Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Animal Grace


I'm knee deep in my work in progress, but I found this the other day and thought it would be fun. Every once in a while a writer needs a short redirection of creativity. At least this writer does. Click here for participants.

The project is called the Trifecta and the fact that this is week 93 for it suggests it's been running a while. I'm glad I can just jump in and give it a shot. Perhaps if it ever starts at week 1 again, I'll do it from the beginning. Challenges like this were made for Wordies like me.  :)
Here's how it works: Submit a writing between 33 and 333 word using this week’s one-word prompt, GRACE (noun).  It must use the following definition:

: a charming or attractive trait or characteristic  
: a pleasing appearance or effect : charm (all the grace of youth -- John Buchan)
: ease and suppleness of movement or bearing

I've chosen C with 333 words. I have someone near to my heart that this describes perfectly.

Cora watched the men dance into the circle, their every step perfectly in sync with the steady drum beat. Her training in anthropology, and the fact she’d married a Native American man, gave her deeper understanding of the symbolism of the dance moves and garment decorations. As the dancers passed in their orbit around the center fire, she leaned close to Olivia and explained what she knew. Her words trailed off when Ash came dancing in last.

On his head he wore a deer-tail roach, the center of which sported three long black-tipped eagle feathers that bobbed among the headpiece’s stiff swath of white hairs. Rows of turkey wing feathers on his vest ran across his upper back and down his arms, and his circular bustle was made of many rows of turkey tail feathers. In both hands he carried turkey wing fans and occasionally crouched low to sweep at the ground to mimic the mating display of the grouse. His only items of clothing not made of feathers and fur were his moccasins and a leather breech cloth. But most startling of all was his half-painted face done in stripes.

Ash was undeniably striking, as were the others in their dance regalia, but he was also more somehow – the ancient shaman was history come alive. There was an unusual dichotomy to Ash. He was a relative stranger to the modern world despite having assimilated so much. Still, if you didn’t know the truth of him, you’d never guess he was three-thousand years old Medewii with an astounding ability. Here in this setting with the other men in contrast, his regal bearing was impossible to miss. Ash moved with a wild, indefinable grace, no doubt the effect of assuming the body of animals and birds through millennia. It was as if his ability to shape-shift had imbued him with those wild attributes. The newly adopted son of Absalom and Mayweather Redleaf still carried that ancient wildness within him. Only Ashkewheteasu’s name had changed.
<>o<>


Rose Anderson ~ Love Waits in Unexpected Places

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7 comments:

  1. Loved the mystic feel of this & wow,you sure have a way with words-it seemed as if there were 600 words,etching out each detail- a brilliant piece!

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  2. I agree with Atreyee. You painted such a detailed scene in 333 words that--for a second--I wondered if you'd exceeded the word limit. Great job!

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  3. Exactly right--this challenge was made for people like you. Thanks so much for linking up. Welcome aboard the Trifecta train. I do hope you'll come back and play with us again soon. This week (and every third) is judged by the community, so make sure you head back to Trifecta to cast your votes for your favorites.

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  4. The grace of the ancient shapeshifting shaman... awesome piece, Rose!

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  5. What a wonderful scene is so few words.
    Tweeted.

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