Creative prompt #3

Image description: Eva's Man lays atop an outdoor table that also bears a glass of beer, a ball jar of orange-red flowers, a closed laptop, and a brown forearm and hand holding a red, mixed drink. Photo by Kianna Middleton.

“I know when I’m not getting things straight, and I tell them I’m not getting this straight, but they say that’s all right, to go ahead talking. Sometimes they think I’m lying to them, though. I tell them it ain’t me lying, it’s memory lying. I don’t believe that, because the past is still as hard on me as the present, but I tell them that anyway.” 

–Eva’s Man by Gayl Jones, pg. 5

In Eva’s Man (1976), Eva gives us and other characters a non-linear, fragmented, and shifting account of her past. Take a few moments to write an account of something from memory, without filling in the gaps or “getting things straight.” Write it as a stream of consciousness, allowing for incomplete sentences and no attention to grammar whatsoever. Just write as things come to you while remembering. Re-read what you wrote. What does your account reveal about the past even though it may be unclear to a reader or, perhaps, even to you?     

Image Description: A gray-stripped kitten named Simone La Flare gingerly inspects the cover of Eva's Man. Both lay atop a black and off-white blanket. Used with permission.
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