Kim is our host. She asks us to insert the following lines from French Poet Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud’s poem Novel, into the body of our piece of flash fiction of 144 words or less, sans title
“There you can see a very small patch
Of dark blue, framed by a little branch,
Pinned up by a naughty star”
Nightmare
(144 words)
And through the garden, feet beat down
The weeds and flowers there
The crushing sound is amplified
So loud you cannot hear
There you can see a very small patch
Of dark blue, framed by a little branch,
Pinned up by a naughty star
With cotton, blood I quickly stanch
Then laying down amongst the stones
My head is now resting hard
To see my life pass right by my eyes
My brittle bones are jarred
I open up my swollen lids
To see what fate there’d be
But all I find are darkened webs
No starlight do I see
What is this life I’ve come upon
Just laying on the ground
Wishing I could run away
Without making a sound.
Falling, falling, falling fast
My hands can catch my fall
And boost me to my highest height
My lungs scream out a call.
©2024 CBialczak
This is my first time, I think, reading Rimbaud and I enjoyed it! I found this and liked it as well, so thought I would share.

Beautifully, hauntingly written, Christine.
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Thank you
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This poem made me think of Snow white running trhough the woods
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Yes, I can see that!
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Lovely poem here….but the prompt is to use the lines in a piece of flash fiction. Prosery is the only type of prompt we use at dVerse that requires writers to write fiction. Hope you’ll rewrite it….would love to see it!
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I will go back and rewrite it.
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That is indeed a nightmare, Christine, and I love the way you wove the prompt lines into your poem. The phrase ‘my brittle bones are jarred’ is very effective. I’m delighted you enjoyed Rimbaud. However, Prosery is supposed to be prose, flash fiction. Would you be able to rewrite it in a prose format?
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Yes, I saw the message from Lillian so even though it is a bit late I will go back and rewrite it!
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So well done
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I loved your poem in response to the prosery prompt Christine! Very well done! X
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This was very good! Thanks for the link! I’m going to check it out!!
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That is a horrifying nightmare. I felt drawn into this but there is a hope at the end to rise up.
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I sort of pictured someone running terrified through the woods but they get out.
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