I’m Kim from Writing in North Norfolk, welcoming dVerse poets to Prosery, when we ask you to write a very short piece of prose that tells a story, with a beginning, a middle and an end, in any genre of your choice: flash fiction, nonfiction, or creative nonfiction.
As it’s a kind of flash fiction, we have a limit of 144 words; an additional challenge is to hit 144 exactly. The special thing about Prosery is that we give you a complete line from a poem, which must be included somewhere in your story, within the 144-word limit. You may change punctuation but you are not allowed to insert words in between parts of the quotation.

I have loved D.H. Lawrence’s writing since I studied Sons and Lovers as a teenager, and I sometimes forget that he wrote amazing poetry too. I was flicking through the anthology Answering Back (edited by Carol Ann Duffy), when I came across his poem ‘Humming Bird’.
I would like you to write a story that includes the following line from that poem:
‘We look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time’.

You can read the complete poem here:
https://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Lawrence/humming_bird.htm
Here’s how to take part in Prosery:
- Write a piece of flash fiction of up to or exactly 144 words, including the given line. You must include the whole line in its original order, with no added words in between, but you may alter the punctuation.
- Post your Prosery on your blog and link back to this post.
- Link it up to our Mr. Linky.
- Don’t forget to check the little box to accept use/privacy policy
- Visit other blogs. Enjoy some amazing writing, and don’t forget to comment.
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Great to see it up… a little glitch in time, but now it works. I liked the telescope image and worked with (as usual i tried the punctuation)
I don’t know what happened, Björn. Something to do with the new layout of WordPress. I was sure I’d chosen the correct time, but when I tried to force it to publish, it didn’t want to let me.
That was because we tried at the same time
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Hi Kim, and all. Interesting prompt. I’m catching up on work–and well, everything. 😏 I’ll try to get something in later today or tomorrow.
I look forward to it, Merril!
Good evening everyone! Sorry about the hiccup with opening the bar this evening, but there was a hiccup with scheduling. I hope you have had a good start to your week. Here in the UK we are facing even more rules and restrictions, some parts more than others in a new tiered system. It just gets more and more confusing. I’m glad I don’t have to leave the house. So let’s open some wine, cheese and crackers this evening. I’ve lit candles ready for some cosy storytelling with this month’s Prosery.
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Interesting line, Kim. Had a little panic, but it’s all sorted now!
Panic is the right word, Sarah!
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Hi All- Joining in with a little sci-fi fantasy piece. Thanks for hosting Kim!
I love a bit of sci-fi, Linda!
Thank you for hosting, Kim. I’ve had problems with WP scheduler recently: it doesn’t like when I try to queue up more than one post. Good job I’m never that far ahead of myself! I really enjoyed this prompt. Going to read others tonight but I’ll be commenting tomorrow when my brain is more in gear. Have a wonderful afternoon/night everyone!
So glad you dropped by, Ingrid. Don’t worry about coming back tomorrow to read and comment – I can’t stay up too late tonight, so I’ll be doing the same. The scheduler has changed along with the rest of WordPress and it wouldn’t accept the time I entered. I thought I’d fixed it before I pressed schedule and it looked OK, but it didn’t post at the right time. When I tried to force it it went squiffy. Thankfully, Bjorn sorted it out.
It is most frustrating at times!
Hello Kim and All. Am behind on getting prosery started. I stayed up really late finishing S3 of Hinterland and so got up even later than usual. A glass of Roscato with cheese and crackers sounds very tasty.
Don’t worry about being late – Prosery is open all week, and I don’t want you to hurry yours. Anyway, something strange happened with the post and the schedule went awry – and then it wouldn’t let me change it! A glass of Ruscato with cheese and crackers coming up!
Kim, the line you chose was so good the words came pouring out. Cheers!
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Great post Kim and thanks for the DH Lawrence poem. This prompt took me to a grimly imagined place – which I hope won’t be upsetting for people. Look forward as ever, to some great reading later on in the day.
Thanks for joining us, Peter. I look forward to reading your piece – I like the promise of a ‘grimly imagined place’,
Cheese and crackers sound delicious, Kim! 💝 I enjoyed writing to this prompt and as expected my muse went dark. There is something about October that lends to the muse. Thank you for hosting us! See you on the trail! 🙂
Talking about October, I thought crackers would make a satisfying crunch to accompany the stories. 🙂
Most definitely!! 😍
I didn’t get a piece of prose this time as I didn’t want the whole phrase. Wrote a poem instead though, so not all the words were wasted 🙂
I’ll have to visit your poem tomorrow. Shame you didn’t get some prose. 😉
To be honest, I’m not keen on this idea of using someone else’s words. The image, yes, an idea or an adaptation, but not a whole phrase written by someone else, especially not trying to shoehorn a line of poetry into a piece of prose. I’d love us to have a discussion about words and how we use them. It would be interesting to hear what other people think.
Something for the live Open Link Night, perhaps.
Sounds like a good idea. I can’t get the thing to work though.
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There have been some fabulous pieces this evening so I hope you don’t mind me saving some for tomorrow. I’m off to bed now and will be back first thing in the morning to continue reading and commenting.
Rest up, Kim. I just posted. check me out tomorrow. I gotta go read the others now. Very cool prompt.
Thanks Ron. I’m back in the land of the living and ready to read and comment again. I’ll be over shortly.
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This helped me create a whole new flash fiction story from a longer piece I needed to revise. Thanks for the prompt!
Thanks for joining us, Tricia. I look forward to reading it shortly.
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Hi Kim, thanks for hosting! What an intriguing quote! Took me down an interesting viewpoint. 🙂 Na’ama
I’m looking forward to reading it!
🙂
Hi Kim. Thank you for this fun prompt. I decided to tackle a steaming issue, to try to put my finger on the bottom of a historic travesty — and dig out the truth… 🙂
I’m back again after a restless night’s sleep and driving my husband to work, ready to read and comment.
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Great quote. Thanks Kim. (K)
I’m glad you like it.
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Many thanks Kim, Lawrence is a wonderful writer to bring to us. I have a connect with Lawrence, I was born in Nottingham, and there’s a family legend that the gamekeeper Mellors is based on a relative in my fathers line (despite claims of an Italian mule driver). 🙂
Wow, that’s some claim to fame, Paul!
The other one is that there was a distant relative who did the four act play which toured over here some years ago.
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