The ABCs of Brittany
This was the BEST semester I’ve had at Hollins yet. Here is a fun exercise from my memoir writing class. We wrote the ABCs of our life from our childhood point of view. This is a simple and easy writing prompt if you want to try your hand at it. Here is mine (ps this is the first time EVER that I’ve posted my creative writing):
A is for absent minded
toes digging in white sand.
B is for basketball talking,
playing,
watching—
my boyfriend’s mistress.
C is for “So, you’re a Clark,” said
by every school teacher.
D is for dandelions dancing down
my arm in a yellow streak.
E is for earth beneath
my back cool and soft, glowing
with bug’s ephemeral light.
F is for full-figured
raspberries picked
fresh from Uncle’s farm.
G is for grass flying
off cleats scoring
a GOAL!
H is for high on that rock. “Help!
I’m stuck” at the top
for fear
of the drop.
I is for my summer island. I dream
of bike rides
for bagels.
I want to go
back.
J is for jump, tuck and roll
from the roof at night.
K is for kayaking on the ocean with butterflies
fluttering towards
the shore.
L is “I like
like you.
I
love
you.”
M is for milk,
gagging you with
its ‘lk’ in your
throat.
N is for ‘nasty’ a fun
word to say.
O is for ‘ostracize’ my first
big word.
P is for “Pretty, what an unusual name.”
“No, I said Brittany.”
Q is for quizzical looks. Practice
like so: lift one eyebrow
or squeeze both together.
R is for rollered-hair. The worst
kind of sleep.
S is for the sacred word:
sisters.
T is for tunneling through
snow high
as my head.
U is for all those days
I called out ugly
from school.
V is for hand-sewn deep
red velvet doll made
from mother’s
wedding dress.
W is for wishies whisked up
and away on the wind.
X is for xeric Utah
I can’t
breathe out here.
Y is for “OOPS, AM I TALKING
TOO LOUD?”
Z is for the Zipper trapping
me inside
with my friend
who peed
and cried.
