Yellow tells us of a coward,

edges away from becoming red.

Pink tells us of new-borns,

just shy of the brightest red.

Brown could be rust colored red,

Blue, is just blue,

but it could be a saddened heart,

beating red blood ever gently.

Orange is but a step away,

caught in the flames of fire red.

Velvet is the soft red,

ever close to coming forefront to red.

But red ... red is the master,

the power that turns heads,

that feels heat,

that causes faces to blush.

Red is everywhere,

from sandstone to brick,

to a sexy dress on a woman,

to embarrasing moments.

... and red,

is the moment of now.

Think it,

feel it,

breathe it.

Good Morning, Prosers, 

Challenges have been updated! New options are available and you can now attach prizes and entry fees, in the form of Prose Coins to your challenges. Winners take home the purse, and entry fees serve to either increase the prize pool, or reward you for writing a great prompt.

Entry Limits: You can now specify the minimum and maximum number of allowed entries. Minimum entries determines the minimum number of entries required, before the end date is reached, for a winner to be declared. If the minimum number is not reached, challenge entry fees and prizes will be refunded, and the challenge will be marked "expired." Maximum entries determines the maximum number of entries allowed. If the number of entries reaches the maximum before time runs out, the challenge will be resolved early and applicable prizes will be distributed.

Judgement: Winners can be chosen in one of two ways. 

Democracy challenges automatically choose the post with the most likes at the time of the challenge resolution, either when the end date or the maximum entry limit is reached. 

Monarchy challenges require the creator (you) to select a winner when the challenge ends. You will be notified by email when it's time to make a selection, and can select a winner by pasting the URL of the winning post on this page. 

*Premium challenges (challenges with prizes), require the winner to be selected by the monarchy rule, and for the selection to be confirmed by Prose.

** You can now check out the winners of previous challenges from this day forward by visiting the following link theprose.com/challenges/archive. The winners will only be displayed for challenges created from this point onwards.

Prize Rule: The prize rule determines how entry fees and winner prizes are used. 

Flat Prize challenges require the creator to provide the prize purse up front. If the challenge does not reach the required number of entries in time, that prize will be returned to the challenge creator. If it resolves successfully, the winner takes the prize. Entry fees for flat prize challenges go 100% to the creator until the prize is fully reimbursed, at which point the creator splits entry fees with Prose 50/50. 10% of the prize is charged as a non-refundable posting fee when the challenge is created. 

Compound Prize challenges add 70% of each entry fee to the purse, 20% goes to the challenge creator, and 10% to Prose. Compound prize challenges cost 100 coins ($1) to create.

Prize: The prize only applies to challenges with the prize rule set to "flat" or "compound." For flat prizes, the prize you enter is the prize the winner receives. For compound prizes, the prize you set is just a starting point. 70% of each entry fee is added to the prize until the challenge resolves.

Entry Fee: Entry fees are paid by participants to enter the challenge. Entry fees are optional for flat prize challenges, but are required for compound prize challenges. For flat prize challenges, the entry fee is used to reimburse the challenge creator. For compound prize challenges, 70% of the entry fee is added to the total prize purse, with 20% going to the creator, and 10% to Prose. Of course, you can still set a free-to-enter challenge with no prize either. The above applies to 'premium challenges' only

Posting Fee: When you post a premium challenge, you pay the baseline prize up front. That prize is stored until the challenge resolves, at which time the prize is sent to the winner. If the challenge expires before reaching the minimum number of entries, the prize will be refunded to you. In addition to the prize, you will be charged a small, non-refundable posting fee, equal to 10% of the base prize.

Along with this huge update, we have fixed a handful of bugs and cleaned house. 

We've got a couple more challenge extras we want to bring you, and then we shall be moving forward with our goals for improving your experience. 

Until next time, Prosers, 

Prose. 

The thing that astounds me

Will always confound me

Are the people who must take offense

Why not get your groove on

Click once and just move on

Take action that makes much more sense.

If I’m to be brutal

It really is futile

To censor all those that say fuck

Your offense is collateral

At pics of what’s natural

Tell me, is this really what’s up?

It’s phonetics and sounds

Description of mounds

Biology formed of just letter

Associate meaning

Gets you vent spleening

As creatives, we must be much better.

If swearing is shocking

Then get busy blocking

Don’t throw the art under the bus

The onus lies with those

It’s the users, not Prose

Censor your homes and not us.

Moist lips press

Taste the sweetness

Breath in her scent

As they make their

Way down

Oui she moans

Je t'adore

Bien sur

He whispers

She melts and is his

I guess I kind of did this

A few weeks ago

But I'm still learning portals

And where my writes should go

For sake of Introductions

I've stopped to say hello

My name is really Stephanie

And I usually lie low

I started on Heyku or Ku

But now it won't work, you know

I tried real hard to stay

But it just crashes on my phone

I'm a mom of two, a boy and a girl

And I love to watch them grow

I also work as a waitress

And suffer public service flow

I've always liked to write

But it's been awhile though

I used to do a lot in school

Somewhere I hit a plateau

Prose is slowly becoming

A way for me to show

Myself the words are still there

Waiting to let go

The writers here are amazing

You are inspiration overflow

And I am so excited

To see and get to know

Each and everyone of you

With the writes that you prose

I admire the darkness the light

And all of your gusto!!!!

Be patient with me people

I'm only starting to learn

I've spent so long alone and away

I know it's your trust I must earn.

Be patient with me please

Because I don't know what to do

Don't judge me for my ignorance

For once you were ignorant too

Be patient and help me

To learn what I don't know

I'm blooming late in the garden

A flower just starting to grow

Be patient for me and

I'll be patient for you

Teach me what you know

Then we both learn something new.

A small creature approches you. You know what this creature is, as you feel a knot form in the pit of your stomach. It doesn't seem like it will get bigger, so you pick it up into your arms, and you let it sit on your shoulder.

You make your way to the couch, and the creature is silent. It's silence unnerves you a little, but you ignore it; as you reach for the remote your cell phone rings. You look over and it is your mother calling you.

Your father is in the hospital. He's dead.

You tense up. It spoke? You expect it to say something else, but it doesn't. Causiously you pick up the phone, you sound slightly on edge.

After about five minutes you realize your mother was calling to invite you to a birthday dinner. You remeber your father's birthday is in a few weeks.

She knew you forgot, and was calling to make you feel guilty. You don't deserve to go. You're a terrible son.

It speaks again. This conversation was making your skin crawl. You decide to quickly end the conversation with your mother, by politely telling her that you had an important project you were working on. She believed it, and hung up shortly after.

You take the creature off your shoulder and look at it. It speaks again.

You lied to your mother. She'll be very disappointed when she finds out you lied.

You become pensive. She can't find out, you think to yourself.

She can. You haven't worked on anything in months. She'll call you pathetic.

The creature continued. It then started walking towards you.

You're pathetic.

It then states with a wide grin on it's face.

You're eyes widen as you jump up from the couch. You then watch it as you head towards the bathroom. Showering may help, after all today was busy.

The creature watches you leave, it makes a noise almost similar to that of a chuckle before increasing in size. Not by much, but just enough to be noticeable.

Hiding will do you no good. You and I both know you're a failure.

It mused as it slowly wandered to the bathroom. It didn't enter the room, but t did stand right outside the door.

You know I'm right. Stop lying to yourself, you liar. People hate liars you know.

You pound your fist on the wall. "Get away from me!" You exclaim. Hoping that it will go away. You hear the creature chuckle, as it once again grows in size. It still can't open the door, but it's voice is louder.

You don't want to hear the truth. You know you're mother hates you, and you're father hates you. You can't show up to the dinner, because if you do you will have to lie, but if you don't show up then you'll be an even bigger disappointment to your parents than you already are.

"You're right" you state as you turn off the water. You pull the curtains back and grab a towel. As you dry yourself off you fight with the idea of going. Your siblings are doing way better than you, even though you're the oldest. "I am pathetic." You continue in defeat. "I won't go. I'm already a disappointment, so why bother trying."

The truth will set you free.

The creature muses with a toothy smile.

The truth will set you free.

What is intimacy?

It's two people sharing their lives

It's a morning kiss on the cheek to awaken her

It's that restful peace falling asleep in each other's arms

It's a look from across the room and the smile that follows

It's knowing they are there when you stir in the night

It's the smile when they catch you watching them get ready

It's sharing pizza and laughing

Its holding hands while grocery shopping

It's stealing a kiss in line for coffee

It's skin on skin embraced and talking about anything while alone

What is it ??

It's two lovers in loving everything about each other ...

That is intimacy !!!

Peace be to the world. Let us, the citizens of the Earth, stand united 

against the atrocities of  violence. 

Render your hearts open and release the preconceived notions from your past, my fellows. Please. Change will occur if people would simply accept love in it's various forms, express kindness without prejudice, and feel empathy to all. No wall, scapegoating, or attack on life can do so. 

Oppression has no home here on our planet. Remember that. Dear humans, resist the temptation, be strong against the old ways of thinking. Be indifferent to race, religion, and orientation for we are the revolutionaries, perpetuators of progress. Open your arms wide to new ideas, be different than the past.

Sending prayers does not equate to prevention. Orlando, Blacksburg, Newtown, Killeen, San Bernardino, Edmond, and Aurora; I'm sorry. I'm sorry that the hashtags, monuments, and vigils will never fix the horrendous actions your community endured. Your pain is unimaginable, the suffering you endure is unintelligible. As senators and lobbyist bicker, know this: I am with you. We are with you. The people are with you. 

Civilization has not turned a blind-eye to your hardship. Our marches and our petitions are for you, for change, and for the prevention of more unspeakable acts. The words we shout and the words we write are for you. We will not be silenced, despite the media's manipulation and portrayal of our non-violent movement for progress. No senator nor lobbyist can prevent the change, it is truly inevitable.  

End the madness, people, please. It really is up to us: citizens, fellow humans, the people of the planet. Humanity. Humanity, it's our job to facilitate the change. The only shot that should be heard around the world, is that of peaceful compassion to all. Not a gun. Let us rise against violence in all places, discriminate none, and express unfaltering love. The hate ends now: guns violence, racial separatism, genocides, warfare, and the like. It's got to stop. We can't go on like this.    

Sincerely, 

Me