Challenging Poetry

Remember me—

last week,
the drawer opened,
and a character leapt from my filing cabinet
and stalked at me,
glaring his wrath from silver eyes,
and I knew him.

remember me—
he said,
and it was an order, not a question.
you put me away
in the middle of a jungle,
with creaks and groans in the night
leaving me there in the middle
of a word,
and you swore you’d come back,
but your dragon followed
a different path,
while I languish in a file folder,
with my princess at least
seven chapters from saving.

he was strong, and lean,
and worth writing,
although the dimple I remembered
was hiding.

remember me—
he said,
pacing up and down my office floor
she wasn’t a very inspiring princess, you know.
you could write her better now.
she needs more than good lungs, you know
a sense of humor would be nice,
a love of learning,
maybe even the ability
to brew a cup of coffee in the mornings.

I used to find princesses
quite uninspiring creatures.
she was locked away, but maybe
if I thought about it . . .

remember me—
he said,
nodding as my mind spun
toward his new adventures—

he’d change. she’d change.
the story changed,
and my dragon soared,
to a place I’d almost forgotten.

I had four or five ideas for this prompt, and finally settled on this one. I do have a UFS drawer in my filing cabinet, where I store stories that I've put aside for one reason or another. I'm a different writer now, of course, but I hope someday that I come back to some of them and turn them sideways until they fit me now.