Good evening, Poets, and welcome to Prosery: the prompt where we write prose based on some given lines of poetry. This can be flash-fiction or creative non-fiction, but it cannot exceed 144 words in total (not including the title) and must not be poetry (no versification, line breaks, metre, etc.)

Now that the rules are out of the way, let’s take a look at the lines. I’ve taken them from Wordsworth’s ‘Lines Written at a small distance from my House…‘ which is included in the collection Lyrical Ballads, a groundbreaking poetic collaboration between Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in several editions between 1798 and 1802. The ‘Lines’ of this poem are addressed to his sister, Dorothy, and the particular lines I have picked out for you are these:

And bring no book, for this one day
We’ll give to idleness.

So now I’ve given you the prompt, put down your books and let your muses do the talking, just remember: prose not poetry! I will see you on the reading trail…

And before I go, a reminder that this Thursday’s Open Link Night will be live: link up and join us via Google Meet for a chance to read your poem out, loud and proud!

How to take part:

• Write your prose piece and post it to your blog.
• Mention/tag dVerse in your post.
• Add your link to the Mr Linky widget below.
• Be sure to read and comment on the work of others!