Thursday, December 11, 2003
A story from the shoebox
When I was in college I took this class that was called Creative Writing in English and this is a story I wrote for an assigment and I still really like it. What do you think?
Surrealism
By Sandra de Haan
Rain is pouring this evening. Big drops of polluted water come falling from the cloudy sky. The lights coming from the army of windows are blurry. The rain takes all shape out of everything around. Subjects, who normally don’t even catch the inattentive eye, are now reshaping into amorphous, extra-terrestrial creatures that only seem to emerge when nobody takes the effort to look beyond the end of their noses. Nondescript curiosities creeping surreptitiously into an estranged society within the most notorious city on this earthly planet with the only purpose of swallowing humanity.
Suddenly a car comes rushing by, driving through an enormous puddle of cold, muddy water. Immediately adapting to the horrible, illegal aliens moving into Manhattan as soon as rain starts pouring, splashes of water are flying through the shivery air. Without noticing the mess he leaves behind, the driver keeps on going and doesn’t even slow down or take a look in his rear-view mirror. The rear lights of the car are reflecting in a monstrous manner, in the wet, shiny paving of the bendy, uneven road. Before Franky knows what hit him, another car imitates his predecessor and leaves an even bigger mess. Franky looks at his clothes, which are drenched all through. He can almost feel the mud sliding down his legs. He stands erect and looks at himself. A smile graces his face.
Franky puts his right foot in the rippling water. Than his left foot joins the right and Franky starts splashing about in the puddle. A third car brushed past him, honking loudly, making Franky aware of his violation. Franky rushes back onto the sidewalk. His mother is going to be so angry with him. But, where is she? Within a few seconds panic prevails the expression on Franky’s face. In a frantic mode Franky starts spinning on his axle in search of his mother. Nowhere. Only people rushing by, having blinkers on, and therefore being blind for Franky’s scare. The longer Franky’s trying to distinguish his mother’s features between all these frightening strangers, the bigger and more immense New York City and his inhabitants become. Gigantic legs are taking enormous, speedy steps towards where ever they are heading. To Franky it seems as if he is surrounded only by legs which all seem to be in a hurry. Nobody notices him. Nobody wants to notice him. They’ve all got places to go. They’ve all got places to be. Within a certain deadline of course. After all this is New York City. The City that never sleeps, where the people are always in a hurry.
Franky starts crying. Big, fat teardrops start rolling down his face, falling on the sidewalk which is already soaked because of the rain. Franky cries so hard that it seems like he is trying to defeat this rain.
With tears still filling his eyes, Franky slowly walks with the crowd, not knowing where he’s going, only hoping to find his mother. Whether she’s going to be angry with him or not. He doesn’t care. He just wants to find her. He feels alone and he’s truly scared. When he looks up, the buildings seem to be watching him. They look on him as if they are thinking that he’s a bad boy because he went astray. To Franky these monstrosities of buildings are alive. They are waiting for the right time to punish him for losing his mother, for getting lost.
Franky starts to run. He does not know where to go. And he doesn’t care, as long as he can escape these monsters before they get him. While running, Franky keeps on bumping into people who make sounds of disapproval and look at him like he’s a bit of reeking garbage and he’s not worthy of their attention. Franky has lost it. He does not longer know what to do or where to go. He is completely shaken and starts crying his heart out.
People are no longer rushing by. They are stopping to make sure they don’t miss the action. Slowly they are surrounding him. They are bending their heads to see what is going on. Big, ugly faces are looking down on him. Smelly breaths are asking him what’s wrong. Why is he crying?
Franky is no longer crying as hard as he was before. It is as if he’s no longer there himself. People are moving in slow motion. Their voices are lowering and their speech is played in the wrong speed. Everything around him is slowing down as if the city is slowly loosing its life. As if the doomed creatures have finally succeeded in taking over New York. The cars are no longer honking or speeding. The rain is no longer pouring. Or at least Franky can’t feel it anymore. Franky tries to understand what’s happening, but he can’t. A strange world is surrounding him, closing in on him. This is the end. This is what his parents always warned him for when he did the things they explicitly told him not to. He didn’t even want to cry anymore. He just gives in to whatever is happening to him.
Then, all of a sudden, a strong hand takes him by the arm and pulls him out of the crowd. As he looks up, he sees his mothers worried face. She asks him where he was. Without answering he throws his arms around his mothers legs. She squats down and lifts him of the ground. They’re going home.
At the same time the rain stops pouring and the sun is trying to find its way through the thick clouds. The buildings are regaining their normal shapes and everything returns to everyday normality. The sun sweeps away the last bits of surrealism and takes over for close on one hour. Then darkness will be taking over and other creatures from the deep depths of my imagination will enter the City of New York.
When I was in college I took this class that was called Creative Writing in English and this is a story I wrote for an assigment and I still really like it. What do you think?
Rain is pouring this evening. Big drops of polluted water come falling from the cloudy sky. The lights coming from the army of windows are blurry. The rain takes all shape out of everything around. Subjects, who normally don’t even catch the inattentive eye, are now reshaping into amorphous, extra-terrestrial creatures that only seem to emerge when nobody takes the effort to look beyond the end of their noses. Nondescript curiosities creeping surreptitiously into an estranged society within the most notorious city on this earthly planet with the only purpose of swallowing humanity.
Suddenly a car comes rushing by, driving through an enormous puddle of cold, muddy water. Immediately adapting to the horrible, illegal aliens moving into Manhattan as soon as rain starts pouring, splashes of water are flying through the shivery air. Without noticing the mess he leaves behind, the driver keeps on going and doesn’t even slow down or take a look in his rear-view mirror. The rear lights of the car are reflecting in a monstrous manner, in the wet, shiny paving of the bendy, uneven road. Before Franky knows what hit him, another car imitates his predecessor and leaves an even bigger mess. Franky looks at his clothes, which are drenched all through. He can almost feel the mud sliding down his legs. He stands erect and looks at himself. A smile graces his face.
Franky puts his right foot in the rippling water. Than his left foot joins the right and Franky starts splashing about in the puddle. A third car brushed past him, honking loudly, making Franky aware of his violation. Franky rushes back onto the sidewalk. His mother is going to be so angry with him. But, where is she? Within a few seconds panic prevails the expression on Franky’s face. In a frantic mode Franky starts spinning on his axle in search of his mother. Nowhere. Only people rushing by, having blinkers on, and therefore being blind for Franky’s scare. The longer Franky’s trying to distinguish his mother’s features between all these frightening strangers, the bigger and more immense New York City and his inhabitants become. Gigantic legs are taking enormous, speedy steps towards where ever they are heading. To Franky it seems as if he is surrounded only by legs which all seem to be in a hurry. Nobody notices him. Nobody wants to notice him. They’ve all got places to go. They’ve all got places to be. Within a certain deadline of course. After all this is New York City. The City that never sleeps, where the people are always in a hurry.
Franky starts crying. Big, fat teardrops start rolling down his face, falling on the sidewalk which is already soaked because of the rain. Franky cries so hard that it seems like he is trying to defeat this rain.
With tears still filling his eyes, Franky slowly walks with the crowd, not knowing where he’s going, only hoping to find his mother. Whether she’s going to be angry with him or not. He doesn’t care. He just wants to find her. He feels alone and he’s truly scared. When he looks up, the buildings seem to be watching him. They look on him as if they are thinking that he’s a bad boy because he went astray. To Franky these monstrosities of buildings are alive. They are waiting for the right time to punish him for losing his mother, for getting lost.
Franky starts to run. He does not know where to go. And he doesn’t care, as long as he can escape these monsters before they get him. While running, Franky keeps on bumping into people who make sounds of disapproval and look at him like he’s a bit of reeking garbage and he’s not worthy of their attention. Franky has lost it. He does not longer know what to do or where to go. He is completely shaken and starts crying his heart out.
People are no longer rushing by. They are stopping to make sure they don’t miss the action. Slowly they are surrounding him. They are bending their heads to see what is going on. Big, ugly faces are looking down on him. Smelly breaths are asking him what’s wrong. Why is he crying?
Franky is no longer crying as hard as he was before. It is as if he’s no longer there himself. People are moving in slow motion. Their voices are lowering and their speech is played in the wrong speed. Everything around him is slowing down as if the city is slowly loosing its life. As if the doomed creatures have finally succeeded in taking over New York. The cars are no longer honking or speeding. The rain is no longer pouring. Or at least Franky can’t feel it anymore. Franky tries to understand what’s happening, but he can’t. A strange world is surrounding him, closing in on him. This is the end. This is what his parents always warned him for when he did the things they explicitly told him not to. He didn’t even want to cry anymore. He just gives in to whatever is happening to him.
Then, all of a sudden, a strong hand takes him by the arm and pulls him out of the crowd. As he looks up, he sees his mothers worried face. She asks him where he was. Without answering he throws his arms around his mothers legs. She squats down and lifts him of the ground. They’re going home.
At the same time the rain stops pouring and the sun is trying to find its way through the thick clouds. The buildings are regaining their normal shapes and everything returns to everyday normality. The sun sweeps away the last bits of surrealism and takes over for close on one hour. Then darkness will be taking over and other creatures from the deep depths of my imagination will enter the City of New York.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
What freewriting leads to...
So, I am also a frequent visitor of the Black Eyed Peas website and especially their board. And there's this thread about freewriting and the first theme was Full Moon. And even though I wrote this within a couple of minutes, I am actually starting to like what I wrote..
Full Moon
a strange feeling enters my body
and seems to want to take control
I somehow seem to be changing
I don't feel like myself at all
and when I look down at myself
there awaits my biggest scare
my nails are growing sharp and long
and thick black hairs are growing everywhere
I touch my face and have to wonder
if this is actually happening to me
am I changing into this creature
that no sane one would want to be
I can feel a new thirst for blood
to which I am not going to surrender
I don't want this happening to me
so please, please return to sender
I look up at the sky and wonder
if this horror will end real soon
But suddenly I understand
that this'll happen every full moon
So, I am also a frequent visitor of the Black Eyed Peas website and especially their board. And there's this thread about freewriting and the first theme was Full Moon. And even though I wrote this within a couple of minutes, I am actually starting to like what I wrote..
a strange feeling enters my body
and seems to want to take control
I somehow seem to be changing
I don't feel like myself at all
and when I look down at myself
there awaits my biggest scare
my nails are growing sharp and long
and thick black hairs are growing everywhere
I touch my face and have to wonder
if this is actually happening to me
am I changing into this creature
that no sane one would want to be
I can feel a new thirst for blood
to which I am not going to surrender
I don't want this happening to me
so please, please return to sender
I look up at the sky and wonder
if this horror will end real soon
But suddenly I understand
that this'll happen every full moon
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Taking it out on poetry
This is a poem I wrote yesterday and I am actually kind of proud of it. It'll probably get edited along the way, but I still wanted to share it.
Assumptions
Why do people make me crazy
why can't they just let me be
Coming with all this stupid assumptions
not knowing a thing about me
I really can't take it anymore
I definitely want to go and hide
and live without those opinions on me
I would just stay forever inside
It's tiring and makes me long
for times way back when I could just be
without people judging my ways
without the assumptions, and be just me
This is a poem I wrote yesterday and I am actually kind of proud of it. It'll probably get edited along the way, but I still wanted to share it.
Why do people make me crazy
why can't they just let me be
Coming with all this stupid assumptions
not knowing a thing about me
I really can't take it anymore
I definitely want to go and hide
and live without those opinions on me
I would just stay forever inside
It's tiring and makes me long
for times way back when I could just be
without people judging my ways
without the assumptions, and be just me
Welcome!
Hi and welcome to my blog.... Have fun and leave feedback before you go. Oh and do come back!
Hi and welcome to my blog.... Have fun and leave feedback before you go. Oh and do come back!
