Laura Stamps loves to play with words in her fiction and prose poetry. Author of 49 novels, novellas, short story collections, and poetry books. Forthcoming: “The Good Dog” (Prolific Pulse Press 2023) and “Addicted to Dog Magazines” (Impspired, 2023). Winner of the Muses Prize. Recipient of a Pulitzer Prize nomination and 7 Pushcart Prize nominations.

And Then There’s This

She selects another postcard. An etching of a sunflower. Her favorite. Sunflowers. So pretty. She loves them. Really. She does. “Dear Elaine,” she writes. “I was watching a YouTube video last night. A therapist. Possibly spiritual. Could have been. Can’t remember. Anyway, he was talking about the benefits of the present moment. You know. Living your entire life in the present. Every day. All of it. Every minute. He said most of us never do that. Instead we live in the past or the future. Well, we do. It’s true. You know it is. Then he said this. This. If the past is created in the present moment. And it is. That means you have the power. All the power. To rewrite your past. And you can. Now. In the present moment. Makes sense. Doesn’t it? I mean. We do it anyway. Every day. But we never think about it. And we should. You know. Just imagine. If you based every decision on creating a positive past. There’d be nothing to regret. No cringe-worthy memories. No bad decisions. Or stupid choices. Or bad-news relationships. All the things that you regret. That I regret. And I do. All of it. All the time. The things I wish I could go back and change. Now that I know better. Now that I’m thinking clearly. I am. I hope. Thinking clearly. Just imagine. Having nothing to regret. Radical. I know. This focus. This change. But a good thing. Something to consider. I mean. It’s worth a try. Don’t you think? Don’t you?”