A Mind's Universe / A Walk with Fairies - #dVerse #prosery #fairies #AmandaGorman #poem #poetry #poet #poetrycommunity #writer #writingcommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! This dVerse challenge is being hosted by Merril D Smith. She has titled it Prosery: Finding the Light. To write prosery, you take a line of poetry and place it in a prose piece. You are allowed to add punctuation but you cannot add words to the quote. The prosery should be less than 144 words. She has chosen a line from Amanda Gorman's poem, "The Hill We Climb." Here is the line.

"where can we find light in this never-ending shade?"

-From Amanda Gorman, "The Hill We Climb"

For those of you who do not know, I am a middle school intensive reading teacher. I also sponsor a poetry club where we focus on all kinds of poetry, including spoken word poetry. I work with Bluapple Poetry and the Jason Taylor Foundation to teach students how to speak their truths through poetry, so I'm happy that this challenge's inspiration comes from a spoken word artist.

I struggled with keeping it to 144 words, but this is the prosery I created.

(Image by @popmelon on Pixabay)

A Mind's Universe

The recesses of the mind hide in dark, desolate crevices, craving the deep oblivion. Sometimes, they become needy, hungry for attention. These aberrations slink from their hideaways into the conscious, creating havoc and disharmony. Spreading like a plague, they infect the happy, healthy village of the mind until an ominous cloud cloaks it in darkness. Cynicism, depression, and anxiety overwhelm its counterparts, caging them in formidable cells of isolation. Darkness descends, and we withdraw from the world, wondering, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

With just a thought, light begins to crack through the darkness. Light’s power lies in its strength to attract other sources of hope. Just a spark will spread, forcing darkness to retreat to its shadows. A spark will become a flicker which will turn into a flame. It is up to us to keep that flame alive.

 ~~~

This prompt also inspired a micro-read, so I thought I would share that as well. Originally, it had 419 words, but I brought it down to 144 to match the prosery. I hope it still kept its essence. The quote is bolded and italicized.

(Image created with Microsoft Bing's Image Creator)

A Walk with Fairies

"I never should’ve agreed to this," Mario said.

"We didn't go far." Sonia sniffled.

Stacy smiled. "We just need to find light."

Sonia looked around. "It’s getting dark. Where can we find light?"

"In this never-ending shade? We won't." Mario looked up. 

"Just follow the fairies."

Mario rolled his eyes. "There’s no such thing as fairies."

Sonia whispered, "I'm scared."

"Don’t worry. The fairies will lead us home."

Just then, flickers of light appeared.

Stacy pointed. "The fairies have arrived! Follow them."

They followed the blinking sources of light.

Mario pointed. "I think that's the streetlamp at the playground."

At the end of the forest, Stacy turned back. "Thank you for helping us, fairies."

A flickering light approached. A beautiful fairy with iridescent wings kissed Stacy’s nose and flew away.

"Goodnight, fairies! I'll visit soon," she promised and then traipsed after her friends. 

Would you like to write a prosery poem? Join us here.