flash fiction

Carrot Ranch ~ Story Challenge ~ Spiders

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 25 Comments

September 12, 2023, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about the insect nation. You can focus on a particular insect or all insects. Is your story one of acceptance and understanding? Scientific knowledge? Or apocalyptic horror? Get bugged and go where the prompt leads!

Seeing as how we have suddenly been besieged by these creatures, this post was easy!

Spiders are a big problem in my family. Luckily, they seem to know this and rarely put in an appearance.

At least, my family think so. I see them and know all their hideouts. Their webs give them away.

On those rare occasions when one does dare to put in an appearance and either runs across the floor or turns up in the bath, I am the one my family scream for.

They tell me that September is the time when male spiders go hunting for a mate.

All I can say to them is, go pick another house!

©JayeMarie2023

Spider Image by Eva Schmidseder from Pixabay

The Lady Shadow… #ShortStory #Fiction #CarrotRanchLiteraryCommunity

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 10 Comments

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

January 16, 2023, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a lady shadow. Who is this person and why do they lurk in the shadows. What is the tone and setting for your story? Go where the prompt leads!

Your Inner Eye… #Poetry

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 11 Comments
The image is from Sarolta Bán Photography.
Your Inner Eye


This forest of trees my son
Is a tribute to all the great artists
who walked the earth many years ago
There are those that paint 
The star filled skies
Jewels that dance above our head
Like Van Gogh's Starry Night
Monet painted the ground
Gardens to dream in
So many of us do not have the inner eye
To see the beauty
To have the desire to capture on canvas
Without the hands that held paintbrushes
The world would be a duller place
Not forgetting, the many that decorate 
The churches, cathedrals, places of worship
With a little added inspiration of coloured glass
If you can feel it in your heart
You might find your inner eye…

© Anita Dawes 2021

The Sunday Whirl ~ Wordle 536 ~ #Poetry

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / Leave a comment 
I need to leave this room
Any cloud will do
To slide past the rock tavern
My fist clenched
I speak of what I wear
As if I am a story
A blend of words spoken
By a witches circle

© AnitaDawes 2022

Mindlovemisery’sMenagerie ~ #Challenge #Poetry

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 2 Comments

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie

Champagne bubbles kissed my nose, 
reminding me of last night’s French kiss. 
I lost her in the crowd, my dark-haired beauty. 
Please God let me find her.
With no chance of hailing a taxi,
tenacious is now tattooed on my brow.
With a grimace on my face, 
I turned my collar up to the sound of fireworks. 
My red mustache dripping rain on my chin, 
flustered, pushing my way through the crowd 
trying to find her. I need a second kiss. 
One will not quiet the caterwaul, 
the silent howling in my head.
Why had I let her slip from my hands?
A New Year's gift from the Gods I must find…


©AnitaDawes2022

Colleen’s Weekly #Poetry Challenge

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 21 Comments

#TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 255: #Tastetherainbow

Image by Pixabay Poem by Anita Dawes

MLMM ~ Wordle 270 ~ #Poetry

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / Leave a comment 
Do I steal extra days from others?
I let my thoughts fly, escape
With the lyrics of my favourite song
Waiting to crystalise in a new world
In the distance a fire pit glows
My thoughts thrash back and forward
Needing to land where Jasper stands
I feel my heart drip cold blood on the pole below
I am hostess of my own deception
Looking for an angel not nailed to the cross
Whose wings are not so white
A depiction of thoughts still to come…

© AnitaDawes2021

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow…

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 4 Comments
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Yesterday

Yesterday my life felt as though it was hanging on a hair. What could go wrong, did.  I couldn’t think straight, I dropped things, walked into doorways.

One of those days when I should have stayed in bed. Mind you, I probably would have fallen out of that. Thank God yesterday is over.

Today

I have the bull by the horns, or so I think. I start by tidying up, do the washing while the drying is good, then read a good book before trying to write a bit. So far so good, the washing is on the line, kettle on, coffee made. I do my best thinking while reading a good book.

Tomorrow

Let tomorrow take care of itself. But we don’t. We try to lasso it into place. Make it what we want it to be. It rarely turns out to plan and we can thank the cosmos for that, then fate steps in. The future is already out there, how else could we walk into it? Nowadays I don’t plan ahead too much. I let the cosmos surprise me…

©AnitaDawes2021

The Sunday Whirl ~ Wordle 525 ~ #Poetry

/ Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes / 2 Comments 
The sky blushed a ring of scarlet light
Dusk had spread its mantle, the air damp
Fright night below, trick or treat
Played as in the past
A black velvet bat perched on the church roof
As the clock chimed midnight
The floor inside the nave red with blood
The local priest lay spread out
A ghoulish version of the bat above
Who, among the faithful disliked the sermon?
Who felt his sins exposed?
Who worried that Father John
Was about to break the confessional vow?
Who among the meek and mild
Had so much to hide?
Let the trial by whispers, the pointing fingers
Begin…



© Anita Dawes 2021