Seeing a rose, I once said that we stand out like that, red on green, and you reply, tongue-in-cheek, you mean like an ambulance at 3 AM in a Mississippi swamp and I shut up, crushed, like you’d said we were an accident that had been waiting to happen, as if crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end, just a screeching of brakes, a clang of metal, the jolting of bones, and then the long drawn out police report and insurance claims, a ledger of rights and wrongs, and the spindrift pages in the moonlit night where my heart spills and the nightingale vies with a shrike impaled on a thorny bush that ought to have a bloom, a rose, while someone, no one, looks for a medic to resuscitate the dead in an ambulance at 3 AM.
For Cee's FOTDand dVerse's Prosery where Merril asks us to use a line from a Jo Harjo poem, “Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end,” to write a 144-word piece of prose. Click on Mr. Linky and join in!
This Jolly Beggar 
Oh what an amazing stream of consciousness write! These words “and the nightingale vies with a shrike impaled on a thorny bush that ought to have a bloom” to me are so powerful. The juxtaposition of the delicate nightingale with the shrike impaled….wow. You put us right in this scene!
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Lillian,
I appreciate your reading so much. Thank you for those kind words.
Pax,
Dora
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Seems like these two are on different wavelengths, one of possibility and the other on termination. Sad for one but little satisfaction for the other.
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Lisa,
It’s a bad romance all around and no good map out of it, I’m thinking.
Pax,
Dora
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She seems to be the one to see the positive side of things, and he….
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Yep, he’s stuck in the muck of the Mississippi swamp. ;>)
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Definitely a bad romance. I like how this went to stream of consciousness–almost like the person was having a vision.
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Merril,
The SoC seemed natural to me for your prompt, no beginning, no end, so I went with it and enjoyed it. Thank you for the comments and thank you for the great prompt. 🙂
Pax,
Dora
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You’re welcome, Dora. 😀
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Enjoyed the descriptions in this prosery. 🙂
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Kitty,
I’m so glad. Thank you!
Pax,
Dora
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You skillfully created a dire and dark scenario! Well crafted!
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Beverly,
Kind and thoughtful of you to comment. Thank you!
Pax,
Dora
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Wow! That is one long sentence with almost no beginning and no end! Love the rose and all its metaphors in your story.
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Dwight,
I think all those days of reading Faulkner (for school and pleasure) rubbed off! Thank you!
Pax,
Dora
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:>)
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Yeah, he should have kept his mouth shut! 🤣 “spindrift pages in the moonlit night where my heart spills and the nightingale vies with a shrike impaled on a thorny bush that ought to have a bloom” nice little rant there!
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Tricia,
The swampy weather we’re having out here makes me want to rant! Thank goodness for a little “prosery” to let off steam vicariously. :>)
Pax,
Dora
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Yes, I always rant through writing! It’s totally allowed! 😆
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Loved this!
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Jay,
Been some time! Hope you are well. Thanks for the comment. 🙂
Pax,
Dora
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Going through a rough patch, thanks for hoping so, Dora.
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Sorry to hear that. Will be thinking of you, take care.
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Dora… that’s…. that’s… so real!
I’m wow’d…
-David
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David,
I’m so pleased you like it! Thank you, my friend.🤗
Pax,
Dora
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Two startlingly different ways of describing a relationship here, which goes to underline how differently people view the world. Great use of the prompt Dora!
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Ingrid,
I had a little fun with the idea of miscommunication and an unreliable, perhaps unempathetic, narrator. Thank you for reading!
Pax,
Dora
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Beautiful rose and post 😀
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Dear Cee,
Thank you so much!
pax,
dora
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Wow! Such differences in viewpoint. I feel sad for one and angry at the callousness of the other. Really like the image of the nightingale and the shrike.
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R.C.,
Now that you’ve pointed them out, I see how they function as emblems of the two viewpoints. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments.
pax,
dora
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I am hoping against all hope, it was a funny tongue in cheek comment not meant to harm. Good prosery piece!
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Helen,
Me too, because relationships fall foul of miscommunications all the time. And I was playing too with the idea of an unreliable narrator. So who knows? The heart is deceptive. Thank you for your wonderful comment.
pax,
Dora
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OH I love this gushing stream of thought with such an open, authentic voice. A brilliant way to use the quote.
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Mish,
I’m so glad you think so. Thank you very much!
pax,
Dora
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I love this, how you used the different metaphors for how different views can be for two different people. How even a rose can be wonderful or red as clotted blood. Maybe this the voice of the other party in my story.
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Björn,
The miscommunication between lovers: reams have been written about it and still it goes on. I like the way you addressed it and I can very well see the other party being this one. And i love your poetic turn of phrase to describe the two points of view. “Red as clotted blood” is how somebody saw it at any rate! Thank you for your comments as always!
pax,
Dora
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kaykuala
as if crucial to finding the way is this:
there is no beginning or end, just a
screeching of brakes……….
I love how you bring in a whole lot of works that follow beautifully into a minor skirmish. It would happen in life many times, Dora!
Good reminder!
Hank
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Great way to include the lines. Your stream of consciousness is superb, the reader really hears the voice.
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W.,
I was aiming for such an effect and it’s good to know that it worked. Thank you so much!
pax,
dora
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You are most welcome Dora 😊
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