Prompt Inspired by Selima Hill's "Speak to Me"
Poem by Selima Hill from Gloria (Bloodaxe Books, 2008)
Write a story or poem in which you (or a character) desperately needed to be spoken to or deeply “seen”. Don’t tell us anything directly, let us feel the pain of invisibility in every word. Can you remember a time in your life when you wanted someone to notice you, feeling that you might as well be a ghost? Can you remember a time in your life when you wanted someone to speak to you, but they were stubbornly, impossibly silent?
See if you can make this a very short piece, 75 words or less. Prompt words (for those who like them): crow, straw, roadsign
After
I am
one wasp wing
fog
sunlight in a wood
loose white thread on your shirt
ant on the kitchen counter
sliver of soap
a day in February
ever since the crow
landed on our roof
and your heart
flew off in its mouth
Becoming a ghost through ghosting myself
I once was invisible
I once was a ghost
I wondered if I spoke
Would sound leave my mouth?
Living alone for years,
Days on end pass with
Not a word spoken,
Not another human seen.
I go to a store,
Using the self-checkout lane,
Not even a human at a register
To notice my existence.
If I even exist anymore
At all.