Refrain

In response to Melody

One of Melody’s synonyms is Refrain which inspired this micro-poem:

Refrain

He thought to himself
In the moment between
Circumstance

And the need to respond to

Consequence
So that the one thing
He could not do was

Refrain

Synonyms:

abstain, avoid, cease, curb, desist, forgo, halt, renounce, resist, restrain… more synonyms

Next:

Resist

The Thesaurus Game: How to Play

You can think of this game as a one-word writing prompt. Instead of being given the word, you’re being given a list of synonyms to choose your one word from.

But if you just want to think of it as a game, it’s one of those games without winners or losers, and the rules of play are fairly basic:

1. The title of this post is the word
2. Pick a synonym for the word
   • Either pick one of the synonyms above or
   • Look up the word in a thesaurus and pick a synonym there
3. In a comment, tell us what synonym you’ve chosen
4. Then add anything you want about the synonym
   • Describe why you chose it
   • Write a story, poem or essay inspired by the synonym
   • Write a blog post about it
     • Post a link to your blog post in the comment
     • Also post a link from your blog post to this page
5. In your comment or blog post, please feel free to comment on this post as well

The conditions of play

• We are here to celebrate words and language
• Play nice — Zero tolerance for the following:
  • Don’t be mean, or use hate speech, or bully other players
  • No graphic sex or violence or excessive use of foul language
  • Dark themes are OK. Promoting violence or criminal behaviour is not
  • This is emphatically not a forum for your partisan political agenda or conspiracy theory
• Be generous
• Constructive criticism is welcome; personal attacks are not
• It’s OK to be an adult, just remember there are kids in the audience too
• Have fun

I hope you’ll also play the game with the synonyms other players provide. Just follow the rules above, using their synonym as the word. Post your new synonym as a reply to their comment.

I can’t promise I’ll be able to “play” with every player out there, but I will respond to your comments as often as opportunity allows.

Also, every now and again I’ll pick especially good responses and post them as “guest posts”. I’ll ask the player before doing that, just in case you’d prefer not to.