Never the Bride

Breda stands in a sumptuous hotel room, an ivory-coloured wedding dress pressed against her body like a lover. It is so full of frill and flounce that it feels alive, and the iridescent image swims through a mirror that flows and reflects her pale face with its newly-plucked brows and made-up eyes. There are flowers woven in her hair and she is wearing satin shoes. A bouquet waits in a bucket of water by the window; a lace veil is laid out carefully on the king-sized bed.

Breda imagines the groom waiting for a car to convey him to the ancient church. She knows his face like her own. She knows the bride’s face too, her forever friend with whom she happily shared everything – just not him. She has resolved herself to being only the bridesmaid, knows this dress is not meant for her.

Kim M. Russell, 17th August 2026

Image by Dalton Smith on Unsplash

I’m back from my break and ready to write Prosery with Dora, our host at the dVerse Poets Pub this Monday.

Dora reminds us that Prosery is unique to dVerse in that we incorporate a given line of poetry without any alteration, except in punctuation, into our 144 words (or less) of prose. Dora’s chosen line is from a poem by a poet who is new to me, Stanley Kunitz – discovering new poets is one of the many things I love about dVerse – and I will be looking into his work.

Dora has chosen the following line from ‘King of the River’ to be included in our prose:

“. . . and the iridescent image swims
through a mirror that flows.”

29 thoughts on “Never the Bride”

  1. I’ve come to expect your brilliant use of concrete imagery, Kim, and you don’t disappoint here, creating an atmospheric scene with all the pathos of the character’s longing and resignation. That opening line in itself is a stunner, drawing us right into that hotel room with all its color. Loved your use of the given line, which fit in mellifluously into your prose.

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  3. This is so well used, love how you pictured the bride, and then the twist that it wasn’t for here, I am glad it became a good resolution, and maybe friendship is more important than the man… I would definitely would have gone darker 🙂 but this is better.

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  11. her forever friend with whom she happily shared everything – just not him. 

    It seems that both were close to the groom but Breda lost to her friend! Great lines Kim!

    Hank

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