My enjoyment from writing, and therefore my primary focus, is to take an isolated incident and describe it in such a way that it takes shape before the very eyes of the reader; so that they can see the events unfolding as though in a movie clip, and picture the characters I describe, as if flicking through a photo album. I came across this writing prompt via a post of Debbie’s and have enjoyed the challenge of turning this concept on its head, by unfolding the unwritten text of a photograph.
She sits on the pavement, newspapers a defensive arc against the cold of humanity. Nobody notices her. Even as they drop a coin and snatch a paper, hurrying by to meet self-imposed deadlines, nobody notices her. In the rain they run past her, kicking up sleet in her face. In the blinding heat of the sun she sits, still as a lizard, as children’s laughter echoes through the streets. She has worked the fields till her feet bled from exhaustion; she has borne the children who will shape the future; she has been a daughter, a sister, a friend, a mother; but nobody notices her. She is old now, and one day soon the winds of time will sweep away yesterday’s papers without her. And nobody will notice.