Purple Prose

21 Replies

Purple Prose

  Grandma grinds plums in her conical grinder, shredding the flesh from the pits. Under the table, my little brother sits, purple around his mouth from taste-testing the plums he no doubt earlier helped her pick. A stream of sugar on the table is a roadway for tiny black ants.

  My father pushes a cooling cup of Postum closer to my grandmother as he resumes the story I’ve interrupted. It is another “Deafy Sterner” story, and he emulates the high explosive accent of this man from his past that I’ve never met, yet know so well.

  I dash to my room, having just minutes to prepare for the dance before my car full of friends arrives, honking the horn. My Grandmother begins another story about the old country as I tear off my school jeans. I dress in their stories—patterned and purple as night.

Below is the dVerse Poets prompt today. The quote we are to use in our short prose piece is by Kimberly Blaeser from her poem “When We Sing of Might.” Image by Engin Akyurt on Unsplash.


Photo of Kimberly Blaeser from University of Wisconsin

“I dress in their stories patterned and purple as night.”

Incorporate the above quote into a piece of prose. This can be either flash fiction, non-fiction, or creative non-fiction, but it must be prose! Not prose poetry, and not a poem. And it must be no longer than 144 words, not including the title. (It does not have to be exactly 144 words, but it can’t exceed 144 words.)

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

21 thoughts on “Purple Prose”

    1. lifelessons Post author

      I wanted to tell it, too, but was limited to 144 words. The thing is, you had to hear my dad tell it because he had Deafy Sterner’s voice down pat. He really was deaf so had a unique voice. He and my dad would ride horses or take the buckboard to Van Metre dances and Deafy would say,
      (Long scraping high-pitched slide up to the first word–) Yeeeeaaaahhhhh…Gonna go ta town and git us some leetle weh-men!” (little women.) He and my dad were a pair, I’m sure. Not sure Deafy ever actually got a leetle weh-men, though. My dad did, but he had to go to Indiana where he met my mom at a dance and eventually lured her back to South Dakota.

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        1. lifelessons Post author

          Everyone always liked my dad’s stories. Unfortunately, the only tape I had of him telling them was demagnetized so when I took it in to have it put on cassettes many years ago, it had been wiped.

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    1. lifelessons Post author

      I don’t know if any of them will be handed down another generation, unfortunately, as my one sister and I didn’t have children and my sister who did have three children and five grandchildren doesn’t seem to have passed any of them down to her progeny. She recently passed away after many years of Alzheimer’s so it isn’t likely that the stories will pass down unless they read my book that contains some of them.

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    1. lifelessons Post author

      It was….I’m sure grandmas now have an electrical device to do what she was doing, my dad and Deafy Sterner long gone, as is the girl in the purple dress. The brother never existed!!

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  7. msjadeli

    I like how your little brother dresses in the purple plums and you dress in the stories of the old country. Brings back pleasant childhood days for me. Wonderful use of Kimberly’s prompt line, Judy.

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