His To Protect

the cost to him of holding the key close…..matched the threat he felt…..for her…at letting it go…..fine though it was…..for them…..to speak of leaving this place…..he could find no room…..in his imaginings…..to vacate his present reality…..how does one…..he thought…..top the protection he had bestowed on her…..there was no case to answer…..if he maintained mute madness…..he had considered all the options….and hit on the only possibility he could live with…..for however long he may have left…..locked within cloistered range….. of her equally guilty silence

240

Written for

Wordle 238

at The Sunday Whirl

9 thoughts on “His To Protect”

  1. Very clever…there are not many on WP who write and take me way from me…this one a smidge of Nick Hornby writing and a stuttering Hugh Grant speaking in the days before he became a stereotype…splendid stuff as ever.

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    1. That means a lot, Mike. Thank you. I’m much more reticent about posting fiction. I don’t exactly slap any old thing down for poetry (well, maybe sometimes) but I don’t worry about it, if you know what I mean. It’s fun. Which sounds a bit ridiculous given the time and effort it can take. But it feels like fun. As soon as I start to think about posting other work I shy off. It always feels really personal and much more vulnerable. You’ve got me trying to clarify my own thoughts here on why that is exactly and what I do with that. I’ll need to give this more though but sincerely thank you for the encouragement.

      You’ll be sorry you commented now. :/ *hopping off the couch*

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      1. I think my own thoughts on the subject mirror yours…children’s verse excursions for example. Written a lot yet worry is it crap or not…with me it’s the curse of ‘what will people think’ whereas my wife (who I run everything by as she’s cleverer than me) generally takes the bolder ‘chuck it out there and find out for yourself’ stance. Does worrying = quality control I wonder?

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      2. There might be something in that, Mike. I’ve been thinking about it off and on today and there is some self-protection in it too. I wonder maybe, if for me, the biggest part could be that if I don’t test it I don’t fail. It’s a very self-defeating stance if it is because it’s the area I need most feedback on but the one I’m most reluctant to test. That way, I can hold the dream. Perhaps. Still mulling it over anyway but good to know I’m not alone in my insecurities. I guess we all have them in one way or another. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it. It helps.

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      3. I agree. Posting on the test bed that is WP is a tad like handing in an essay at school (save for the fact that one had no choice but to ‘had in’ when at school of course). Even when Shirley has given a piece her seal of approval the self-doubt remains. For example, there was a line in a thing I knocked out the other day themed upon WW2 atrocities where I felt I was dehumanising women…my wife upon reading it pointed out, quite rightly that that was what the Nazi’s did and that I’d be pulling my punches to delete or replace that line…I still worried though. I can only mirror your words, ‘Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it. It helps.’ Have a splendid day…it’s freezing rotten cold here in Hellfire Corner

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  3. You know, Anne-Marie, you are reluctant to post fiction, but as I read this I instantly saw a book. An intriguing story that doesn’t resemble any one else’s writing style. I can see a novel that is very like your poetry: evocative of images in a few well chosen words. Short, perhaps, but speaking volumes. I would relish reading that!!

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