Crumbling

 

Is this sickness?

Lack of light? Solid darkness? Under canopies of lovely trees, thick with glossy emerald leaves, where sunshine cannot reach?

On the ground. Broken bits of self. Hazy eyes, unfocused from pain—grime on windows to the soul.

Shatter me.

Break apart the clumps of soil. Dig into dirt with naked hands, crumbling until fingernails become half moons of filth.

Till the earth of who I was. From this mangled mass of roots, pebbles, and pain, let something whole and healthy break through the ground. Let something beautiful grow.

This wishing. This futile hope.

Is this sickness?

 

 

June 24 Prompt: Dirt (In 99 words – no more, no less – write a story about dirt.)

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

Mary

 

She crouched, hands over her ears, playground voices taunting.

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary! How does your garden grow!”

The group of giggling girls skipped away.

Mary stayed near the brick wall, shaking, imagining the torture of silver bells, the beheadings, and the garden of gravestones her grandfather told her about one night when she asked for a bedtime story.

She thought back to Kindergarten, when the teasing made her cry just because the singing of her name had sounded unkind. Now, only one year later, she cried because the images of death played in her mind like a slideshow.

 

 

Mary, Mary, quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockleshells

And pretty maids all in a row.

 

Bloody Mary, oh so scary

How does your graveyard grow?

With instruments of torture and

Beheadings all in a row.

 

June 17 Prompt: Children’s Rhymes (In 99 words – no more, no less – write a story that involves a children’s game or rhyme.)

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

Five Photos, Five Stories (Day 5)

 

Growth

Fresh, new beginning

Promised life. While apathy

Crushed all that was left

 

 

My final post for the Five Photos, Five Stories challenge. This is my Day 5 photo, “Spring Equinox Sprout”, with its accompanying haiku. Here’s a peek at 1-4:

Day 1 “Anxiety”
Day 2 “Radiant”
Day 3 “Fragile”
Day 4 “Summer”

Thanks again, Norah. This was a fun week of photos and poems.

 

The “rules” of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. Just have fun.

 

Five Photos, Five Stories (Day 4)

 

Summer

Wisps of sun-bleached hair

Brush my cheek. She lives in light,

I dwell in shadow

 

 

This post is part of a Five Photos, Five Stories challenge. This is my Day 4 photo, “Asteraceae”, with its accompanying haiku.

Day 1 “Anxiety”
Day 2 “Radiant”
Day 3 “Fragile”

Thanks to Norah, for nominating me and allowing me to play with words and pictures while I get back on my feet. I’m excited to nominate ReeDaBee to take on this challenge–can’t wait to see what she does with it.

 

The “rules” of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. Just have fun.

 

Saved

 

Her locks didn’t work.

That was what she hated most. Not the dripping bathroom faucet, the fridge that kept her food cold every other Thursday, the heat that warmed her only on full moons in August. It was the doors that didn’t lock.

She thought about this, a familiar unsettling feeling creeping into the crevices of her mind and sticking there like spilled honey left on the countertop.

“John,” she reached out, “who’s my little Locke? Who’s the smartest, bravest pound puppy in the world?” She kissed his nose.

The intruder, outside her window, saw the Doberman and left.

 

 

June 10 Prompt: Animal Rescue (In 99 words – no more, no less – write a story about an animal rescue)

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

Five Photos, Five Stories (Day 3)

 

Fragile

Search her vacant eyes

Slight movement, recognition

Hope flutters away

 

 

This post is part of a Five Photos, Five Stories challenge. This is my Day 3 photo, “Flutter”, with its accompanying haiku.

Day 1 “Anxiety”
Day 2 “Radiant”

Thanks to Norah, for nominating me and allowing me to play with words and pictures while I get back on my feet. I nominate Georgia Bell to take on this fun photo challenge. I hope she plays along. I might have to bribe her with wine. And scotch. But her writing is worth it.

 

The “rules” of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. Just have fun.

 

Five Photos, Five Stories (Day 2)

 

 

Radiant

Music glides like clouds

His tiny hands move with grace

Over ivory keys

 

 

This post is part of a Five Photos, Five Stories challenge. This is my Day 2 photo, “Painted Sky”, with its accompanying haiku. Here’s my Day 1 Post, “Anxiety”. Thanks to Norah, for nominating me and allowing me to play with words and pictures while I get back on my feet. I nominate Dana Schwartz to take on this fun photo challenge. Will she pick up the gauntlet? If so, it will be a treat. Her writing is beautiful and I’d love to see where she takes this challenge. Will we see some fiction?

 

The “rules” of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. Just have fun.

 

Five Photos, Five Stories (Day 1)

 

 

Anxiety

My mind spins, eyes close,

Heart beats. Wrong. Too fast. Can’t breathe.

Look up. Perspective.

 

 

I’ve been nominated by the lovely Norah Colvin in a Five Photos, Five Stories (in five days) challenge. And I accept. So here is my Day 1 photo, “Look Up”, with its accompanying haiku. Thanks, Norah, for giving me a wonderful way to use my creativity while I get back on my feet. I nominate AJ Prince to take on this fun photo challenge. I might have to send Dracula after her to, um, motivate her but that’s okay. He owes me a favor and she won’t mind.

 

The “rules” of the Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge are:

1) Post a photo each day for five consecutive days.
2) Attach a story to the photo. It can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or a short paragraph. It’s entirely up to the individual.
3) Nominate another blogger to carry on the challenge. Your nominee is free to accept or decline the invitation. Just have fun.

 

Haiku: Loss

 

Photographs of her

Should inspire me to live

But fill me with loss

 

~~~

 

Large mirrors cover

One whole wall where I work out

Inspires weight loss

 

 

This is part of a weekly haiku writing challenge which must be written in the English form of 5-7-5.

Hosted by RonovanWrites

#48 Prompt: Write a haiku using the words “inspire” and “loss”

Alone

 

“Will no one stand for the accused?”

Silence spread through the crowd.

Some looked out windows or at the wooden floor. Others sat up straighter, a look of superiority lighting their faces and dancing in their eyes.

All held roses. Each clutching one white and one red flower. Petal after petal was raised in the air. Red. Red. Another red.

The large, bearded man overseeing the trial did not act surprised. “The accused will be hanged,” he said blandly, “tomorrow at noon.”

When the villagers walked to the square the next morning, one white rose rested on the gallows.

 

 

June 3 Prompt: Roses (In 99 words – no more, no less – write a story that includes a rose)

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch