OctPoWriMo Day 26: Speaking and listening

Michele wrote recently about storytelling, and if we go back through time, all storytelling began as an oral tradition in pre-literate societies. People also then started to travel and to sing and recite those stories to others. Others would then memorise them and pass them down to other generations in different places - and so those stories spread, retained only in the minds and mouths and ears of others until they could be written down. 

So today the focus is specifically on speaking and listening. Perhaps go back to childhood and think about somebody reading to you. Maybe you could already read or maybe you couldn't, but what do you remember about that experience of somebody telling you a story, without focusing on the written word? Or perhaps you'd like to write about a different experience of speaking or listening, such as giving a speech or listening to a friend who has come to confide in you. Find that experience or memory within you and go from there.

Word prompts

heart

open

aural

vibrate

breath

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions; you can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants' work, share the hashtag #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you.