July: the ULTIMATE writing challenge by CK 2025

Here we go for the seventh time! I'm glad you are still reading these and writing your own versions. Thank you for that!

This month's prompts:

• Write about a murder at a summer festival—what clues are left behind?

• A heatwave awakens a long-dormant danger in the forest.

• A character must choose between saving their loved one or a town of strangers.

And as interesting as these truly are, this month I decided to try a different story format. I will be creating a poem from the prompt. Because the beauty of art is that you are free to choose your own mediums and play with them as you like! So let's see what we have in mind for this month...

My prompt for this month:

• A character must choose between saving their loved one or a town of strangers.

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To decide is to claim.

Claim your view and morals when even you don't know.

The dove, so pure, so sweet,

Or the school of fish that swim so freely in the waters.

One shall be gone.

One shall be turned to ashes of the dawn rising over the horizon.

Yet which one?

To hear the cry of the lone wolf on the snowy hill,

Bear the weight of the moon.

Can one ever really head the truth?

When sun sets, one cries with the rest.

One cries over the ocean waves and says goodbye.

Goodbye to the light of the day,

the warmth of the cozy blanket over the sound of rain.

Alone shall one be,

searching for answers in the snow.

Can anyone dream such dread?

Can many become one?

The answer lies in the sand of the frozen lake.

Fish continue swimming while the swan cries.

Cries over the one that was meant to be.

~Catnip Karvonen