I was given this list of songs and told to create a piece of writing from it.  I loved the project so I'm posting my piece and passing the list on.  Try it out!

A Writer's Playlist

1. My Body Is a Cage - The Arcade FIre

2. Crooked Lines - M. Ward

3. At My Window Sad and Lonely - Wilco

4. Psychotic Girl - The Black Keys

5. Crossed out Name - Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

6. Starry Stairs - Okkervil River

7. Put A Penny In The Slot - Fionn Regan

8. Tell Ol' Bill - Bob Dylan

9. Sausalito - Conor Oberst

10. Valerie Plame - The Decemberists

11. House Of Cards - Radiohead

12. Rooks - Shearwater

13. Racing Like a Pro - The National

14. The Ice Is Getting Thinner - Death Cab For Cutie

15. Off Broadway - Ryan Adams

16. Volcano - Beck

17. Berlin - Hanne Hukkelberg

18. The Only One - Readymade FC feat. Yael Naim

19. Pretty Bird - Jenny Lewis

20. That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart - Aimee Mann

21. If Wishes Were Horses - Lucinda Williams

22. Killing The Blues - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

23. Sea of Love - Cat Power

24. Snow Lion - Readymade FC feat. Feist

25. Little Girl - Hanne Hukkelberg

26. Who Loves The Sun - Tift Merritt

27. You Really Got A Hold On Me - She & Him

28. White Chalk - Pj Harvey

29. My First Lover - Gillian Welch

30. After Hours - The Velvet Underground

31. Declare Independence - Bjork

First Lover

The lion, and the little girl singing sweetly, with spirals in white chalk drawn delicately around them, a feathered companion perched on her shoulder.  She was sad when that pretty bird flew away, frightened by a somber and lonely roar.  But the penny that had been tied around the neck of that blue and yellow fowl had fallen into her hands as she watched the only colors in her life die in that starless night.  

Her life was now a house of cards, perched on a chess board with rooks coming at her from all sides.  The crooked lines of his weathered face told her that they were in for another delicate moment, dancing on thin ice.  And although it was already hours into their demise, holding on was all they had left.  The sun was shooting golden rays of warmth on her face, but it seemed as though it was firing arrows towards the melting spaces between them, threatening their end.  She knew that solid ground existed somewhere behind her, the same went for him.  But neither of them was going to turn around, and if they dared any closer to each other, they'd both go under.

She pulled the penny from her pocket, the very one that had fallen from the sky, and flipped it to the middle, where it landed in a growing puddle.  A small crack emerged.  She flashed a look of uncertainty towards the taunting sun and a bright flush of blue and yellow surged through. She shielded her face, having forgotten the brightness of these once familiar colors.  The pretty bird floated to the coin, collected it in her beak and finally rested on his shoulder.  She dropped her hands and in the same moment walked forward through the settled water.  Another fissure line developed.  She watched as his eyes settled on the splitting ice and then moved slowly back to hers.

"You were the only one,"  he whispered.  "That's how I knew."

"What?"  she urged, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"That this story would break my heart."

The wavering ground faltered once more and she began to fall through.  His outstretched hand caught hers, and all he could see then were her delicate fingers slipping from his.