My mind is pot-bound, it’s soil once fertile, exhausted and moss-covered, but in my heyday, I was sought out by women who wanted a sharp wit as well as a handsome body beside them in bed – though I say it myself.
A photographer, I charted my voyages of love, capturing moments from first landfall through exploration and charting to the encirclement of each new island, and then shallowly, I moved on, recording last looks of disappointment.
Island-hopping became a habit, the search for a permanent home for the heart ever elusive till looks went and reputation warded off new discoveries.
I maundered into old age holed up in a rural backwater, photographing literal landscapes instead of those glorious, metaphorical islands of love. My days are nearly done and I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook, with the photographs there and the moss…
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, kim881 in Prosery challenges us to write a story with a beginning, middle and end in exactly 144 words using two lines from the Leonard Cohen poem Take This Waltz “And I’ll bury my soul in a scrapbook, – with the photographs there and the moss.”
I love this, Andrew! I love the opening sentence, and that you’ve captured the soul of Leonard Cohen in his heyday, being ‘sought out by women who wanted a sharp wit as well as a handsome body’, and the island hopping, which he did in Greece, although he settled on Hydra, and he was a keen photographer, as well as being photographed a lot. What a great phrase: ‘recording last looks of disappointment’.
Thank you, Kim, when I made the Midjourney image, the first one came up with a female photographer photographing a woman since I hadn’t specified the sex and I was tempted to use it anyway but the expressions in this one were perfect. But you are right, there are a lot of similarities with Leonard Cohen though I doubt women ever stopped desiring him…
Very clever! Love that opening phrase too.
Thanks, Jane – I wasn’t consciously channelling Leonard Cohen and I don’t think he was as caddish as my protagonist, though one of the things which he displays throughout his works is the flawed nature that makes him so human, so poignant, so maybe sub-consciously…
Andrew I wonder if this is somewhat autobiographical? I enjoyed the reflections of the playboy as he travels through his, “glorious, metaphorical islands of love.” and how it winds down to the end. Well-written!
No, no, no, Lisa! I have not been without moments – in my youth – but I have been with my partner for more than 40 years – no playboy I. A pure fiction lol… But thanks anyway!
This has a very good way of connecting up all the elements and mood of Cohen’s quote. Yes, indeed he spent time on islands but I wonder how his words echo that mood of time passing, memories and loss of youthful appeal! Obviously you write so well and create the fiction of a restless wanderer so congrats on your 40 years together.
Thanks so much, Georgina…
Well written! A great read.
Thank you Carol, they say actors love to play bad characters and writing them is much the same…
A lothario no less, a cautionary tale methinks.
There are some similarities to Leonard Cohen but it wasn’t intentional – I was pleased with the picture though – it’s quite hard to get Midjourney to give you exactly what you want – thanks for visiting Paul…