Written for: dVerse Poetry Pub – Prosery #3: Love After Love (posted by Kim)
“We ask you to write a very short piece of prose that tells a story, with a beginning, a middle and an end, in any genre of your choice.
As it’s flash fiction, we have a limit of 144 words; an additional challenge is to hit 144 exactly. The special thing about Prosery is that we give you a complete line from a poem, which must be included somewhere in your story, within the 144-word limit.”
For the third Prosery, I’d like you to write a story that includes the following line from ‘Love After Love’, a poem by Derek Walcott:
‘You will love again the stranger who was your self’.
Her M.O. was men and moving. A spate of apartments,
hard to recall now, as were some men. What was
she out to prove, how fast she could self-destruct?
Time moved on and she, with it. She has dwelled
in the same apartment with the same man
for years. Life is secure, relatively speaking. She
has enough to live on, and love of three dogs,
three cats, one bird, and her man.
Today, she ran into an old friend who had been
a flightier risk than she. Catching up over drinks, both
women laughed, reminiscing about old times. Odd,
as she did not like thinking about who she was
then. Sitting on the subway, she smiled inwardly. Lives
change. Why should she not love again the stranger
who was her self. That was one phase of many. Perhaps
there would be more.
(144 words used.)
This is wonderful and so true. We all evolve and change over time.
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Thanks, Linda!
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Wise words I heard long ago “First you learn to love yourself” … With some it takes longer than others!!
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It’s a hard lesson. Thanks, Bev.
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Interesting story. If we don’t live ourselves first then we are doomed to “love” others. She didn’t like the use to be her. I can’t say that I blame her.
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Sometimes hard to reconcile with your past. Thanks, Toni.
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We all have those phases we would rather forget. Just part of the learning process, I suppose.
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You don’t see it that way until you are past it.
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Nice take on the prompt.
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Thanks, msjadeli!
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I would love to know what happens to her, Sara, whether she stays with her three dogs, cats, one bird and man, or whether she goes back to her previous M.O. Perhaps meeting up with the old friend was a mistake. I like the way the possibilities line up at the end.
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Thanks, Kim. I don’t usually like writing prose, but this was fun.
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I do love this… there are things of the past we might be ashamed of, but in the end we will also find those wonderful gems from the past that looks better after a while.
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Just have to believe in yourself. Thanks, Bjorn.
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Life journeys on, we may be strong enough to look back or not, however me must continue to love if me must live
Enjoyed your write
Much❤✏❤love
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Thanks so much, Gillena!
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