hidden_paths | Hidden Paths 2024

Hello Tolkien fans!

It's the 14th somewhere and I have a very busy schedule tomorrow, so here, have your first set of prompts a little bit early...

~~*~~

Thematic Prompt: Hauntings

Character Based Prompt: Threshold Guardians

Setting Based Prompt: The Perilous Realm

Text Prompt:

“Sometimes I think all this

Is a waste of time and effort:

For all words disguise what

We truly wish to say.

How then can we use

Our foolish fond words,

Beloved and enchanted words,

Wild words which run away with us?

Hold up the mirror to our thoughts,

Breathe on it, wipe it clean:

Let us begin again.”

From 'Cornish Words' by Donald R. Rawe, trans. Tim Saunders. Collected in Poems From the Edge of Extinction, ed. Chris McCabe.

The original Cornish is below:

“Nepprys y brederaf oll hemma

Yu sculva termyn ha gwyth:

Rak geryow oll a guth pandra

Ny a vyn leverel yn wyr.

Fatel ytho yllyn-ny gul defnyth

A'gan geryow fol ha whek,

Geryow kerys ha nygromansek,

Geryow gothyk, nep a bon a ves genen-ny?

Syns avan an gweder dh'agan tybyans

'Wheth warnodho, segh-ef glan;

Gesyn dhyn-ny dalleth arta.”

Visual Prompt:

[Image ID: The Van Gogh painting, 'Olive Trees In A Mountainous Landscape.' There are gnarled green and brown olive trees in the foreground; behind is a mountain range and sky in navy blue, with a cream and yellow cloud above. /.End ID]

Audio Prompt: Crosby, Stills and Nash - Guinnevere

Wildcard Prompt: Museums are perfect for inspiration! I've linked to the National Museums Scotland online collections, but feel free to use another museum (online or local to you) to search for an object or story that speaks to your muses.