By Gabrielle Freeman
Stupid Idea Junk Drawer Prompt:
Story title “All The Things We Have in Common.”
First line: “1. We are both standing on paddleboards.” ”
— A stupid idea by Dave Housley
1. We are both standing on paddleboards.
2. We are both wishing we were someplace else.
3. We are both thinking that the clouds reflected in the river below us look like breasts
4. because someone is playing “Girls, Girls, Girls” really loud from their boat
5. and we are both thinking about strip clubs.
6. We were both teenagers in the 80’s and played the shit out of that album.
7. We both still think Nikki Sixx is hot.
8. We are both thinking that the clouds reflected in the river below us look like breasts
9. because we are both replaying that one night in our heads
10. and we are both thinking about someone else.
11. We are both standing on paddleboards
12. on a river where we have both stripped down
13. shot our bodies through clouds reflected like breasts
14. stood, bare skin dripping, sky rippling out on the mirror surface
15. and thought about that one night in the 80’s
16. when we were both someplace else with someone else
17. and we are both wishing.
18. We are both standing on paddleboards.
19. We are both playing air guitar and screaming “Girls, girls, girls!”
20. and thinking how much we have in common.
Related: a brief discussion of this stupid idea, with author Gabrielle Freeman and Barrelhouse editor and stupid ideator Dave Housley.
Gabrielle Freeman's poetry has been published in many journals including Hobart, Melancholy Hyperbole, Minetta Review, Shenandoah, storySouth, and Waxwing. She is the winner of the 2015 Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition. Gabrielle has been nominated twice for the Best of the Net, and she was a finalist in 2014. In 2013, she earned her MFA in poetry through Converse College. Gabrielle lives with her family in Eastern North Carolina where she blogs about poetry at www.whythewritingworks.com, and about writing and all things random at www.ladyrandom.com.