“Hey! I can make my own waves in the water!”
“Where are your shoes? I told you no.”
“But look…”
“I told you NO.”
“Ok, I’m getting my shoes…oh I have to stop to get all this sand off my feet.”
“Where is your towel? I told you to bring your towel.”
“I forgot it.”
“Don’t pick that up. It’s dirty.”
“It’s just a straw, for my flagpole on my sand castle.”
“Put it down. Now!”
“But I want it. I need it. The flag is the best part.”
“So, by the way…I made my own waves in this world.”
“How did you do that? I told you no.”
“Just look.”
“You didn’t listen. That is good.”
“ I always listened to you….always did what you said until I was tired of wiping the sand off my feet. I needed to feel it.”
“You threw in the towel? I dreamt of your success, your master’s degree in…something. “
“Oh I know…I have never forgotten your dreams.”
“I was afraid of failure…mine, yours…yours being mine.”
“I remember one time when I was little and we were at the beach… I couldn’t build my sand castle because I needed a straw and you said it was dirty. The straw was part of my…”
“I know….part of your creation, your idea. Are you still making sand castles?”
“Yes, Dad. Every day that I can. I want them. I need them…and my ideas are the best part.”
~
When Victoria C. Slotto at dVerse challenged us to incorporate dialogue into our poetry, I was surprised and overwhelmed when this prompt took me on a very personal journey.
mishunderstood 