Friday Fictioneers – Meaning

~ neilmacdon
ronda-del-boccio
Photo Prompt © Ronda Del Boccio

You ask what I meant, and I tell you frankly that I cannot say. When it lived inside me, I knew its shape and smell. But, speaking, I expelled it for you.

I gave it legs to travel, though, inside me, it had no limbs. Wealth it carries in its pockets to pay its way. And I gave it voices to speak, though the language is one not known to me. All of this I did so you might know it. Life becomes something else when spoken.

So, instead, I ask you to tell me what I meant.

 

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here

67 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Meaning”

  6. A thoughtful piece, which I’m still trying to understand. I think the phrase “life becomes something else when spoken” distracts me from where I thought it was going. Beautifully written.

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  9. I often have to articulate a thing before I understand it. In my mind, concepts are so nebulous. Pinning them down with words gives them shape and meaning, although not the right one. It’s a bit like describing dreams. The description falls far short, yet becomes the dream itself.

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  11. This reads as though you subscribe to Derrida’s philosophy. No matter what the written words say, every reader will take something different from a text. No text has an absolute meaning.
    Beautifully concise, and written in a style that well reflects the thought at the core of the story.

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  14. I read it as a depiction of a story or other work of art, coming into being, and taking on a life of its own apart from its creator.

    I always hate it when those who speak about art tend to ascribe details from the writer’s life to the work. Sometimes the two couldn’t be further from one another. Well said, even if, in the middle, i had flashbacks of the movie “Alien.”😊

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  15. Neil, you’ve outdone yourself with this one. I have to admit, I’m totally stumped. I’m breaking my own rule, reading other posts before I do my own, looking for inspiration. You’ve helped give me a nudge.

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  19. This is along the lines of the teaching at Lincoln Center: Observe only, no narrative. Then react. There is no wrong answer. The artist has their interpretation. We all have our own.

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  20. I completely empathized with this especially ” Life becomes something else when spoken.” I like to take a more literal approach – I find the value of that which is close to our hearts is diminished if spoken out loud.

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  29. Wonderful. The comments from fellow FFers often give meaning to a story I had not intended or seen, which makes me realise I sometimes forget to take account of how others use language. Disappointingly, your piece also reminds me of the arguments I have with my husband when we spend ages not understanding what the other is saying, only to conclude we were saying the same thing all along, only in a completely different way.

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