Lillian here, delighted to host dVerse today, the virtual pub for writers around the globe!
WARNING! TODAY THIS SITE IS NOT FOR POSTING POETRY!
So if you are thinking about posting your poem for NaPoWriMo here, do not.
Why? BECAUSE THIS IS PROSERY MONDAY AT Dverse and Prosery is not poetry!
It is not prose poetry; it is not poetry of any kind. What is it then? See below.
WHAT IS PROSERY? It’s a new genre of creative writing originated by dVerse. There are four caveats for Prosery Mondays:
1) Your post must be prose, not poetry. Most people post what is commonly called Flash Fiction. Occasionally someone writes prose that is memoir or nonfiction.
2) Your prose/flash fiction must have a beginning, middle and end…just as a story does.
3) Your prose must be succinct: no more than 144 words in length, not including the title.
4) Your prose must include a specific line of poetry which the dVerse host provides in their prompt. The line must be included in your prose exactly as the words are written in the given line. The punctuation may be altered, but the words and their order must be identical to the line as given.
Ready for the specific line of poetry I’m asking you to include in your prosery post today?
The line for today is If you are a dreamer, come in.
The line is from Shel Silverstein’s poem, Invitation, as published in his wonderful book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. This book, and a second titled A Light in the Attic were favorites of my children. Be sure at the end of your prose to give credit to Shel Silverstein for the line!
Shel Silverstein is an American writer, poet, cartoonist, songwriter and playwright. He is best known for his cartoons, songs, and children’s books. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold more than 20 million copies.
Here are two of his poems to enjoy!
FALLING UP
I tripped on my shoelace
And I fell up.
Up to the roof tops.
Up over the town.
Up past the tree tops.
Up over the mountains.
Up where the colors
Blend into the sounds.
But it got me so dizzy
When I looked around,
I got sick to my stomach
And I threw down.
DIRTY FACE
Where did you get such a dirty face,
My darling dirty-faced child?
I got it from crawling along in the dirt
And biting two buttons off Jeremy’s shirt.
I got it from chewing the roots of a rose
And digging for clams in the yard with my nose.
I got it from peeking into a dark cave
And painting myself like a Navajo brave.
I got it from playing with coal in the bin
And signing my name in cement with my chin.
I got it from rolling around on the rug
And giving the horrible dog a big hug.
I got it from finding a lost silver mine
And eating sweet blackberries right off the vine.
I got it from ice cream and wrestling and tears
And from having more fun than you’ve had in years.

So — meet me where the sidewalk ends! You’ll find the burgandy door to the dVerse pub wide open just waiting for your prosery post!
New to dVerse? Here’s what to do and the rules we use at the pub! Pay close attention to rules 5 and 6!
- Write a piece of prose (flash fiction, memoir, nonfiction) that is 144 words or less and includes, word-for-word, the line If you are a dreamer, come in. You may alter the punctuation in the line, but you MUST use the words exactly as given, in their exact order as Silverstein used them.
- Do give credit somewhere on your post that the line is are from Shel Silverstein’s poem Invitation as published in his book Where the Sidewalk Ends.
- Do NOT write a poem! The easiest way to think of prosery is as flash fiction.
- Post your prosery to your blog AND add the exact URL for your poem to Mr. Linky below.
- REMEMBER to either TAG dVerse in your post, or include a link at the end of your post that leads readers back to dVerse (https://dversepoets.com).
- If there is no Tag or link back to dVerse, I will gently remind you to add it or remove your post from Mr. Linky. Sorry to be so harsh…..but this is just part of the requirements AND it will bring you more readers and lead more folks to dVerse so they can participate as well!
Knock, knock…I’m a poet and a dreamer. May I come in? 🙂
Absolutely! Glad to see you here, Mish.
We’ll see how many venture into the pub today since so many are consumed with NaPoWriMo. (including you and me too!) Glad you joined us and hope to have many more 🙂
Hmm….yes, we will see. I’m actually not participating in NaPowriMo. Quite the commitment, I’m sure!
❤️❤️
Welcome to dVerse! The pub door is wide open and I’m looking forward to reading your posts today!
I know we are all consumed with NaPoWriMo – me too – but I do hope you’ll take the time to write some prose today as well.
So – I’ll meet you where the sidewalk ends. I’m ready with libations of all sorts!
Well then, I’ll take a chai latte, Lil.
Coming right up!
A great line to work with. Thanks for hosting Lil.
Thank you for the fun poetry Lillian and a tricky prompt to write in prose rather than poetry!
The Silverstein books were well used in our household….I’ve passed them onto the grandkids! Nice to see you here today, Ingrid!
Hello Lillian and All. I loved the line you chose. It’s halfway sunny and halfway warm out there today, and a walk around the yard revealed the helleborus and the violets in bloom. Will be here for a bit then headed out to do yard work.
Oh the absolute delight to do yard work in the sping! Living in a high rise in Boston, we don’t get to do that anymore. But we always had huge gardens out back with vegetables, herbs and berry plants; and flower beds all around the house. I do miss that in city living.
Yes it is my great joy to do yard work. I had my yard in the city just the way I wanted it, then moved here at the end of 2011 and am mostly starting from scratch again. It will take a long time to get it right. Do you have any community gardens nearby you could work in?
Sadly no. But we did make sure to buy a condo in our building (7th floor) where the “deck” or balcony as it’s called here, was not closed in and simply made into added space in the living room. So we have sliding glass doors out to our deck and in May, we’ll uncover our table, two chairs and rocker plus buy geraniums for the plant stand that we set up out there. I have a lovely French looking table cloth and enjoy having breakfast and coffee out there every morning when the weather turns. 🙂 So we still have our outside “yard work” but it’s on a cement balcony/deck with a planter! 🙂
Awesome, Lillian! Sounds like a perfect place for breakfast and coffee in nice weather.
Hello… I had hoped to write today, but I guess it is too late for me tonigth. Had all kind of internet problems and also need to fix the bread tonight.
I am back from my vacation but have not really settled in yet.
Welcome back! We missed you!
No problem, Bjorn. Just fun that you checked in. Make that vacation last as long as you can 🙂
Bjorn, take it easy, buddy.
Welcome back, Bjorn. Hope it was restful. 🙂
I’ve not read much Shel Siverstein, Lill, as he’s not that well known here, but his poems are fun and I love the prompt line.
My kids loved both his books. The pages had many “dog ears” on them, marked as favorites 🙂 I know some think that’s being “unkind” to a book to turn down corner pages, but in these instances, it showed my how much my young children loved reading his poems! 🙂
Great prompt, Lillian! So far today, all I’ve done is write poetry, and I have a test assignment and other work due. (How dare the real world intrude!), so I probably won’t get to this today, but perhaps tomorrow. 😀
Oh would love to have you give it a go tomorrow, Merril! I’ll leave the key to the pub in the potted plant to the right of the door when I close up tonight….so anyone can venture in. And I’ll open the doors myself tomorrow AM with nice hot coffee available then! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
🤣
I wasn’t familiar with Shel Silverstein either but wish I had when my children were young. So much fun to read with the repetition.
They really are two wonderful books! If you Google him, you’ll find a lot of his poems available that with….with his wonderfully fun illustrations for them too!
back in a bit after i have written a little something. i will need to look up shel as this is my first encounter with them. great prompt.
His poems are so much fun! If you Google him, you’ll find some of his poems with their wonderfully fun illustrations as well. So many dog-eared pages in those two books from my kids marking their favorite poems. I believe the books even had some jelly stains on them from reading while eating lunches in their make-shift tents on rainy days! 🙂
Great memories are made of such
Hello Lillian- Just returned from the dentist but hoping to get something posted by the morning. I love the line! I hope everyone is doing well!
Nice to see you here, Linda! Hope to see you in the AM and so glad you like the line! I think it can be used in so many different types of tales 🙂
Thanks for the prompt. For me, it’s all about the daydreaming.
I do understand….we have more control over daydreaming 🙂
Good evening!
Thought to myself earlier today. It must be prosery tonight. And got exited about writing something other than poetry as GloPoWriMo takes most writing time and energy right now. Just got back from dance class so we’ll see if I have any energy left tonight or if I’ll get to it tomorrow.
Never heard of Shel before, but now I want to read everything. His dark humour made me laugh outright.
Found this as I googled his name, 21 of his poems to enjoy.
https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/harperkids/shel-silverstein-poems
Thanks for the link! And I do love the illustrations he puts in his books. My kids truly loved those two books…the pages were well dog-eared with their favorites. Normally I don’t approve of turning down pages in books…but in this instance, it showed me they were reading and showed me which ones they connected with. His humor is just excellent….adults enjoy these two books as well! 🙂
Will look forward to reading your post…today or tomorrow.
I borrowed the key, and also made some coffee before doing the hard job of whittling down my 300+ words to just a 144. Just locked up again and put the key back. Now time to cook dinner for the kids. And check which of Shel’s book might have been translated to Swedish, so I can share it with them.
Happy Monday everyone
Stay creative and safe
Much💛love
And to you as well! Glad to see you here today! 🙂
A great line, Lillian! Shel Silverstein in a favorite! I think I will revise an old flash piece. It’s fun to write Prosery, I just have to sharpen my editing skills to keep it under 144 words!
Ah that 144 or under is always the trick in prose. I find it more tricky that the Quadrille! Glad to see you here tonight, Tricia!
Hi Tricia! The link you put into Mr. Linky does not connect to your poem. It takes me to a wierd place where it asks me to write for either dVerse or my own web site. I’ve tried it a number of times.
Can you please put in the exact URL to your post in Mr Linky for the prompt again? I’ll then delete the error one….and everyone will be able to read your post! THANKS
sure thing!
Should be fixed now. Thanks for letting me know!
🙂
Hello all!! Thank you for hosting today Lillian, great prompt. LOVE Shell! My muse delivered a fantasy, so I posted it…
Fantasies are good. Comin’ over to that corner of the pub in a minute to imbibe a bit and read it!
Thank you very much Lillian, I appreciate that you were so understanding of the spirit in which I posted the link to “So Blue”, my past homage to Shel Silverstein — and I will be fine if you feel it better to take it down. As I look in hindsight, I should not have put you in this position — I am sorry Lillian for my shortsightedness. I was caught up in Shelmania. Also thank you for your very kind words about “So Blue”. I will read it aloud at our next OLNLive, will be fun… 😉
My six-year-old loves this book! 😀
I can understand why! Our kids had so many pages dog-eared down because they had a ton of favorites! Both well used books!
I read him in my childhood years too – I’ve always loved him!
I do understand! 🙂
Okay folks….time for me to eat some dinner, share a little time with my hubby of 51 years and close up the pub. BUT, do not worry! As always when I’m tending the pub, I’ve left the key under the potted plant to the right of the door. Let yourself in! We’re a self-serve pub tonight so help yourself to libations. The only requests I make are leave a tip in the terms of some prose that includes the Silverstein line and lock up when you leave, putting the key back under the pot.
See you all in the AM….when numerous kinds of coffees will be served!
Great prompt thanks Lillian, love his poetry!
My response to your prompt is scheduled in 12 hours … got my mineral water and left a tip in the jar!
Excellent. So glad you stopped by!
Hello Lillian. Love the line you chose for us tonight! Sending something your way ☺️💕
So glad you liked the line. Getting over to read now….a little slow this morning….enjoyed my coffee and paper and crossword too much! 😉
Hello Lillian, thanks for hosting! I have submitted my story (^_^)
Excellent! Getting back to the reading now.
I read the prompt this morning (time zone diff), thought about it in the shower, in the car, came up with a couple of cheery ideas… then spent the entire work day doing compliance paper work…
Well I’m glad the prompt inspired some cheery ideas! Good to see you here!
As a dreamer this was a welcome challenge, thank you Lillian.
Glad you enjoyed the prompt!