Pardon my 'Prompt' -ness

I've previously mentioned the writing workshop I attend where we do five minute timed writings based on a random word prompt.  We then read whatever we wrote out loud.  It's a workshop, not a critique group, so the only negative comments I hear are the ones in my head.  So, once again, in the spirit of sharing and being more open with my writing, here's another - eek! - unedited exercise...

The prompt:  "vast"

The result:  "The world was vast but the neighborhood was a world unto itself.  The street ended at rounded corners, hugging the public school - big and brick - on one side and the apartment building - with the wrought iron on its doors - on the other.  The houses, connected on one wall on one side, shared driveways on the other - like couples strolling with linked arms.  Red brick stoops and cracked sidewalks and hopeful trees planted in small patches of dirt on the edge of a quiet street lined with parked station wagons.  Kids darted in and out between them, chasing a ball, chasing each other.  Adults leaned on fences or sat in folded chairs with sagging canvas slats.  The old woman with the gray hair leaned on her elbows on the window sill and called down to her husband sitting on the stoop below.  She surveyed the neighborhood and kept an eye on her grandchildren, on her children, on the world as she knew it, the world that lived between cross streets and corners. "


Give it a try.  Use "vast" or some other word that pops into your head or ask someone else to give you a word.  You never know where your mind will take you if you just give it a chance, if you just let it.