Short Story #2

I have completed my second short story. More will definitely follow this summer.

Short Story #2

Total word count 714.

She Tied Her Hair

She tied her hair in a way so that
barely
it was just together
but every few minutes
a wisp fell down
put back in place
as if she were
distracted
or annoyed
but inside she smiled
and drew them closer.

May 21

May 9th, 2013 - Last Year's May's Alive

Each step closer to the woods

makes the rain louder and louder.

It’s as if the trees are drinking all they can

before the summer dries them up.

Each drop of rain is personal and distinct.

As the rain quiets down I write faster and faster

as if I can only create while my world fades,

trying to keep what remains of last year’s May alive.

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Garden

I told my Mom

I wanted to learn how to garden.

Looking at the patchy vegetable plot

my Dad built years ago,

the wire walls are curved, bent over

the gate is rotted out and tufts of not-vegetables

sprout here and here.

I simply step

over the walls

into the soft dirt

and pretend I’m a plant.

Grow faster, grow faster!

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Holes

We asked my grandfather what kind of animal

was creating these holes on the edge of the yard

fraying as if what little world we owned

was slowly coming undone

“These aren’t animals,” he said

when he saw what we were worried about,

“the earth is settling.”

And he put his entire arm down one hole

to prove himself right with mind and hand.

He knew how to get results.

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Yellow Plant

This plant here is the color of my favorite sun dress.

Not that I wear dresses:

I think that girls who wear this color

look very pretty.

It only happens in the spring but

you can see the plant through the window

it looks like sunshine any time of day,

raining or not.

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Frogs

When I was a boy I would walk

through the puddles

by the garage and look for frogs.

I found them almost every time;

I would corral them into my fingers

and see how patient they could be.

Would I crush them?

Would they pee on me?

After a few moments rest they would hop away,

their cool slime lingering on the touch of my fingers.

Home now, and much older,

I can’t find anything yet

but each blade of grass bounces back

after being hit by a drop of rain

could be another one.

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Deer

The deer knew better

than to eat the sides of the bushes

that face the house.

Years ago we sprayed repellant

on the plants to save them from the vagrant animals.

They must be getting smarter, though.

They’re just as destructive

as they ever were, if not more.

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Purple Plant

My sister is allergic

to the purple plant that grows on the side of the house.

I don’t think that I am as well

but when I approach,

breathe in the thick perfume,

my head hurts and I can’t think

quite as clearly until I’m out of its sight

and myself again.

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Bird Houses

I wish that birds lived in our bird houses.

My mom loved to watch the blue birds,

and I remembered the things I learned from school

Don’t touch baby birds or their parents

won’t take them back

If you disturb their nests

they don’t return.

and so on and even if those aren’t true,

why risk breaking open such a tiny world?

I’m still afraid to look inside the boxes,

lest I spoil something

May 15

May 9th, 2013 - Echoes

Even after the rain is gone, it echoes

through our woods, keeps some memory alive,

sounds like the sweetest thing.

From my window, I can hear the rain

and when the lights are off

I can see it too

May 15

Creativity

Creativity is your river

changing in depth and speed and width

emptying into larger lakes and rivers,

following the pull of gravity down to the ocean,

down deeper and deeper into the earth.

What was direct and purposeful bends and winds

after years of running, seems to disappear

until a flash of rain rejuvenates

surging and muddy again

(not many can make it to the banks)

Rivers can be polluted miles up stream

filth and disgust drunken day after day, year after year,

can’t be cleaned that easily

you can drown in your own river, become too self-absorbed

don’t be surprised if, when others catch you,

staring at your reflection in the water,

they only laugh or politely smile

because they don’t understand

A subtle body of water can remain undiscovered for years

or underestimated

and occasionally

Welcome those that share their rivers

feel their waters flowing into yours

together you could do so much

search for the paths long since dug into the earth

Creativity is your river,

encouraged by others at your meekest hours,

carved into your mind as if

there was no other way to travel.

May 15

I Return To Memories To Finish Writing Things

Prompt: Poetry (Think sound, feel meaning.)


He would write out poetry for girls when he liked them
and giving them the only copy, he would regret that
he had nothing left for himself.
If a girl threw away his writing
he would think about how at some point
the sound of him reading it to her survived longer
than anything put down on paper

March 31

No Longer

Prompt: Lost Time (Don't worry.)


Don't be afraid of these.

Don't be afraid of calculus:
It can help you understand so much.
Try this problem:
Derivatives only hold value when something is changing
with respect to something else.
The distance between us changes with time.
At any instant we are the same distance apart,
but things aren't so consistent or certain as time changes
we can't measure how much we've changed.

Don't be afraid of your friends:
They love you and respect you and when they see you
they don't think
he is a good person
or she has done bad things
and they don't mention the time you were vulnerable and everyone heard
the sounds of anger and disgust from your mouth.

Please don't be afraid of lost time:
Please don't worry about how things could have changed
or about the time you wanted nothing
more than to hold something important inside of you
and become important yourself.
If we stop changing it's to be anything worthwhile.

March 30

Twenty-Three Knives

Prompt: Freeze the President!

This is violence:

where everyone holds a knife

but no one knows which hit killed

where everything is for the greater good

where those closest to us are the last we see

and you, too, were children until

suddenly

there was nothing left of who was once there

and it took twenty-three knives to kill Caesar

but there’s not enough time for all of us

to do the same

March 29

Eager Easter

Prompt: Eager Easter

What if his buds were all in on the joke:

they snickered in secret and knew that their bloke

was coming back soon to talk to the folks.

On Easter they took off their taciturn yokes

and waited with weighted breaths…

March 28

Portrait of Columbia

Prompt: Columbia

Liberal Lady, lick up/lap down

the taste of freedom.

The trouble with gravy is how

it’s reapplied to the meat it was freed from.

Ride the boat, tried the train,

now the automobiles wheel below planes.

She can’t stop her mouth, and anyway

it all sounds the same

as “I  tall!” her too portentous claim

she cries while she climbs to our porch

raising up her bug-catching torch

while the barbecue cooks the meat

(yes, the same) that was delivered,

ground and hamburgled, to our feet

as if we were born here free only to receive,

never give.

March 27

Why Bother

Prompt: Assassinated Love

“It’s said when Shakespeare coined the terms

“assassinate” or “elbow”, “bump” or “gust”

he took those words from colloquial forms

and wrote them down first, without a fuss.”

and Harold Bloom claims the bard

created our modern man

gave us our minds

So what of love? Why bother

if Shakespeare thought up that concept too,

and years later we repeat his words

and cling to stories that run thicker in our veins than blood

it’s real in our world

even to those who haven’t found it yet

March 26

Pirates

Prompt: Pirated Inspiration

I imagine that this is how some people feel

about stealing the ideas of others:

Avast! Arr matey, etcetera era era. A ship off

the starboard brow! Fire cannons, destroy the deck –

It’s not going anywhere, boards and plunders, pillage and filch,

take what’s left and sail away a patchwork victory.

When does an imitation take away from the original?

If anything, the ship sailing away will be stronger

But more often than not, the new pirate simply joins the crew

and assimilates into the operation.

March 25

Cost of Living

Prompt: cost of living

When someone drops change

you take the time

to get closer to the ground

and help them recollect

that is the cost of living

March 24