Mundane

Daily Challenges: A new idea to explore and create each day. Use sound and photos, too!

Write about something seemingly ordinary — a chair, a wall, a tack — and make it extraordinary.

[Photo Credit: YWP Photo Library, photo by Grace Safford]

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Responses to this Challenge

Apr 16

poem 0 comments challenge: Mundane

tessE14

Pencil

we're always losing them
searching for them
asking to borrow others

There's so many
different sizes
shapes
and colors

they're used to transfer our thoughts
and feelings
hopes
and dreams

this object shouts ordinary
plain
but maybe
it's more extraordinary than it seems

holding them in the tips of our fingers
scribbling notes
test answers
and more

a pencil
is one of the most common objects
seen everywhere
with led at the core

without them
how would we record
communicate
and share

a pencil holds the secrets
of people everywhere

Dec 22

poem 2 comments challenge: Mundane

Abi Domingue.

A Tender Sip

Her lipstick prints onto the white ceramic
creating a collage of red against the white gloss
as the ripples in her lips magnify the texture of the stain
highlighting the white’s matte coat.
Over and over again, she kisses the rim
darkening the first coat, and shadowing the white,
establishing a trim of red-blossomed flowers
painted delicately to match the vines of gold growing from the base.
A masterpiece of tender sips.

Dec 22

non-fiction 1 comment challenge: Mundane

Ca.cook

Grain Bin

The wooden box sits in a dusty old barn and the end of a short hallway dimly lit by the warm light coming from bulbs on either side of it. The box is old, very old. older than the boy who used it as a little boy in a red and black checkered jacket and an orange hat, who still uses it to this day in a larger red and black jacket and hat. It is used for the same purpose it was used for decades ago, storing the grain that feeds the many animals that dwell inside the walls of the barn. The battered lid of the box is attached to three worn hinges that allow it to swing back revealing the bags on grain inside. At the bottom of the a layer of old grain rest that has collected from many years of small amounts of grain falling out of the metal scoop. Around the edges of the box tiny teeth marks are gnawed into the wood from barn rats looking for a snack.

Dec 22

non-fiction 1 comment challenge: Mundane

Lilliannn

Jade Plant

I spend the day watching my mom put the Jade plant in its new pot. There is nothing wrong with its other one, except its too small. It now is the size of a small tree, but it has not always been like this. It has more of a history than seemingly possible. It has been around for as long as I can remember. This is not due to good care but purely it doesn’t die. We have not always been the best plant caretakers. It can be easy to forget to water plants. They usually die after a while of being forgotten, but not this plant. It has survived through weeks, maybe months of being forgotten. It has been dropped, stepped on, bit by dogs and knocked over by cats. It is unbelievable it is still not only alive but flourishing. This plant has grown and grown. It has become less of a plant and more part of our family. This plant holds many memories. It has been our Christmas tree for three years. We put lights and ornaments on then presents under.

Dec 22

fiction 0 comments challenge: Mundane

zoebarton

The lightbulb is a perfect metaphor for an idea. It is pulled from the top shelf of a hardware store where it has been stuffed among many others just like itself. It’s wheeled around to the front, passed through a couple hands, through inspection. Then it’s placed back into the cart, no more second guessing on which is the right light bulb because it’s already on its way out of the place where it was made. The trip to the car is risky, because it’s fragile and could break, or be lost, at any moment. When it finally makes it to the car, it awaits approval by the others sitting in the backseat. The man makes sure they think it’s the right kind, the right number of watts, the right size, before he drives it to it’s more permanent place of residing. There, it shines on everyone else, providing them light and inspiration. The lightbulb is a perfect metaphor for an idea.

Dec 22

poem 2 comments challenge: Mundane

lindseycarbee

Blue

The bright blue,
perfectly contrasting
the tan of the cork board.

Gentle curves,
outlining the blue
of the tack.

I stop to admire
how the tack,
although dull,
pierces the cork.

A small object,
alone on the large board.

The object
once held a large note,
reading “Out for Lunch. Be back soon.”

The note no longer remains,
the tack holds nothing,
and he never returned from lunch.

Dec 22

fiction 2 comments challenge: Mundane

Lorr

Mundane

I’m a leapster you see i’m the one you give to your one year old child to distract them for a little bit. I’m all gross and covered with food. I’ve been in the family for 6 years. I was first brought to the large building that I know now is called a house. I first belonged to the eldest child shelby,I’ve been passed down 3 times. Once to Richard, then tyrus, and finally to Lorr.I’m blue and gray, the family has another leapster that's green and gray but smaller than me and doesn't work as well.

Im now old and unwanted, I sit on top of a shelf in the room with something that's called a television. I watch as they grow up, Shelby is 20 she has long forgotten about me, Richard is 18 and tyrus is 16.Lorr the youngest may not have forgotten about me.I still sit on the shelf alone and broken wanting to be used and played with. I remember the days when they would fight for me but now they fight for phone chargers.

Dec 21

poem 2 comments challenge: Mundane

AbrieHart

Blank Sheet of Paper

Sitting there, bored as can be. Staring at that blank piece of lined paper.

Supposed to have and and idea, supposed to write an essay.

But nothing comes to mind.

It is just the same piece of paper that I use everyday, for the same purpose.

Minutes go by, nothing comes to mind of how to start the paper.

But as I stare at it a strange thought occurs to me.

There are many more ways of how to use this mundane paper than just an essay.

You can do almost anything with just one piece of paper.

It has way more potential than we give it credit for.

In fact it is such an important thing in our everyday lives for school, work, and more, that we don’t even notice it .

Why do we limit ourselves so much when it comes to creativity.

Because when we open our mind up to new ideas and look at these seemingly ordinary things in a different way,the possibilities are endless.

Dec 20

poem 4 comments challenge: Mundane

gmbates

Pillow

The pillow holds my dreams
my goals
all that I wish to be in life
At night when I go to bed
I think about everything I want to get out of life
This pillow is more than just a pillow
It has gone through the years with me
It has heard my screams in the middle of the dark night
It has felt my wet tears at 4 in the morning
It has felt my head hit the pillow after a long day
It knows everything about me

Dec 20

poem 1 comment challenge: Mundane

otpelkey

Mundane

Addiction
like the drug inhaled through
your lungs, in and out,
like the food you eat caked in grease.

But consumption would be wrong,
for I am used and used,
left on your bedside table.

They say I am a killer,
the one who kills your attention.

I am your key
to the world
to adventure
to new people.

But I have trapped
you, you cannot escape
those who spit at you in the day.
I give them a window into your life.

I am your sin, I am your hope.
The way you tap, tap, tap
on me, to be with your friends
your family,
you can't get enough.

I am not such an object that can be left
alone.
I need you.
You need me.
I'm in your hands, your pocket, your bag,
always by your side.

They say "put your phone down"
but somehow, I always
draw
you
in.
I leave you wanting more, and you

Responses to this Challenge

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