Evergreen

“Dream House,” a collage by Susan MacMurdy

The seasons changed,
And so did our love.
The fleeting, flitting, fickle first feelings of false spring before the second coming of winter floated on the breeze…
Gently, quietly, barely noticed, they swirled with the undercurrent of something more.
A sudden, not-so-unsuspected cold snap pressed hard against the uncertainty of emotion yet undefined.
Brief as it was, it revealed a blossoming warmth that gave hope for coming growth.
The green bud pushed forth, struggling against natural and unnatural adversities.
Cathartic sunbathing in blissful awakening, two hearts bound by evergreen boughs, transformed yet familiar…
Bloom in extant, stronger, and more reverent for their trials.

– Written for Rattle.com’s January Ekphrastic Challenge.

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Speak Your Mind

“Mind your head,” they said, “or you may end up dead,” they said.

Cheerfully, I acknowledge the caution sign as it was just as they had said.

Funny, I still don’t mind my head; I say what I think instead and carry on my way without an ounce of dread.

– Written for Sonya’s (Only 100 Words) Three Line Tales: Week 230. Photo prompt by
K. Mitch Hodge. WC 67.

We’re All Mad Here

There came a fork in the yellow brick road, so I took the rainbow path less traveled and left Kansas far behind.

A quaint and eerily welcoming chapel materialized at the end of the line and beckoned me to its door.

The tiny Irish preacher invited me in, then he offered me a pint of emerald green lager along with some advice: “Always be a first-rate version of yourself and not a second-rate version of someone else, oh and you probably shouldn’t have eaten those mushrooms.”

– Written for Sonya’s (Only 100 Words) Three Line Tales: Week 184. Photo prompt by Dave Herring. WC 90.

The Letters That Keep Me Grounded

I kept them all. Rejection. And I took them to heart.

I used them to build a foundation. I will always remember where I came from because I am standing on it even now.

When the first acceptance letter came I reread them. When more rejection letters come I will add them to the pile.

– Written for Kat Myrman’s Twittering Tales #134. Photo prompt and 280 characters or less. CC 280. Photo by Suzy Hazelwood at Pexels.com.

I Fell Hard

She did not wait for me.

– Written for Worcester Public Library six word story challenge. WC 6.

Passed

“Of all the things I said and all the things I thought to say, I know now the one thing I should’ve.” He read the words scrawled on a single page by a shaky hand. “I am proud of you.” This was the only message in the journal that arrived a week after his estranged father passed.

– Written for Kat Myrman’s Twittering Tales #130. Photo prompt and 280 characters or less. CC 279. Photo by Marc Schäfer at Unsplash.com.

In Our Own Time

“Only time will tell,” she said with a smile and mischievous wink.

“Oh, well we’ve got nothing but time,” I replied while spinning the hands backward.

Time flies when you’re having fun.

– Written for Sonya’s (Only 100 Words) Three Line Tales: Week 165. Photo prompt by Stijn te Strake. WC 40.