Waking Up Changed
Read “Goodtime Jesus” by James Tate.
Now, write your own story or poem about a famous (real or fictional) character waking up and seeing the world as if new.
See if you can incorporate one or more of the following words and phrases: tea shhh!, doze, sash, whisk, crisp, aquamarine, snow, “it’s ain’t me, babe”. Bonus points if you can include an animal or insect (why not?)
Shoot for a lighthearted tone. 80 words max.
Paid subscribers please feel free to post your stories below.
Little Women: the Sequel
Beth March woke with a start. She’d been dozing through her life. Premonitions or night terrors? Buried under a mountain of quilts, feathers escaping, her sisters wailing, her head lolling on her neck. She always expected to die young. No big deal. Today is a new blue day. Cher singing “it ain’t me babe” in the background. Take it easy Marmee, I’ll make the tea. Amy, Jo, and Meg, take a load off. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.
Sleeping Beauty Says Princes Are Over-Rated
When Sleeping Beauty woke up from her 90-year doze un-kissed by a prince, she flung the plexiglass case off so hard it bounced on the forest floor lightly dusted with snow. Then she jumped off the bier and said, "It ain't Sleeping Beauty, babe. It's Anna. I don't want to marry a prince in a flowering meadow with bluebirds and butterflies flitting around with ribbons. What I want is to be a welder. They make big bucks." She stomped off.