Greetings, writers—
Today’s prompt is inspired by this lovely poem by our current Poet Laureate, Ada Limón.
The Raincoat
When the doctor suggested surgery
and a brace for all my youngest years,
my parents scrambled to take me
to massage therapy, deep tissue work,
osteopathy, and soon my crooked spine
unspooled a bit, I could breathe again,
and move more in a body unclouded
by pain. My mom would tell me to sing
songs to her the whole forty-five minute
drive to Middle Two Rock Road and forty-
five minutes back from physical therapy.
She’d say, even my voice sounded unfettered
by my spine afterward. So I sang and sang,
because I thought she liked it. I never
asked her what she gave up to drive me,
or how her day was before this chore. Today,
at her age, I was driving myself home from yet
another spine appointment, singing along
to some maudlin but solid song on the radio,
and I saw a mom take her raincoat off
and give it to her young daughter when
a storm took over the afternoon. My god,
I thought, my whole life I’ve been under her
raincoat thinking it was somehow a marvel
that I never got wet.
Write a scene in which your character belatedly—and at the very end of the scene—realizes something very important.
As in this poem, the realization should come indirectly. For example, if you’re writing a mystery, your detective doesn’t uncover the killer because someone gave him/her a new clue; rather, the detective sees or hears something that causes him/her to reevaluate knowledge that he/she already possessed.
Happy writing—
Emily
Thank you for the best part of my Friday :)