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Derek Roberts

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Dec, 2021

Stories (23)

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48 Followers

106 Following

23 Stories

421 karma pts

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A Love Song

A prose interpretation of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” Let me take you out when the night is stretched like black paper over abandoned windows. Let’s go to a bar where you can feel the crunch of peanut shells under your feet. It's possible that the people we see are not going home alone tonight. Don't ask me “what is it?” Let's just go and make our visits. Even if we wind up stuck in the front room with the old women who look at us like we're deranged. I'll hold your hand and pull you through, and we'll pretend they are...

3 likes

People Will Say We're in Love

Submitted to Contest #312

Standing in the corners of my home, balancing on the window ledges and squatting in spots throughout my kitchen, I have things growing. My family of plants. Green and red and yellow. We are a rainbow, day and night.I have things that are potted with dirt that I water. I have leaves that tumble from the tops of bookcases, threatening to take over the television next. It feels like a hug whenever I come home to this small two bedroom apartment.I live on the 14th floor. I sometimes fantasize about letting the vines grow over the balcony, straig...

2 likes

Everything All At Once

Submitted to Contest #311

TW: Scenes of injury and dying When I walk into a hospital, all I feel is envy. Look at all these injured people. These sick and collapsing people. Life is crumbling. There's nothing more important to them right now than being fixed and getting well. Getting better. Whatever other problems were leaning into them now can be ignored.They don't have to pay the gas bill today. They don't have to call their grandmother and thank her for the birthday gift. They don’t have to break up with their boyfriends or sign important documents.Not today.Toda...

18 likes

Burn This Book

Submitted to Contest #310

Δολοφονία* ForwardThis book is transcribed by hand. If you possess this book, then you know that you are a part of a rare group. This book is to serve one purpose only.If you have found this book without instructions, destroy this book. Burn it. Do not turn the page. You will regret the day you read this forward even if you follow my directions. There are things about this book that can only be explained to you by a previous owner. When he is finished with the book, he will know exactly who should inherit it. He will know what to tell you.If...

11 likes

The Magdeline

Submitted to Contest #310

FirstThe water won't sleep. It harasses the boats all night long. It slaps the sides of each of them. This I do not understand. It sounds like a strap to a bare arm or leg. My heart beats so much faster. I look at all of the boats in the darkness. They are empty but sleepless. I should be asleep, but I came here. I want something to make it quiet in my head. It's so noisy inside of me. It must be like this at the temple. All those voices. Everyone I know is dreaming, but I can't. I cannot dream because I can't stop the wilderness inside of m...

19 likes

A New Species

Hurry dear human! He’s naming all the beasts of the forest and the fish of the sea. Even the birds have been named, but he didn’t name me. I am yours (as you will see). You have slept entirely too long, and I will not wait for you to resurrect. No one has nailed you to the dusty floor. You were born already and given life without childhood, and you found your way through the splendor and the freshness of the first days.I was there for you in the sky, guiding your hand as you tried to stand up straight. I lifted you then when every tree was p...

7 likes

Sisters in Seven Stanzas

Submitted to Contest #309

Stanza 1I grew up in a house with nothing on the walls. No photographs. No mirrors. Not even a calendar. Bare. The walls had not been painted in fifty years. It's still there. The house is still there. My sister and I have both moved out, but my mother and father are still there. Still married. 44 years. Still arguing. The only things you’ll see on those walls is dirt: the stains we made with cheese curl fingers or the blood of a skinned knee. We weren't going to clean them and neither were they. My father is a writer. In a very small circle...

11 likes

Eurydice

Submitted to Contest #309

I felt the fangs pierce my skin and crack the bone… and then the venom. When I fell, my flesh turned to sap and leaked out of me. I soaked the earth, through the roots and the worms and every dead thing until I melted into a boat. I knew where I was. I knew where I was going. It happened fast but not too fast. I didn't have time for regret. There was a flash in my head. I saw the dark tunnels ahead of me, and then I thought of him. I thought of my husband.I remembered our wedding day. We should have seen this tragedy coming when Hyman sang o...

12 likes

Mark

Submitted to Contest #309

27.38 - 27.40I knew this would be our fate. Barbaras never lied to us. Our death was certain on the battlefield or up here on the crucifix.I don't want to die. I was willing to give my life for a cause until my life actually came in danger. I wish I had not followed him into that battle. I wish a sword had found me and not this awful thing. This is not a way for a man to die.I know we hang here as an example to others who might consider standing up to Rome, but I also think we are an inspiration. I don't mind being before them so that they a...

8 likes

Perpetua & Felicity

Submitted to Contest #308

PerpetuaMy father's fingers tremble. It is rare that he gets angry, but I could see that bit of wetness in his eyes that always comes when he is frustrated. He is watching lightning strike his house. He simply has to watch it burn. He is burning now. I have set him on fire.I look across the table at the pitcher made of clay that was half full of wine, and I say to him, "do you see that pitcher, father?" He does not want to break his stare, but he glances over and nods his head. "Yes." I square my jaw and speak quietly and clearly. "Can you c...

13 likes

Mark (Part 2)

Mark27.19 (Part 2)She's told me that she's had nightmares about Him. She believes these nightmares are proof that Jesus is innocent. Now my wife is no idiot and she understands the political situation. When the priests come to me and tell me they want Jesus to die, I don't have a choice but to let that happen. And I can put on the show of interrogating the man in front of the crowd, but his fate was sealed. She knows this. She's not asking me to free Him. She wants me to free myself of Him. She doesn't want me to be the one to sentence this ...

3 likes

Nearsighted

Submitted to Contest #308

I remember 14 Years OldI remember my mother's long arms, taking care of the plants that grew from every corner of our house. Her arms were vines with a rag and a spray bottle blooming from each hand. I don’t remember my mother’s hands ever being empty. Isn’t that odd? She was always holding something. A spatula. A mop. My lost glasses. A small spade. She loved planting and replanting flowers and plants from small pots to large pots. She was a first-rate gardener. Every room was teeming with healthy vegetation. She would wet their leaves, fee...

9 likes

Loving the Dead

Submitted to Contest #307

1I’m dead. I died long ago. I was a baby when it happened. I grew up unaware of my passing. Surprisingly, I don’t think anyone knew I was dead except for one amazing 9 year old girl I met when I was in the 2nd grade. She saw me and changed my "life" forever.I survived on other peoples’ love. I needed it all the time. 24/7. Babies need love and attention in order to survive. People are happy to give love to a baby. People are expected to be burdened with a baby's needs. Their love for that baby is unconditional. They give without complainingB...

11 likes

Three Crows (The Movie Version of the Altered Play)

Submitted to Contest #306

Thunder and lightning. The stage is dark. We can hear the witches speaking, but all we see are rough silhouettes of them. They shuffle on stage. Witch 1 When shall we three meet again?In thunder, lightning, or in rain? Witch 2 When the hurly-burly’s done,When the battle’s lost and won.Witch 3 That will be ere the set of sun.Witch 1 Where the place?Witch 2 Upon the heath.Director Cut! (angry) Barry? Barry! Where’s the damn smoke? Barry (from offstage) How the hell should I know? We ordered the machine, but it’s not here ye–Director Not her...

9 likes

Oh The Places You'll Go OR How the Dead Helped Me Ace High School

Submitted to Contest #306

Classmates, Parents and Family, Teachers and Honored Guests, I have been asked to deliver this speech on this day of our graduation. I have the highest GPA, so I get to speak. This speech will be more like a confession. (pause) I am number one in our class for a reason. (a longer pause with a dry cough cough) I cheated.(murmurs and mumbles with a hint of rage and disbelief)I cheated all of you for the past four years, and I did it with the help of my family. My dead family(the crowd buzzes and hums and snickers into silence.) (After the long...

13 likes