The feelings were so real

When we were together and entwined

A chasm formed

The moment we parted

My truth distorted.

When we fell in love a seed was planted,

When I asked for your hand we began to grow,

And when we took our vows we fully grew,

So as we stand amongst this forest united as one I promise you,

When you don't want to talk,

I will still sway with you,

When you feel like giving up,

I will still sway with you,

When the doctor breaks the bad news,

I will still sway with you,

When our children cause us to stress,

I will still sway with you,

When the tumor starts to grow,

I will still sway with you,

When your soul departs from the hospital bed,

I will still sway with you,

For when the willow weeps,

Let the bark soak up the tears,

And may the branches shield you from strife,

For if death shall take you away,

From where we are rooted together in love,

I can promise you that I will always sway for you,

Until this tree that once bonded our spirits together,

Becomes dust within this vast forest

-D.S.

Every time we wanted to go out it was raining. Or snowing. Or hailing. Or too damn hot. Every time you wanted to stay in but you didn’t want to do anything but read your book in one chair while I read my book in another chair on the other side of the room. Nothing else. No kissing. No foreplay. No after party. No nothing. I wanted to tell you I was hot. I was really hot. It was raining inside my loins, and my loins were not the stormiest part of me. I wanted to tell you the wind that was raging outside was nothing like the wind inside of me. I wanted to show you how global warming had melted me so far I was puddling in my self. I wanted to hear if there was any water left in you, any fire, any earth, anything at all but the air in your eyes. I wanted to teach you a weather lesson. All I wanted was to be the storm.

And then you

came.

I took you down,

down to

the fresh water pool,

by the fronds

that lay.

Heaven sent you,

and I received you.

Down in

the fresh water pool,

that day.

The door slams shut and there are two of me, 

one threading through the curves and bends of our street, 

the other crying to run back 

and throw myself beneath your heel. 

I feel myself separating as I loose myself, 

threads tearing as I weave my fingers through your loops. 

I was entangled and now 

I am in pieces.

This body is a house that is no longer a home

and my mind is unsynched audio. 

I have come to resent you. 

Talking to you is like screaming underwater, 

so I swallow the tide and moan into your shoulder instead. 

Romance has come to half-hearted hallelujahs

as you push yourself inside me and chant, God damn.

I turn my head and sob to the window

that I want out,

as I spread my trembling legs

and invite you in.

Where have they gone

The gentle kind

Have they disappeared

Into sacred rock caverns

Hidden from this world

Holding within it peace

Turquoise tranquil hearts

The last remnants of purity

Honesty coveted quietly

Liquid hope dripping

Slowly

Steadily

Upon old absinthe rock

Joy forever cased in liquid glass

Pools of loyalty quenching

Softness sweetly melting in air

Forever crowned in kindness

Illuminating trust in kin

Strength of valor in chant

Shared smiles sip and wait

For the earth to be silent

So they may surface once again

Into the rising sun

sit and wonder

how many wounds

my innocence healed.

or if you just relished

the sight of first suffocation.

all your future victims

will walk easy on

the slivers of my youth,

holding down the weeds

of your perfected slaughter.

I was poured on dirt

for amusement.

and paid. willingly.

an addict of torment.

thinking weakness could deliver

the Devils from you.

Greetings, Prosers!

This week’s challenge marks the twelfth week, already. Time is accelerating quickly, nights are getting shorter and it’ll soon be spring. Hurrah!

As we hit week twelve of our Prose Challenge of the Week, we have to tell you how blown away we are by the amount of entries in our first collaborative writing challenge where we partnered with The Micropoetry Society. We saw a huge amount of entrants to the challenge prompt, all regaling us with individual interpretations of 'Old'. Thank you to all of you who entered the challenge and those that shared on social media. What a response and what a community!

This weekend saw the Oscars land in our feeds and on our screens. So before we announce last week's winner and runner up, we wanted to share this week's Oscar themed writing challenge:

Prose Challenge of the Week #12: You have just received an Oscar for Best Film, write the synopsis for that film. The winner will be chosen 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. The winner will receive $100, When sharing to Twitter, please use the hashtag #ProseChallenge

Once again, we added the sentence at the end of the prompt about sharing to Twitter. Last week, those that remembered to use the #micropoetry hashtag as well as #Poetheme when sharing on social media would have enjoyed their words being retweeted by The Micropoetry Society to their followers. It was a busy week indeed for Twitter!

We pored over the entries. We digested and we cogitated, we hotly debated and yes; finally, we agreed upon a winner and a runner up. (Drum roll, please). The winner of the Prose Challenge of the Week #11 is @DaveK with his piece entitled 'Age Grenades'! Congratulations to Dave who wins $100! The runner up and winner of $25 is @EBJohnson with her micropoetry piece entitled 'Forevermore'. We will be contact with you shortly to arrange the transfer of your winnings.

Have a great week everyone and please keep on sharing your words and worlds with us,

Until next time.

Prose.