Hello, dVerse Poets! It’s Merril, and I’m hosting from New Jersey, where most likely it is a hot and humid day.

Today’s challenge is what we at dVerse call Prosery. If you’re new, or if you have not come across this challenge before, let me explain. I will give you a line from a poem, and then you incorporate it into a short prose piece. This can be either flash fiction, nonfiction, or creative nonfiction, but it must be prose! And it must be no longer than 144 words, not including the title.

 You must use the line that I give you below. You may change punctuation and capitalize words, but you are not allowed to insert words in between parts of the sentence.

I went wandering through the Poetry Foundation Website, and I came across this poem, “A Time” by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, whose work often explores her Native American heritage.

I’ve selected this line.

“when it is over said and done

it was a time

                  and there was never enough of it.”

 –Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, “A Time”

Obviously, you will have to punctuate it to use it in prose. You can read the full poem here.  Do not choose a different line from the poem for this prompt.

Please also link your prosery to dVerse. If you do not follow the rules, I will gently remind you, and then I will remove your prose piece from Mr. Linky.

Here’s how to take part in the Prosery Prompt:

–   Write a piece of flash fiction or other prose of up to or exactly 144 words, including the given line.

–   Post your Prosery piece on your blog and link back to this post.

–   Place the link to your actual post (not your blog or web site) in the Mister Linky site.

–   Don’t forget to check the little box to accept use/privacy policy

–   Please visit other blogs and comment on their posts!

I’m repeating here what I said the last time I hosted Prosery—in June—but which seems like a lifetime ago.  I think it’s still true:

Many of us are feeling weary and overwhelmed. I know I’ve had days that I just feel like I can’t do the prompts or read posts by others. Never feel that you have to take part. You can always go back and revisit a prompt on your own or share a poem on an Open Link Night. That said, I will respond to every post for this prompt. I look forward to reading what you come up with. As of right now, I have no idea what I’ll be writing about!