Good morning, Prosers.

It’s the eighth round of the Prose Challenge of the Week and this week we’re going to switch things up a little with our prompt. More on that in a second.

Last week saw a Lolita themed challenge prompt, and we want to take this opportunity to congratulate every single writer who entered. This challenge prompt was a difficult one by our own admission and we were absolutely stoked with your responses.

It is our duty as writers to challenge ourselves, to push our boundaries, and test our limits as creatives. We should endeavour to tackle sensitive and controversial subjects, nothing should be off-limits to our imagination.

We’ll move on to the winner of last week’s challenge after announcing the new challenge prompt:

Prose Challenge of the Week #8: Write a Haiku or Tanka about the supernatural. The winner will be chosen by Prose based on a number of criteria, this includes: fire, form, and creative edge. Number of reads, bookmarks, and shares, will also be taken into consideration. Winner will receive $100.

On to the winner of last week's challenge, and the lucky recipient of $100. After reviewing all of the entries, and discussing as a team, the winner of the Prose Challenge of the Week #8 is @Sandflea with “Cause and Effect." She really pushed herself to write out of her comfort-zone, something stripped back and raw. Congratulations, we will be in contact shortly to organise transfer of your winnings.

Let's all get back to doing what we're best at. Writing. 

Have a great week, Prosers.

Until next time... 

I'm trapped under water and can’t pierce

the watery veil obscuring my vision

I can’t behold what I don’t want to heed

I don’t want to glimpse you swimming

in a different pond with a new mermaid

tears submerge my soul in deep drenching

I can’t absorb the flood of rough water

which waves and undulates toward me

trying to flush my refusal to acknowledge

the sodden storm encroaching on my sanity

if I look the other way, I’m not drowning

but when I am thoroughly water-logged

by your soggy saturation of my heart

the downpour will cease and I will survive

hanging on with desperation to the buoy of life.

To the best of my recollection

but only when I can remember

what I had once forgotten

I reminisce that you once

were fun and games.

Are my memories just

little fleeting glances

of something that was stamped

in my mind but never really happened?

Did you ever dance the night away

with me then take me to your bed

impulsively in wild abandon and lust

pounding relentlessly into my flesh

again and again until I could take

no more or am I mistaken?

This figment of my imagination

is taking me away from you

as I fade into oblivion

and so do you.