The painting prompt for the Ekphrastic Review challenge was a blue horse painting by Franz Marc. Anyone who knows my admiration for Marc won’t be surprised that I was duly prompted. Lorette asked for short fiction, which is what I wrote. You can read Horse Dreams here as well as all the other entries.
Assembling the Jigsaw of a Febrile Imagination
Navigare con attenzione, il Blog si sbriciola facilmente
Inspiration, History, Imagination
Extraordinary Tales of Nature
Diary of a Dublin Housewife
Poems from the Celtic fringes
Stay Bloody Poetic
i think therefore i write
Books and new writing
Never back down 🔱⚔️
Ein OIKOS[TM]-Projekt gegen Antisemitismus, Rassismus, Extremismus und Fremdenfeindlichkeit.
Mad woman from mediocrity, muses.
Canadian Zen Haiku canadien ISSN 1705-4508
Ramblings of an Irish ecologist and gardener
Poetry of a changing Earth. The grief is real--so is the hope.
Inspiring others through the written word, fictional blurbs & documenting my writing process from scratch.
occasional musings of an itinerant seanchaí polishing his craft online
The Things That Are In My Head.
offbeat words for you...
Just writing what's on my mind
AS HUMILDES OPINIÕES DE UMA MULHER DE CORAGEM QUE DIZ SIM À VIDA!
My journey through photography
Inspiration and Spirituality **Award Free**
≈ fictionalpaper / piccoloscissors / creativeglue ≈
Philosophy is all about being curious, asking basic questions. And it can be fun!
Not a literary magazine for ordinary times, but a journal for an exceptional one. Writing the pandemic, together. Image, Somewhere in Time by Hengki Lee: Instagram @hengki_lee
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Your story was wonderful! Such a different and poignant take on the blue horses.
Thank you 🙂 I’m pleased you liked the story. I’ve written so many poems about blue horses, and you’re right, this was a different angle for me.
I did!
I think I was trying too hard not to write something I’ve written before. I should have just gone to the Oracle. 😏
That’s funny. I had trouble too writing a poem to order about the blue horses. They find their way into poems without being invited so often! Lorette said she’d like prose, so I went with that instead. Maybe the Oracle would have put you straight 🙂
Yes, I think you’re right. They like to find their own way. 😀
🙂
How can you not be inspired my Marc?
What an unexpected story. I’m glad you took the road less travelled by when it comes to horses.
Wonderfully written, Jane. Bordered on magic realism, but it was much more wonderful than that: a child’s innocent perspective on the inexcusable ways of an evil world, and a child-like faith in “blue horses.” I loved this.
Thank you! I wonder what it must be like for the refugee children on those little boats, some of them with no adult they know. I imagine them like animals, curling up around their fantasy, keeping out the horror of it all.
Yes, I am one of those who believe that special grace is given to them, a grace that includes fantastic daydreams, unmoored from reality that sets them free in some unspeakably supernatural way. And I thank God for it.
I certainly hope it’s true. Their situation is tragic.
When I saw the prompt I knew it was written for you. I’m glad yours was included. It’s not surprising to me that your blue horses would bring comfort, even to the end.
Thanks, Ken. It was an odd feeling, and I think Merril felt the same, hard to write about those blue horses to order. They went their own way with this one. I’m glad you liked their story.
I agree it was hard to write about them as a prompt. The familiar is often that way I think. But you gave it depth and new meaning. (K)
I think it was easier to give the horses to somebody else than write another personal piece.
Wow, what an image. I can see why you were inspired!
He was a brilliant painter.