A Mother’s Love
Ever since I was born,
You've sacrificed
Given up parts of yourself
Just for me
You've spent late nights,
Cradling me until sleep took me away
Nursing me back to health
When I was sick with the flu
And needed a mother's touch to heal
On days I cried, you held me tight
For hours and hours,
Until the warm, rolling tears dried up
When kids at school wronged me,
You were there to comfort me
Even now, with mistakes made
And damage done
Everything you do,
Is with your children's best interest in mind
Still, years and years later,
When I'm big and grown,
Your love is there,
Ushering me on
Love You Till The End.
I promise you, I'll love you till the end
There's not a man alive who can be a better friend
If you run a hundred miles, I'll be there right beside you
Not a single person can stop me, stuck to you like glue
If you swim across the ocean, I'll give it my best
Although to keep up, I may need a vest
If you get into a fight, I'll jump in front
I've always enjoyed the thrill of the hunt
If you ever fail, I'll be there to help you through it
I'd go as far as walking through a tar pit
If you are ever tired, I'll be there to protect
Anyone who comes in is about to get wrecked
If you ever go to jail, I swear I will support
I'll be there myself to fight the court
I hope you understand, just how much I love you
Even if you don't decide to share your beef stew
I, your dog, would fight for you always
That I promise you until the end of my days
Right up until my very last breath
I swear, the only thing that could hold me back, would be death
Challenge of the Month
Happy November Writers and Readers;
Fall is a time of change, a time of ponderance, preparation, and preservation. And with the final month of fall comes our first $100 Challenge of the Month, wherein we explore the bright colors and darkening skies of autumn. Not only will the winner receive the $100 purse, we’ll also be sharing all outstanding submissions with our publishing partners and contacts. When you’re ready to get started, you’ll find the prompt here: https://theprose.com/challenge/7775. Best of luck!
With the arrival of our monthly challenge, we thought we’d shed a little light on how we’ll be judging your entries (and how we’ve been judging your entries in the Challenge of the Week). In particular we look for: creativity, fire, memorability, coherence, proper grammar, and linguistic mastery. Let’s take a closer look.
The First Paragraph
We read a lot of your writing, and usually don’t have the time to give every word and sentence the attention they deserve. As such, we will commonly eliminate entries immediately if the first couple of paragraphs are rife with spelling or grammatical errors, don’t read clearly, or don’t intrigue. Our advice - make your first paragraph your best paragraph. Make it captivating and irresistable. Make it shine. More advice on how to do so below.
Creativity
Written creativity can take many forms, and pervades every category along which we judge. It could take the form of compelling characters, exotic settings, unusual word choice, unique story arcs, and everything in-between. We want to think “wow, I would never have expected/conceived of/realized that.”
Fire
Fire is passion. We want to see your love for the craft of composition shine through. Whether a controlled burn, or a raging blaze, we want to see your dedication to the story, the characters, the poetry, and the craft. Some of the best writing reads as though the author agonized over every syllable.
Memorability
This is related to creativity, but somewhat different. It hinges a bit more specifically on the author’s ability to clearly convey that creativity. As we’re reading challenge entries, we keep a list of the pieces that catch our eye. When we’re done, we go back over that list of top contenders and choose the winner(s). More often than not, we’ll choose the stories we remember most vividly. In addition to compelling characters and themes, little details can go a long way towards making a piece more memorable. A perfectly crafted sentence. A witty title. A surprising interaction.
Coherence
Your writing should be lucid and coherent. If it’s hard to follow the plot, be it theater or thesis, it’ll be difficult to win. Avoid rambling, over-description, and muddled thoughts. Read your work back to yourself as though you hadn’t written it. Ask yourself, “what am I trying to communicate? Did I do so clearly? Is any of this hard to follow?” If we find ourselves lost or unsure of what’s going on anymore, we usually move along.
Spelling & Grammar
Do not underestimate the importance of proper spelling and grammar. Here at Prose, we respect, if not revere, the King’s English. While we forgive the rogue missing letter or misplaced comma (it happens to the best of us), repeated offenses and gross negligence are to be avoided at all costs. You are of course free to make stylistic choices like omitting capitalization; but unless it’s in the service of some artistic vision it’ll generally be frowned upon.
Linguistic Mastery
This is the x-factor, and the thing that sets great writing apart from good writing. This is proper useage of metaphor, descriptive language, imagery, word choice, alliteration, sentence/paragraph composition, overall flow, finesse, nuance, restraint, and everything in-between. For examples of “linguistic mastery,” please read some of the winning entries from our Challenge of the Week. The winners typically demonstrate a high degree of mastery in their work. To further illustrate what we mean, consider the following two sentences:
“The crows’ calls blared through the quiet like a siren, a dreadful cacophony that rose and fell like the tide, under the chilling, pale light of the full moon.”
“The shrieking of the crows sliced the silence, an unholy symphony beneath a cold, ghostly moon.”
Both are more interesting than “The crows were cawing loudly in the moonlight.” But the first exhibits a sort of scattershot approach, calls upon multiple disjointed metaphors, and betrays a lack of restraint. The second, by contrast, by surgical use of words like “sliced,” “unholy,” and “ghostly,” evokes a certain eeriness. It feels more intentional, and reads more clearly.
These are just a few of the things we look for, and we urge you not to think of them as some sort of “checklist” or “rubric.” Hopefully this has been informative, and will be of aid to you as your craft your entries.
Happy writes,
Prose.
Missing you was like missing the wind — worse as the weather grew warmer, and memories of a Summer in love grew fonder.
Expected, as your thought would return to me no matter how long it had been since I last felt you.
Fleeting, as inconsistent as the rain and unpredictable as the storms.
Missing you was like missing the wind.
Doctor
It's not exactly a name that I like but if I were to be born as Doctor, it would make life much easier. I won't need to slog through so many years of hardship in university just to obtain a piece of paper that certifies me as a qualified doctor. My parents don't have to spend a fortune on my tuition fees either.
With that name, I can become the Doctor that my parents wish for me to become. No stranger would question my background or status if they heard someone calling me "Doctor" or "Doc". Best of all, I can act smart with the limited amount of knowledge that I possess and people will still believe me all because I say I am Doctor.
DISSOCIATION
i touch a body that is not mine.
i lie with it at night,
cup its soft parts in my hands,
apart from me.
i dress it. i let people kiss it,
want it, go inside it sometimes,
and treat pain
like an apology.
it is almost enough.
i remember you holding this body.
i was sitting awake
imagining the sunset —
how it is so much more
beautiful when it dies.
(is this true? i don't remember.)
are you looking at me,
face indistinct in the press of night;
i peer out over an edge of dark
which swallows at me,
reaching, terrifying.
and you leave for home again.
