Welcome to Day 20 of the April Write 2013: a new era begins
I can’t believe it! 19 days have passed our way already. I have been inspired, touched and humbled once again by the power of the writes that are posted and the truth behind the love which graces this page. We are all poets, writers, readers and painters coming from the same stance to create something wonderful in the name of creativity and poetry.
So, for today, in recognition of our love for self, others and the acts of creativity, we are all going to start the same.
The first line of your piece today will be: ‘It started with a word…’
The challenge today is:
How you end and the direction you take is up to you, but your first line must be:
“It started with a word…”
~ Marina
The April Write 
Brenda Vengesa (c) April 2013
So I’m jumping right in, first contribution…..
It started with a word..
And the emotions were riled up
Like a croc infested swamp.
They continued to come through
Tumbling on my sensitivity
Like a brick wall in a storm.
I’d been here before
But I couldn’t stop the pain
I wanted to speak up and throw back my own
But you get addicted to the abuse
Your body perks up for it
Only to slumber in defeat
Each word is a poison dart
Injecting a falsehood laced
In bitter truth.
Frozen in a place and space
That neither wants nor cares
For me
But the fear of the unknown outweighs
The verbal onslaught that’s now
My bread and butter.
Zita Holbourne (c) April 2013
It started with a word
He hardly heard
He thought at first
He had misheard
The notion was absurd
But in his heart he knew
And understood what he must do
He climbed off of her
Looked at her lying there
Without a care
No remorse or fear
He got out of the bed
What was that you said?
He asked her slowly
But angrily
She opened her eyes
Looked at him with surprise
Beckoned for him to lie down
His face formed in a frown
This time he shouted furiously
What did you just call me?!
It didn’t mean anything she replied
Just an expression she lied
He cut in – Hell No!
You need to go!
He took down a suitcase
Spat in her face
Pack your bags and leave
I cannot believe
That you would say that word to me
TO ME!
She pleaded now
Asked how
Could he react so
He must know
How much she cared
Why had she dared
To speak to him that way
She couldn’t expect him to stay
She was crying now
Asking him how
Was she to know
He would react so
That word was in the films he got
And in the rap songs he loved a lot
Even in the book he read
She pointed beside the bed
She’d heard him say it too
When he was hanging with his crew
So why was he behaving this way
Just because he heard her say
A word that he had brought
Into her world and taught
That it was acceptable
Then act like it was so terrible
When she used it in passion
It was just an everyday expression
He stopped to think
Felt his heart sink
Realising she was right
He started to see the light
Recognise his hypocrisy
In using that word so freely
Then being offended when
The woman he loved then
Did the same
He felt shame
It was wrong for him to accept
That his race could say it then expect
That just because she was white
It wasn’t alright
If he found it offensive for her to say
How could he be around it every day
And embrace it like it was okay
It was unacceptable to behave this way
And for the first time
He thought about his historic line
And how that word was used
On his ancestors so abused
Those who fought so he might be
Able to live life freely
Losing their lives for his emancipation
Now look at his generation
It was disrespectful
Completely unacceptable
And he made a vow never
To use that word again ever
Zita Holbourne, Poet~Artist~Activist April Write 2013 Day 20
Natalie N. Dixon (c) April 2013
It started with a word than My mind took it and turned it into a whole vision .. so i picked up my pen and begun filing in the empty lines of my notepad with persistence. the more i wrote .. the more thoughts my mind so freely started giving . The finish line is now getting close … it’s vivid … I chose my own path although WE ALL STARTed THE SAME in the beginning
Angela Edgar (c) April Write 2013
“IT STARTED WITH A WORD”
It started with a word…
When he spoke my name
Then he asked me to close my eyes
Held my face in his hands
Drew me close
And he gently kissed my lips
I was suddenly in heaven
I could breathe again at last
So I sighed contentedly
Because his kiss was unlike any other
He re-lit the fire that had died inside
And I knew I was finally home
And he was ‘The One’ meant for me.
(C)20th April 2013 Angela Edgar
Joan Cant (c) April 2013
It started with a word, and the word is always there, moving in and out of becoming. Glory in both appearance and disappearance. For we are both. Follow with joy the rise and fall of its breath. Worship, dance and behold it as you need to, for the word is the embrace. Behind, beyond, the word, is the source of that embrace. That source is you, before you were spoken. Visit, in silence, often, the unspoken memory of you. xxx
Halim Flowers (c) April 2013
It started with a word
“Hello”
Who knew that heaven on earth could begin there?
It started with a word
“Halim”
I replied to her question about my name
It started with a word
“Forbearance”
When she asked me what was the meaning of my name
It started with a word
“Oooh”
When she first asked me to take my shirt off in her room
It started with a word
“SSssss”
As she did that thing with her tongue between my abs which lead to my ******
It started with a word
“Love”
When I asked her if stripped of everything material who she really was
It started with a word
“Yes”
When I asked her to be with me forever
It started with a word
“Light”
When I asked her what she saw in my eyes
It started with a word
“God”
When I asked her what I had to go through to win her heart for eternity…..
Debbie Golt (c) April 2013
It started with a word, which one tho? What springs to mind is ‘she’ or maybe, ‘woman’, putting paid to the notion of creation of one by the other via a ‘spare’ part – that spare rib, or banished Lilith; we females, we women, by every way you play the words always give up a part of OUR constitution to create those counter parts of the species ( he, man, males, men), tho ultimately we are merely separated by the “n”th degree and EveN , it doesn’t really matter A dam N, We all start the same… Word!