Love is …
A Collection of Tales with Love in their Heart
We, JoJo Thomson and I, reckon you don’t need days hyped-up by folk who want you to buy their ‘thing’ to celebrate normal stuff.
Take pancakes.
Literally, eat them when you fancy them … drizzle them with whatever you want to drizzle them with … big spoon, little spoon, you decide … sweet as can be, or a little tart … a big pile on, or one at a time … nibble slowly or, you get the idea.
And so it is with love.
BUT … it is a week when romance is on people’s minds (Meg Oolders is about to make it her whole thing); so why don’t we embrace it too.
I checked back over the (nearly) two years of ‘Just Write, Right’ and it seems as though love is a many splendoured thing1. It features often in ALL kinds of ways. So, I thought you might like a collection, an anthology of love-themed musings, to curl up with - bring your own glass of bubbles and a box of your favourite chocolates.
Harry Watson wondered if there might be any number of romantic possibilities within The Love Letter (Vermeer). Irresistible:
An exchange of letters can be extremely revealing …
Lost Property
Several of the ideas in my (appropriately-named) ‘Notebook of Prompts’ refer to exchanges of correspondence. Samuel Lopez-Barrantes and Meg Oolders recently went ‘old-school’, swapping letters and generously reminding us of the pleasure both of sending and receiving. I couldn’t resist a revelatory exchange of letters
Sometimes, of course, love’s path can be a little bumpy …
Dear John
Saul Leiter could be capturing a young woman writing to her parents asking for money to be wired to her so she can extend her stay (“just one more gallery, Mother”); perhaps she is sharing memories with a great-aunt who sparked her curiosity with tales of Paris in the 20s; or …
… and the language of love can be confusing …
… or words fail us in the moment …
When it comes to love, expect the unexpected.
He wasn’t the only one. The barman mixed cocktails on automatic as he stared at the couple dancing provocatively in the dimly lit corner. It was hard to see where one body ended and another began. What do they say? Get a room. The stranger pressed her against the wall. The barman tired of the show. I was transfixed. The woman smiled lasciviously, her lover’s lips pressed hungrily to her throat. The barman slid the martini towards me. “Maybe stop staring now, fella, give them some privacy”. My voice was a whisper. “But my wife has never looked so beautiful”.
(Love in 100 words)
Yes, that is a flagrant excuse to share the mellifluous Nat King Cole
Barrie that is brilliant! Ive saved the post for reading later too, just trying to catch up!
PS Every day is a good day for Love IMHO. 💛
Oh! My! God! Barrie, this is priceless. I strive to write like this. I have a looooong way to go. Thank you for bringing these wonderful stories all together for us. I read them all!