Mouthless; or, an Interactive Retelling of The Little Mermaid

Watching him through a wet veil, she thought, He’s perfect. So, the decision to exchange her voice for his touch wasn’t difficult to make. Not while his tongue warmed her blood.

They had some good days, better nights.

No, there was no happily anything. Mouthless girls rarely get an ever after. They get foam, unless_____________.

Yes, that “unless__________” is an invitation to change the mouthless girl’s fate. An invitation which you, of course, don’t have to accept. But if you do, then I would love to read your ending to this retelling in the comments. 

detail, from “Morning Walk”, a photo by Mario Azzi - on Unsplash

this interactive retelling (which I’m linking to Poets United Pantry of Poetry and Prose #7) was inspired by the frothy water in two of Kerry O’Connor’s paintings

Scars Are Armor

 embraced scars
make the best armor
of living

via

- originally shared last year, right before the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, the blog where I first shared my poetry, closed. Thankfully, the site remains open as an archive, so I didn’t wail too violently. Still, I do miss it...  I wrote this senryū for a prompt where Rommy asked for poems brewed out of “words to live by”. I chose the words scars and armor. And since I just got a brand new scar, it feels just right to re-share this bit on Poets and Storytellers United (Writers’ Pantry #35: Change Happens (for the Better, Let’s Hope) Aug, 2020)