What can you hang on a line?

A challenge for you, writers.

Take the idea of 'a line' and riff on it, collecting images and impressions that belong or appear along that line. Here are some options. I'm sure you can think of others. 

A railway line. 

A line of script

The front line

A telephone line 

A bee line

A picket line

A blood line

A red line

A production line

A double yellow line

A line in the sand

A firing line

The line of duty

A chorus line 

Form your ideas together and see what happens. Perhaps it will prompt you to write a longer piece.

I wrote about a washing line. In the end, I think I was telling a story about a family, but I didn't realise it at the time. 

Washing line 

White sheets, flirting with the whip

of an autumn breeze. 

A yellow dress, its skirts wide, 

reaches up then settles, 

as though recalling the dance.

Three black socks, and we all know why.

A child's apron, wrong without

flour accidents and chocolate smears. 

Small tartan pyjamas, mischievous 

at play in the November air. 

Washcloths, two frayed, one new - 

squares pegged close like three quiet windows

until a quick gust makes them unruly curtains.

A man's black shirt, sober against the rest,

like a warning or rebuke. 

Please do share your writing in the comments. I'd love to see people's different 'takes' on this exercise! 

Fran is a writer and English teacher from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, in England. Her latest book was published by SPCK in May and is a funny teacher-memoir about all kinds of misbehaviour, a subject with which she is familiar. It's called 'Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?' You can find out more about Fran and her work by visiting her website