In the spirit of NanoWrimo, I decided to share a little of my “creative” writing. As a writer, it's important to experiment in different styles, so over the next month, I'll be posting some pieces dabbling with imitation.

This week, I'm sharing a collection of short prose poems imitating Gertrude Stein's stream of consciousness style. Gertrude and her lady love had a little game, see. Gertrude would leave little poems for her life partner, Alice. It would be an abstract description of an ordinary household item, or location. These poems were a way to take a moment, stop and look at something so mundane, so familiar, and wrap it lovingly in mystery.

Exclusive Intervals

Furnishings

This is where a dead man conspires with a ceramic tortoise, an inkwell beside them. Plastic skeletons hang on frayed ropes tied to the corners. I watch the towers lean. Two inches to the left.

Dear Dove

I once knew a bird. A vibrant heart with talons arched. A bird with feathers in every color known to eye. A lie? To land or to dye?

Composition

The lines lifted, walls stood less than inches from one another, canyons to fill with the required words. But which? Which words? Which words to be chosen for this sentence? Page? Book? Language. Language you can see, hear, touch, taste. Taste Lemon Meringue. Taste Boston Cream pie.

Early Mornings

I sleep abreast a naked forest and headstones on cheap plastic. Pink velvet petals settle on a black and grey lake centered above my head. They stare down the galaxy across the divide. The temptress lurks to the left of my feet.

A Poster

We lie awake in our beds and we sleep through our lives, silhouettes in a rainbow sky. Background music to each other's eyes. Will you hold the umbrella, or shall I?

I hope these weird little blips on the radar inspire you to slow down a moment, find beauty and spark intrigue in the smallest details.