#Flash Fiction Challenge for Carrot Ranch Literary Community #Poetry

April 3, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 2 Comments

April 1 2021, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a swift passage. You can take inspiration from any source. Who is going where and why. What makes it swift? Go where the prompt leads!

The red flame of life, love, spirituality,

the journey taken with friends

Has too swiftly been blown out.

The echoes remain, words, wisdom, and kindness.

They stay, like a pic and mix

Sending that strange thought to mind

Words written, that meant so much more,

Because of the space between

Reading the white space between her words

Feels like the sudden scent of a bowl of potpourri

Letting you know she doesn’t forget

The time spent with family, friends.

The journey forward may be swift

Her zest for life, too strong to prevent her

Returning for one more go…

Colleen’s Weekly #Poetry Challenge

March 30, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 4 Comments

#TANKA TUESDAY WEEKLY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 219, #SpecificForm

This weeks prompt is all about Haiku poetry, which is nature related and Senryu poetry, which is about the human condition. Anita has chosen to write a Senryu poem.

For Sue…

March 30, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 9 Comments

#Flash Fiction Challenge for Carrot Ranch Literary Community #Poetry

March 22, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 3 Comments

March 18: Flash Fiction Challenge

March 18, 2021, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that takes place a year later. It can be any year. Explore the past year or another significant passing of time to a character. Go where the prompt leads!

My last memory of Joe

Doesn’t match the person I see now.

The weight loss taken more than his clothes size.

He has lost his humour

Maybe it’s true; it was only there

To deflect from his size

His eyes have lost the spark I remember

Now I see the sadness hidden all these years.

Over lunch, we spoke of his childhood

Rough, painful, I never gave a thought to

He spoke of hunger,

never enough food, enough love

now he’s happy, getting married,

looking forward to becoming a father next year

I believe he’ll be a good father…

For Sue Vincent… #Acrostic Poem @SCVincent

February 27, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 4 Comments

Image by Please Don’t sell My Artwork AS IS from Pixabay

Sunshine fingers reaching out
Uniting all in touch
Evening comes, starlight bright
Vibrant colours of cosmic order
Inviting you to stand and say
Nice to have known you, Starbright
Carrying the torch of love
Engaging all who read your words
Never condescending, always light, your
Touch sunshine bright…

#FlashFiction Challenge for Carrot Ranch Literary Community #Poetry

February 21, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 7 Comments

February 18: Flash Fiction Challenge

In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story where a character is in the right place at the right time. It may be cause for celebration!

Turning 75, something to celebrate, you think?
Not me.
The morning went slow,
dragging my mind further into darkness
Deciding on a fresh cup of coffee
to pull myself together,
walk around the Friday market.
I notice a face, my best friend,
a sister I should have had.
We lost touch twenty years ago.
Thoughts rush my mind.
Why had we lost touch?
Would she want to speak to me?
Would we have anything to say after so long?
I need not have worried.
My 75th party went like a sixties disco,
With my best friend by my side…

Eugi’s Weekly Prompt – Romance🌹 – February 11, 2021

February 19, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 4 Comments

Touch

So long ago, loving hands touched these old ivory keys.
The day you left me roses, your favourite piece of music.
I placed my hands where yours had been,
Knowing I would never see you again.
Those beautiful roses faded, your memory still sharp,
Keeping the pain of lost love alive
Time can be so cruel when memory, I wish,
had faded alongside the roses…

Stop Press… #Poetry

February 18, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 10 Comments

Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay

I never thought these words
would drop onto my keyboard.
I am convinced I have killed someone.
I don’t remember why, or who he was.
My memory, half hidden in a fog,
We both held the knife.
I remember he was left-handed.
He lunged first, twisting away.
I received a deep stab to my left thigh.
He fell past me, I spun around,
my knife lodged in his back.
He fell on my kitchen floor.
Trouble is, there has never been
a dead body on my floor.
The two-inch scar on my thigh
tells me there should be.
I have no explanation for the mark he left.
A childhood accident has been suggested.
Others say it could be an old memory
From a past life we carry forward
Once in a while, the scar itches
Reminding me of something
I cannot fully remember…

‘Fiction In A Flash Challenge 2021.’ Week #36 #IARTG #WritingPrompts #FlashFiction #WritingCommunity

February 13, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 3 Comments

Welcome to the World of Suzanne Burke.

Now here’s one wish I would love granted,
Turn back time,
let me join the flower power that passed me by
Let me ride the love train,
until the stars appear to lead the way
Ban the bomb. If only?
For a moment, love around the world held us in its grip,
Before going south, the way of so many good ideas
That little VW was never wasted.
I feel some of those sweet souls that drove in it.
They left a lot of love and smiles behind them.
We need their like to drive by once more,
To light the world with love and laughter
Shield us from the crazy world we live in,
If only for a moment…

BlogBattle ~ Revolution

February 11, 2021 / Books & Bonsai / 19 Comments

February #BlogBattle: Revolution

February 2021 Blog Battle

The word this month is:

Revolution

My dad had a lot of crazy ideas, this one was the best crazy yet.
Mum said it would be in the yard by
the end of the week with the rest of his junk.
The hugest telescope I had ever seen.
Dad and I put it together, learned how to focus it.
That night from the spare bedroom, my heart jumped from star to star.
fourteen years old and I know what I want to do with my life.
I told dad I wanted to work at the Hubble Observatory.
That night I witnessed my first spiral galaxy.
I had fallen into one of mum’s bible stories.
Revelations came to mind; something began for me that night.
Mum was right, dad will be bored by the end of the week.
Some might say, dad had been marked by the beast 666.
a number that drives the crazy in him.
mum wouldn’t like to hear me say that,
she would be crossing herself half the day,
saying Jonathan, mind your tongue!
Before going to bed, I made sure dad knew I wanted the telescope.
He smiled; we didn’t need too many words,
I knew the scope was mine…