Tag Archives: life

JO WITHERS: Time I Wish I Could Recycle

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

Moments wasted in anger:
55 hours arguing over finances,
6 months “discussing” our exes,
8 weeks agreeing to disagree,
18 frosty Sunday breakfasts after you came in late,
3 weeks not speaking over small things,
1 year, 7 months detesting your illness.

Moments missing you:
24 hours, 7 days, always.

Jo Withers needs to remember to make every moment matter. She spends them writing shorts, poetry, and flash fiction from her home in South Australia. She is also author of the middle-grade adventure 5 Simple Steps to Saving Planet Earth. You can follow Jo on Twitter.

MARTIN EVANS: A windy day

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

It is garbage pickup day in Cambridge.

The empty bins are dancing in the street, rolling hither and yon, blown by the blustery gusts of wind, wind that has driven unimpeded from the icy Canadian tundra.

Neighbor corrals bin for neighbor; trash is secured house by house; the community thrives.

Martin Evans is an escapee from academia where he thrived for 35 years. He now potters around Cambridge, so he really didn’t escape academia!

CG THOMPSON: There’s a Tatter in the World When He’s Gone

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , , ,

Knotty-pine rails and shorn winter grass,
pastures wandering aimlessly,

subdued air chewed to the quick.
Puddles notch the ground

(rough-hewn mirrors of regret)
at the hushed gate where he waited.

The morning of the horse’s passing,
a rickety world presents itself,

clouds cobbled together
in a pale and unfinished sky.

C.G. Thompson was once owned by a tall pony who was kind enough to listen to her talk about poetry. Sadly, he passed away before any of her poems about him were published. She had hoped to read them to him. He continues to be an inspiration.

JO WITHERS: Goodbye Google

Stories, , , , ,

“Hey Google, close the blinds.”

“Hey Google, dim the lights.”

“Hey Google, start my favourite slow classics playlist.”

“Hey Google, send out all the last messages to friends and family from my draft box.”

“Hey Google, administer the anaesthetic and switch off the power to my ventilator.”

“Hey Google, Goodbye.”

Jo Withers worries that technology is getting out of hand and avoids it wherever possible. She is author of the middle-grade science-fiction novel “5 Simple Steps to Saving Planet Earth.”

JOHANNAH LIPSCHER SIMON: Click

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , ,

Armed with her vintage Leica camera, she is convinced she can stop the passage of time, moments forever captured on film like flies in amber.

But despite her efforts, the clock persists.

1 day
Click
1 month
Click
1 year
Click

Nest now emptied, she seeks solace in eighteen years of yellowed photographs.

Johannah Lipscher Simon is a professional ideator who writes and speaks on the power of living a creative life. See more at thewritingtype.com.

CAROLINE COUDERC: Special Occasion

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

When she died, she left behind her stunning wardrobe, rows of hangers full of brand-new, high-quality clothes, silk scarves, designer handbags and shoes, most still with the tag on.

Most of the exquisite pieces had been hanging there for years, still unworn, being saved for later, for a special occasion.

Caroline Couderc is a multilingual writer and translator living in Switzerland and the UK. She has degrees in French Literature, Linguistics, and Cultural Anthropology. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Boston Literary Magazine, War, Literature and the Arts, Shotgun Honey, The Airgonaut, The Antigonish Review, and more. You can find her online at beautyisasleepingcat.com.

NELSON SCOTT: At the Intersection of Broadway and Pine

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Impatience reigns
In this hostile environment
Where all are trapped, and none can escape.

Children wail,
Grownups mutter,
And a mob’s slowly forming
To strangle that jerk
Blasting 70’s pop out his window.

Meanwhile, most sit,
Comatose,
With fingers drumming
For all eternity…

…until the stoplight changes,
and civilization returns.

Nelson Scott is the pseudonym of a student who has occasionally wanted to travel to New York City–and then has promptly remembered the crowds, traffic, and sheer degree of expenses that would likely greet him there.

CANDACE KUBINEC: Passing a Window Late at Night

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

Our eyes met through the glass, a chance that may never come again.
For one short moment we connected. Then just as quickly, she was gone—a graceful, young fawn.
I look for her on clear nights and wonder if she looks for me while eating apples under my tree.

Candace Kubinec posts her stories at storydribbles.wordpress.com and her poetry at rhymeswithbug.com.

ROBB LANUM: Things That Only Happen Between 2 and 4 A.M.

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The smoke alarm low-battery warning starts chirping.

Your kid’s stomach virus hits.

The faucet drips.

You notice that the cracks in the bedroom ceiling have gotten wider.

You hear an old train whistle in the distance.

You remember a song you haven’t heard since 1988.

I wonder where you are.

Robb Lanum is a failed screenwriter in Los Angeles. This is his third 50-word story. His longer, epic works have appeared on 101words.org.

MARIE A BAILEY: The Astronomer’s Wife

Submissions, Touching, , ,

You looked up into the night sky. Saw brilliant stars, expanding universe, mysterious galaxies, endless time. You looked down into my eyes. Saw faint light, boundaries of my soul, simpleness of my mind, the finity of my existence.

I linger beyond the border of light and dark, a black hole.

Marie A Bailey lives in the southeastern U.S. with a supportive husband and three cats. She has been published in The Disappointed Housewife as well as Florida’s Emerging Writers, An Anthology and America’s Emerging Writers, An Anthology of Fiction, Volume I, both by Z Publishing House. She blogs about writing, travel, knitting and cats at 1writeway.com.