We were raised in families where the television show “Father Knows Best” was also the way of the household. Travel happened twice a year for me: a visit to my grandparents’ home in Florida and a vacation week in the Wisconsin Dells. I always sent her a postcard. It never dawned on me that I lived in a white privileged world and she did not.
I went to college and she left home. She took jobs where she found them. Eking out a living, then moving on. She sent postcards along the way. In 1963, from DC. She’d heard MLK’s “I Have a Dream”. In 1969, from the Catskill Mountains. She’d found love and acceptance at Woodstock. “The granites and schists of my dark and stubborn country have accepted me. My new partner and I can be ourselves here. Come visit!” I never did.
Image by Karl Egger from Pixabay
Written for Prosery Monday at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Prosery Mondays are the only prompts where writers are asked to write prose, not poetry. We’re given a line from a poem and we’re asked to insert it, word for word, within a piece of flash fiction that is 144 words or less in length. Today Merril gives us the line “The granites and schists of my dark and stubborn country” from Nan Shepherd’s poem “The Hill Burns”
The Innocence of Youth Unveiled is fiction. It is not autobiographical.
lillian the home poet 
It rings true, Lillian, even if not autobiographical. I think many people experienced social/political/cultural changes in those years and suddenly realized that not everyone lived the way they did. Nicely done!
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Lillian, the ending of your story is a little unsettling. I wonder why she never visited her friend in her happy place?
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You turn of acceptance was surprising snd interesting
Thanks for dropping by my blog
much♡love
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It is so hard to relate, especially when young the life you have and how good it is (I spent more time being envious to my more priviliged classmates)
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How important is it to be yourself…
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Your prose piece gave me chills … chills all over. It’s beautifully composed and relevant as I work with PRIDE Foundation on scholarships designated for LGBTQ+ high school seniors in Oregon. We’ve come a long way baby, not far enough.
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Wonderful write, Lillian. This is what happens too often in friendships; drift apart, while sort of keeping in touch; neither making the effort beyond that.
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Oh girlie I want to join the fun experience with d’verse, where do I start?
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