fallen log as time portal

4 days ago

1 min read

By Debbie Robson

PROMPT — The way I see it ...

At sixty-six, I am sitting on a fallen log near the water’s edge of a beautiful park. Nearby is the apartment block where I used to live as a teenager. The log hasn’t changed much. Maybe not as large as I remember and sunk deeper into the mangroves.

I would sit here at sixteen and imagine a future life that I was determined to strive towards. To find a job I enjoyed. Somewhere to live with friends. A nice boyfriend. All requiring hard work and independence. A leap into the unknown.

Sitting on the log fifty years later I contemplate a new generation ordering what they want without paying, expecting the moon to be delivered on a plate, with a waiter hovering.

Debbie Robson has published a chapbook with Boats Against the Current, a novella with Alien Buddha Press and previously Crossing Paths: the BookCrossing Novel and Tomaree, a WWII love story. Her poems, micro, flash and short stories have been published internationally and online. She is on X and Instagram @lakelady2282. Debbie writes from Cardiff NSW Australia.