
Today’s writing prompt/art prompt comes from a street sticker that was a part of Artprize (an art competition in Grand Rapids, MI). This was a part of the #unsentproject. I hope this prompt helps you out today.
Noah wasn’t a bad guy, but he embodied the word “meh.” He had style—that 1950s greaser look. People dreamed of taking up the space under his leather-clad arm and riding in his brand new corvette.
Jazz fluttered like a moth crashing into Noah’s dim light. If you asked Noah, he would say they were “just having fun,” but it’d been eleven months and eighteen days- Jazz counted. Jazz lived for aesthetics and perfectly curated Instagram grids, and Noah fit the bill. But they knew when to put the phone away; Noah didn’t. They cried when they watched Once at the Cadillac Palace Theater; Noah said he “didn’t get it.” And Jazz leaned in for a kiss at Niagra Falls, but Noah was too busy complaining about getting wet in the spray.
Noah and Jazz had traveled all across the country together, but they were at odds in everything they did. And when Noah didn’t kiss them, they knew it was going nowhere. And nowhere wasn’t where they wanted to go.
It wasn’t worth a confrontation. They wrote a note and left it on the driver’s side seat of the red Corvette. Years later, when Jazz thought about it, they wished they hadn’t exposed their heart through the words. Noah would say, “huh,” toss it in the trash, and find another partner to lug around.
Without him, Jazz didn’t have the means to travel or eat lavish meals. They wanted that back; they wished Noah had just kissed them, and it would have all been okay. But now, Jazz sings karaoke on Tuesday nights, hoots when hockey players brawl, and spends hours in museums soaking up every bit of information. Jazz had been confused; they weren’t a moth. They were a monarch who needed space to fly.
Today’s didn’t come out as good as yesterday, but it was still something that got me writing. I’ve learned lately that not everything needs to be good writing; there just needs to be writing.
Thank you for reading, and wishing you luck in your creative endeavors.