repeated Stories by Stephanie […]
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I love 6-word stories, and yours is excellent!
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Thank you!
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