Snippets {edition two}

Tin Pail by Elizabeth @ clarity-chaos.com

And when she finally spoke, her words dropped like pebbles in a tin pail.

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It's Snippets {edition two}, and I'd love for you to play along. Just drop your link or your response into the comments section of this post by next Thursday at 7pm. Each Friday, I'll list all the responses (maybe featuring a favorite) and I'll leave you with a new Snippet for the coming week.

Interested? Click here for the guidelines. And please - if you use an exact phrase or sentence from the Snippet (or paste the full Snippet right into your post to accompany your response), please link and attribute my words. Thank you! (Besides - then your readers can come back here to check out all the other responses.)

And now, for the responses to Snippets {edition one}:

Onion/Artichoke by Elizabeth @ clarity-chaos.com

He was more like an onion than an artichoke.

Even when you peeled back all the layers, there was no heart inside.

And he always made her cry.

{or alternatively...}

He was more like an artichoke than an onion.

When you peeled back all the layers, his heart was there inside.

And he never made her cry.

this week's featured response by Tara of Capitol Mommy. Watercolor and acrylic painting with poem.

full list of responses:

Jade - http://www.jadedickinson.com/2010/03/artichoke.html

Katdish - http://twitpic.com/17o259

Tsholo - http://tsholo.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/onionartichoke/

Corinne - http://www.trainstutusandteatime.com/2010/03/layers-of-youth.html

Queen - http://mobilehomemistress.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/snippets/

Jill - http://goodlifeforless.blogspot.com/2010/03/onionartichoke.html

Erin- http://www.flickr.com/photos/erineveryday/411866450/

Slouchy - "He was more like an onion than an artichoke. Even when you peeled back all the layers, there was no heart inside. And he always made her cry. But her secret was that her tears were no more meaningful than the tears brought about by the peeling of an onion. Where he had no heart, she lacked a soul. And, she supposed, if he and she were not an ideal match, at least there was a certain symmetry in the fault lines crisscrossing their basically unsalvageable selves."

Lindsey - "She kept hoping that if she worked hard enough to peel back more layers, she would stumble on a heart. When would she learn? After each layer, after each big fight, she'd feel the sinking sureness that he was not kind, not loving, not healthy. And yet she would wake up the next day with a new conviction to keep peeling, keep learning, her belief in his humanity and goodness renewed.

The sturdiness of her faith in him was, intellectually speaking, ludicrous. But to use logic to argue with the power and ferocity of that faith, that desire, was madness. So, like the world's most dogged vegetable peeler, most stubborn miner, she bent to her task, trying to excavate his heart. Her own hurt and fear was insignificant compared to her desperate longing to find a kernel of humanity; she needed, above all else, to redeem the tears she had wept, the work of peeling all of those layers, to show herself he was what she believed he was."

Lily

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Aren't the responses fantastic? I love the diversity of interpretation. Hopefully you're inspired to play along next time. There is no right/wrong way to do this. Just have fun with it and come back with a response by next Thursday at 7pm.

Before I go, I want to leave you with two other links. My idea for Snippets was originally inspired by Story People by Brian Andreas, of whom I have been a huge fan for years. And more recently, I ran across a couple of talented women who pair their words and photos together in what they call t.ruffles, candy for your soul. Check out the links to visit their stores and Etsy shops, respectively.

Brian Andreas - Story People

t.ruffle girls (karey and mary)

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"It is impossible that you have no creative gift...the only way to make it live and increase is to use it...." -Brenda Ueland (1891-1985)