WRITING OBSTACLE
Write a story that includes a nested narrative.
Use a narrative structure where multiple stories are told within a larger story. The inner stories can be told in any order, and they may or may not be directly related to the larger story.
Plain Clothes
There’s rock candy in my mouth.
I watch the cars pull into the parking lot, Parents come to pick their young’uns.
By a red car stands a short round man Exchanging words with his contrasting daughter.
The girl’s life last night took a turn for worse
But Daddy dearest doesn’t want to learn:
What a girl has done is not always her fault,
And if one life is birthed, another will be taut
She twirls her hair nervously
A chunk of it lies in somebody’s SUV.
They don’t remeber how it got there exactly
But someone paid them a pretty sum
And someone’s life is now in question
They drive off to do some DNA testing
The principal watches the car drive away
His son will not be jeopardized by yesterday
His mistakes will not repeat
No accusations will reach police
He turns and walks into the building
Too bad accusations have already reached me.
His son should learn to refrain from drinking,
If his next course of action is non-consensual sleeping
The girl will hopefully bear no child
And her father will hopefully not be foul
In the end it’s all in a day’s work,
Plain clothes duty still has paperwork
I crunch down and feel the candy sizzle on my tongue.
~Author’s Note~
I worked relatively hard on this poem but I still feel like the story is too hazy, like, it’s hard to understand the narrative. Please leave your interpretation of what’s going on in the comments so I can iron this out.
