Dream a Little Dream

From the hill, the small town seemed to be composed of parallel streets lined with neat little houses and shops with awnings striped in primary colours. On descending the road that led down the hill and into the village, she noticed that the colours were deliberate: red for the butcher; green for the greengrocer; yellow for the general grocery store, and so on.

On this day, without a date, on a back street, dusky windows lit with candles in wine bottles revealed a small café, less tasteful than the restaurant she had seen on the high street.

She peered through the glass. A man sitting in the window stared back with a sparkle in his blue eyes. His face was clean shaven but his hair was long, curling on his collar, the way she remembered it. Was this him, the man of her dreams?

Kim M. Russell, 8th May 2023

Image by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

It’s the beginning of a new week and, this Monday, Lisa is looking after the bar at the dVerse Poets Pub with a new Prosery prompt, when we write prose based on 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.)

Lisa tells us that she once read a quotation from Charles Simic, which led her to read his poetry. She gives us some background to this poet, who made a name for himself as a literary minimalist, writing terse, imagistic poems. Sadly, he died at the beginning of this year.

The challenge is to write a piece of Prosery that includes the lines:

“On this day without a date,
On a back street, dusky”– Charles Simic, from ‘My Friend Someone’

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45 thoughts on “Dream a Little Dream”

  1. Ooh, Kim, you took me with you, from the hill, down to the little cafe, to peer in. I feel the magic in the moment their eyes meet. Love what you did with the quote ❤

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    1. Thanks Jane. In light of what you’ve written, it reminds me a little of the setting of ‘The Prisoner’. I am not a number, I am a free (wo)man’,

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  6. Oh, this is so intriguing, Kim! I think we need a sequel. You’re right, the place is similar to the Village of The Prisoner, everything orderly, except that man. I want to know more!

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  8. This is intriguing and seems like it could go anywhere. Further and further away from the high street. If it is a romance, where might it lead as she steps deeper, I wonder.

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  11. Hi Kim, I like this so very much. Isn’t it wonderful to have a dream that comes true, you wrote ov this so very well. The minimalist; the poet hosting “Poem of the day(??)” this month seems to be one, his own on May 1 was four lines, three and one. I’m bedside now, I’ll drop his name here and a link when it’s day. You likely subscribe

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  13. Was this him,
    the man of her dreams?

    Fate has a way of making things happen, a reflection of good intentions! A wonderful close Kim! Love it!

    Hank

    Liked by 1 person

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