Author: Reena Saxena

The politician stood in front of his audience, delivered his address and then invited questions.

The first question asked about his government’s response to the current domestic crisis.

The politician listened to the question and gave himself a moment to consider his response before saying he took the question as a rhetorical one and didn’t feel the need to make any comment.

It was his standard response when asked something he either didn’t have an answer to or didn’t want to answer.

He turned his media conferences into meaningless exchanges in which he espoused his virtues and those of his government and ignored anything uncomfortable.

He discovered a sound way to protect himself, his rhetoric in reply, to what he considered a rhetorical question. Always delivered with the smugness of a seasoned politician.

Written for: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2020/01/30/reenas-exploration-challenge-120/

Reenais the host of Reena’s Exploration Challenge.

Reena’s Exploration Challenge

Welcome back to this space, friends!

PROMPT

The theme this week is

RHETORICAL QUESTION

Use the words in your piece, allude to it in some way, or include the figure of speech in your writing.

Have a ball! Can writers write?

~*~

There are so many unnecessary things that we say in a day. Asking futile questions and making observations, starting the obvious. Some people are kind and do answer these rhetoricalquestions and reply to our statements which can only be answered by a yes. While there are others who can never resist to make a joke out of it.

With keys and a purse in your hands, you are headed out the door when your kid or husband would say, “Are you going out?”

“No, I was just getting a glass of water from the kitchen”

“But…

Every person who writes and shares their writing with others is selling a point of view, so in that sense, every blogger/author/social media poster is well-versed in rhetoric. Rhetoric isn’t new. It’s been around since before the written word, when prehistoric humans sat around fires and told stories. I wonder if hieroglyphs on cave walls contained rhetoric? Hey, isn’t that a rhetorical question?

In the electronic age, we are inundated with rhetoric. I feel like I’m drowning in it. Where are the islands to rest in this swarming sea? I would say graphical art is one place, even though much of it springs from the politics of the artist. Poetry can also be very political. Nature is respite when a subject of any creative expression. Do you think that nature art/writing/poetry can contain rhetoric? I think it is more than a rhetorical question. The answer is a resounding yes. An…

Would sharing my grief,

Lessen my burden?

Would sharing my secrets,

Invite trouble?

Would sharing my thoughts,

Pave way for ridicule?

Would rendering my opinion,

Call for telling off?

Would any departure from ordinary,

Render a taunt?

Would a seemingly harmless situation,

Manifest to regret?

Questions,

Would I ever get an answer to, or,

Would I ever remain twitchy before putting my foot forward?

65 words.

Acknowledgements :- Thank you Reena Saxena for hosting the Reena’s Exploration Challenge # 120. The challenge is to write a piece focussing on the current week’s prompt :- Rhetorical Questions. For rules please refer here. Thank you all for stopping by and reading.

तुम बिन जिया जाता नहीं
पर तुमसे कहा जाता नहीं
क्या यही प्यार है ?

क्यों लगते हो अपने से
जब तुमसे कोई नाता नहीं
क्या यही प्यार है ?

अपने दिल के राज सभी
कोई यूँ ही बतलाता नहीं
क्या यही प्यार है ?

कैसा यह ख़ुमार है
क्यों यह उतर जाता नहीं
क्या यही प्यार है ?

ले गया यह नींद मेरी
क्यों चैन मुझे लाता नहीं
क्या यही प्यार है ?

In response to: Reena’s Exploration Challenge # 120