Written with my Thursday night group using the prompts: no, nothing; tired of using words; so many reasons not to; teenager; rainfall; gratitude; advice; airplanes; ordinary people; noun deficient Marie grew tired of using words. It started during the pandemic when she decided out of boredom to clean out the closets. It felt good to get rid … Continue reading The Inadequacy of Words
I wrote this--as I often do--with my Thursday night writing group. Prompts included: I have waited too long, ferocious food, what was the house like, Agnes and her pike, why wouldn't I want an Italian cavalry sword, diagnosis, immediately largest (which I changed to largess). Another challenge was to weave a color throughout the piece--and … Continue reading Too Late
Another re-run this week, another of my favorite #FlashFictionFriday stories. Enjoy! The route was beautiful but scary, starting in the most crime-ridden and garbage-strewn streets of the financial district, a place where hefty men in silk business suits and expensive running shoes would dart into limos escorted by taller, fitter men in cheap suits and … Continue reading A Boy With Wings
I'm needing a bit of a break so I thought I'd run a few of my greatest hits here. Maybe next week too, not sure yet. At any rate, here's a fan favorite that I hope you'll enjoy. After midnight the day-old loaves of bread in the bakery turn into slumbering cats. Some are brown … Continue reading Bread Cats
Because it was spring, Marilee decided to do one of her obsessive tears through the house—not a quick surface dust and sweep, but a deep dive, boring down beneath cushions and floor rugs, under tables and chairs, to clear out accumulated dust bunnies, cat toys, stray pens and lost coins. Her compulsion to clean next sent … Continue reading Spring Cleaning
Imagine a world where suddenly and inexplicably the sick and injured begin to emit light. Open wounds shine like flash lights, acne sparkles like glitter, leukemia patients shimmer and glow, and muscle tension can be seen “twisting like algae in an underwater current.” This is the stunning phenomenon that drives Kevin Brockmeier’s The Illumination. Though labeled a novel, … Continue reading The Illumination, a review
I wrote this piece with my Thursday night group. I changed most of the prompts, but perhaps you may still recognize them: the child, September, denigration, breakage, loss of youth, rust, crawling sickness, an obstacle, aberration, there are layers, no one was ready, nostalgic, January, time’s fun when you’re having flies, a blessing, apple tree, green shirts, … Continue reading The Child’s Notebook
I wrote this with a prompt that urged me to speak with the Sun. That reminded me of Frank O'Hara's "Talking to the Sun on Fire Island." I think O'Hara's sun was a bit more cordial than mine was; I'll need to work on my relationship with our resident star. But for today, this is … Continue reading The Sun Speaks
Alive in the Moment Written with my Thursday night group with the prompts: urge to be alive in the moment, sound of waves lapping around the house, whipping like an energetic tornado, longing for a perfect moment to move you, manage, strolling, pollen, cheat, skins, lines, big giant plane, tired of hearing Dad’s stories, Tower of … Continue reading Alive in the Moment
As a Valentine treat, I'm reviving a little romantic tale of an amorous, adventurous couple. Charlie was a regular guy living a regular life. Then he met Mabel and he slipped over the edge. Mabel was a force of nature, a combination Earth Mother/Ruth Bader Ginsberg no-nonsense intellectual feminine feminist who believed the world was a place … Continue reading The Saga of Charlie and Mabel
