From an anonymous sender

d’Verse prosery

“I used to love gardening… small, branching lavender shrubs; heavy, pink peonies; trumpet-shaped lilies… Oh, and I’d like, too, to plant the sweet alyssum that smells like honey and peace, my Dearest. That would be truly, truly divine.”

“Grandma?”

“Yes, Darling?”

“Could you tell me again about The Peace Times? Tell me about my Great Uncle Jack… That’s my favorite!”

“Of course, Dearest. Your Great Uncle Jack always believed that responding to aggression in kind would only breed more aggression. So, he refused to enlist during the War. He was a brilliant engineer; and the Authority desperately wanted him to develop new equipment for them… But when the troops came, he had disappeared…

Even I don’t know where he went, but I know he’s alive somewhere because I still receive gorgeous bouquets of alyssum flowers every year for my birthday- from an anonymous sender.”

---

Prosery?

d’Verse prosery is flash fiction with a beginning, a middle and an end, in any genre of the author’s choice, no longer than 144 words. This very short piece of prose must include an assigned line from a poem, within the 144 word limit. Writers may change the punctuation of the assigned line, but they may not insert words within the quotation.

The assigned quotation was:

I’d like, too, to plant the sweet alyssum that smells like honey and peace.

–Katherine Riegel, from ‘What I Would Like to Grow in My Garden’