Category: Writer’s Quote Wednesday

Writer's Quote Wednesday

Flying Free…Writers quote Wednesday

jacquelineobyikocha14 Comments

“Free yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.” Bob Marley

I totally love this quote taken from Marley’s song.

Birds

When I look up to the skies
and watch the way a bird flies
free from any inhibitions
that hinders its expeditions

I wonder if you and I
are free to fly that high,
or are we buckled down by precepts
handed over time to preempt?

True state of freedom, I find
lies in the state of mind.
For the one who seeks to be free
must learn first to master the mind.

Today’s prompt for writer’s quote Wednesday challenge is “freedom” and interestingly this is one theme that I’ve been thinking of throughout this week.

Freedom to be. Can we truly experience freedom in entirety as a human race? Freedom to be you without the silent permission of others?

I doubt it. Society can’t exist without rules. Freedom comes at the price of having responsibility and most people don’t like responsibility.

However, I cherish the freedom to pursue my passion one word at a time. The freedom of etching my words can’t be taken away from me.

P.S. You are invited to our monthly blog party this weekend. It’s fun and you get to meet fantastic folks:-)

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

May I live,

unafraid to breathe.

Free from a choke-hold,

that becomes a stronghold.

May I live,

unafraid to live,

clinging to my expectations,

with feral desperation.

*

*excerpts from my poem*

Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writing

Poisonous Obsession…Writers Quote Wednesday

jacquelineobyikocha24 Comments

Chains, Caught, Psyche, Woman, Patient, Cry, Suffering

For this week’s Writers Quote Wednesday challenge, we have an interesting prompt ‘obsession.’

There are times I’ve questioned my reason for writing. Why am I so subsumed with this demanding mistress of mine? Could it be defined as an obsession?

….and I realize that to stop writing would be fatal! It’s like asking me to stop living. How will I speak when my voice is dimmed?

I can live with my irresistible passion, even if you call it an obsession, though I’ve written a poem about fatal obsession below.

“To be the object of someone’s obsession is horrible.” Tippi Hedren

They said their love was written in the stars
she reveled in her attractive man from Mars
he made her feel coveted like a prized possession
even when it became a smothering obsession
she excused it as the ultimate profession
of love, that turned fatal in slow progression.

From obsession to repression,
to recession and aggression…
a total mind game bent on suppression
to bring about her complete subservience
he pummelled her into manic depression
with his consistent intelligent oppression

His love became the poisonous dangling apple
that choked anyone who cared to take a nibble.

The End!

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Photographs · Poetry/Poems · Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writing

Embracing Change….Writers Quote Wednesday Challenge

jacquelineobyikocha14 Comments

Today’s Writers quote Wednesday challenge prompt ‘change’ has me thinking of two different things.

My brief thought went to the quote from Coco Chanel which states that:

“a woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life,” which I find to be true.

Since I had the big chop in January, it’s been a blissful time. I enjoy the cascade of water down my head without worrying about my braids, perms or weave. I don’t spend as much time at the hairdresser’s and in fact only visited a hairdresser last weekend to get some natural locks.

Now, I’ve done some locks with my hair to switch it up and believe me when I say it’s just fun.

Gosh! I can’t believe how much energy had gone into my hair maintenance.

Life is simply too short to be stuck in the salon!

I wrote a poem on change below following the quote from Benjamin Disraeli that:

“change is inevitable, change is constant.”

Though you choose not to be a participant
life’s changes happen even with your reluctance
it’s a cycle that’s constant
and has a way of changing your circumstance
It may grab you by happenstance
and toss you around with every chance

Some changes are a ghost of a dance
while some changes are worth taking the chance
that way you do have a slim chance
of not being led on a merry dance
when you embrace such change it just might enhance
and sometimes, it improves your finance.

I once knew a chap who chose to freelance
he soon gave up because of his finance
he didn’t enjoy taking such a stance
‘cos it wasn’t a sport that paid in advance
I still recall his askance
at how tough change was in his circumstance.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Never leave me lonely

With words left unsaid

You walk away into the dark

Like a mist, that melts away.

Creative Writing · Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writing

I like nonsense…Writers Quote Wednesday Challenge

jacquelineobyikocha9 Comments

wallpaper-830417_1280

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” Dr. Seuss

If I could build a fantasy world

It would unfurl

 out of the pages of my dream world

of fairies and Peter Pan

of gold dust and timeless plan

where Dragons can become house pets

with beautiful things all without debts

 human existence not riddled with regrets

as we make merry and dance to melodious duets

a life of living without threats

would be a fantasy, I bet.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Fantasy, Writer’s quote Wednesday challenge prompt

Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Out of the silent breath

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha’s poems portray images that stare us right in the face. Images of love, joy, death, pain, challenges, violation, and freedom. She writes in a language that’s rich in imagery, earthy, honest, vulnerable, yet full of the promise of hope, of loving and of Grace. A collection of light and dark soulful prose.

Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writing

That Mysterious Spirit Of Deja Vu…Writers Quote Wednesday

jacquelineobyikocha14 Comments

mystery[1]

Have you ever met someone for the first time, but in your heart you feel as if you’ve met them before? JoAnne Kenrick, When A Mullo Loves A Woman

The prompt for this week’s writers quote is ‘mystery.’ We can write a piece of fiction, poetry etc, incorporating the word mystery.

I chose to write on incident’s that I have experienced severally in my life, especially because I had one just over the weekend and I daresay that you’ve probably had several yourself. I’ve had instances where I run into total strangers and I am totally convinced that our paths have crossed at some point in time. I have this certain feeling of knowing and familiarity which I found to be a bit eerie especially when I was much younger.

This also includes overhead conversations, that would have me questioning myself, trying to recollect where I had that conversation.

For days, I would mull over such episodes, but over time, I no longer bother with it. Now when I run into a seemingly familiar person, if I am close enough, I engage them in a conversation, laugh over the matter and move on.

I wrote the poem below in respect of that.

Our paths crossed each others
and a frisson of familiarity
raced through me.
The drone of your voice
curled inside my eardrums
pulling at memories
that are stored within.

Yet we’ve never met…

A pull to draw closer and eavesdrop
made me pause and stand in clear sight
perplexed thought crossing my mind
as I shamelessly eavesdropped on your conversation
I was sure that sometime, somewhere,
we had the same conversation, you and I.

Yet we’ve never met…

I tried to unravel the mystery in my mind
woolly cobwebs of memories buried
couldn’t cough up the answers that I sought
I dug deeper into dark recesses
seeking the unknown.
Who knew where what time and in what life
our paths had crossed

Yet we’ve never met…

I cease my attempt to decipher
I seek no longer to solve
mysteries of déjà vu
that my mind wouldn’t unravel
But, I’ve come to understand in acceptance
that somewhere, somehow and in some life
You and I are kindred spirits.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Quotes For You · Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writer's Quote Wednesday · Writing

My Writers Cold Feet…

jacquelineobyikocha32 Comments

This is my first attempt at Silver’s Writer’s Quote Wednesday and I shall dip my feet into the water with this quote that resonates with me.

‘Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom we can neither resist nor understand.’ George Orwell

I don’t know how many times that I have read this quote and I care not to count. All I know is that whenever I come across it, I nod my head vigorously.

When people are reading the written works of others, they have absolutely no idea the amount of drive, discipline, zeal, craziness and a whole myriad of emotions and actions that are invested in that work.

It is an arduous tiresome and thankless task, yet the muse in you will not let your mind keep quiet or sleep if you don’t put down those words.

Most times, writing short notes, stories, poems and essays are easier by far and more fun than writing a book.

Sometimes, I set off writing something and find myself surprised at where I ended up.

I have three manuscripts of novels at different stages sitting on my desk and staring malevolently at me and yet, some days it’s just a drag to get editing and working at it.

I have run around in circles to circumvent doing this painful task and I am running out of ideas.

One is at 95% completion, the other 70 and another at 50 percent and the characters in these books are ganging up and threatening my life with all sorts of things.

I am using the excuse that I am putting my poetry book together to stall them.

I know that there will be mutiny in the near future when the poetry book and the motivational books are done.

Maybe then, they will seize my clothes!

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha