NFFD 2022 Prompt #6: Blue Poles

 

 Blue Poles

 This is National Flash Fiction Day's eleventh anniversary, so this year, all our prompts have something to do with the number 11....

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Jackson Pollock's painting Blue Poles is also known as Number 11, 1952.  The choice of title has been the subject of much discussion; from Wikipedia:

According to art historian Dennis Phillips, the specific rather than ambiguous title "limits our field of comprehension and does the painting a singular disservice. Because we look for the poles and miss much of the rest, the name is simply too distracting."

For this prompt, we challenge you to write a flash and find two different titles for it.  Each title should bring out something different in the flash, or make the reader think about it in a different way.  (You are welcome to veer into prose poetry or hybrid work if you like.)

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If you’re submitting this to us, make sure to note that this is a response to Prompt 6: Blue Poles.

You can submit responses until 23:59 BST on Sunday, 19 June 2022 for a chance to be published here at The Write-In.