+/- Prompt

River with Poplars by Roger Fry (1912)

Last night in class Jim Moore gave us a prompt to write on as many of us had given feedback that we wanted more opportunities like that.  The prompt was to read two vastly different passages from Virginia Woolf's diary and write two passages of our own that had the same rhythm, same feeling, that hers did: the first was very positive (she compared the landscape of Sussex to an 18th century Italian fresco) and in the second written days later she was clearly distraught and depressed (her close friend and painter Roger Fry had died suddenly.)  We were to use our own memories of yesterday alone to craft these.  

Jim challenged us to do this everyday as looking back on it can reveal certain themes, certain patterns.  I don't know about that, but here's my negative one.  The positive one was actually quite that as I had a fine day of constructive little errands that all ran together (but aren't very interesting to read.)  Either way, here's the negative one:

"I forgot it was Veteran's Day, then my keys.  The former in the kitchen, listening to some show on MPR, and the latter outside my apt. in the sleet.  During the excerpt, a story called "Going Home" by a Vietnam vet, I tried to remember the facts of my grand-father's military career, my uncle's.  I tried but nothing came.  While I waited for the 4 I let the left-keys go, as my forgetfulness of them was nothing compared to the other.  Wet and cold, I should've called my father."