What I saw was breathtaking: a vast, complex maze of high stone walls enclosing intricate, overlapping passageways containing sharp turns, hidden traps, and secret doors that looped back to the starting point.
And at the center: a large kite, strong enough to carry a man to freedom. No strings attached.
Bob Thurber wrote this for C.
“It’s just a precaution. In case things turn bad.” I said, waving the document.
“No. Marriage isn’t a business arrangement,” she said.
“Sign it.”
“No!”
I flung the paper. “Okay, let’s dump the whole relationship!”
Eleven years later, no sign of divorce. Maybe one day I’ll admit she was right.
Peter Li-ping lives and works in the Northeast of England. He has a background in philosophy and computing. He hopes that he will eventually get someone (else) to publish his writing. He thanks Tim for being the first (and so far only) publisher to appreciate his stories.
You astonish me one day
by quoting poems I never knew
you’d read.
After all these years
of knowing you, I still don’t
fully know you. Who can
ever really know the inner of an
other? But
I know what it’s like
to be with
you.
And I like it.
Jennifer L. Freed likes her daily dose of 50WS, likes the challenge of trying to write with such brevity (she can lean toward wordiness at times!), and likes poetry more than she ever thought she would when she was young. She has other poems and a chapbook available at her website, jfreed.weebly.com.
“See, we don’t need much to be happy together!” he smiled, setting up the tent.
Was he kidding? I longed for a cup of cappuccino, an episode of Project Runway, and an afternoon nap on my leather couch. “Love you,” I smiled back, digging my nails into my own palm.
Debbi Antebi (@debbisland) lives in Istanbul, Turkey, and blogs at debbiantebi.com.
There I stood at the perfect venue, wearing a perfect dress, waiting for a perfect ring. It should have been the perfect day.
But as I stood at the altar, I realized it was all wrong, because the perfect guy was sitting in the pews, a guest at today’s event.
Kelsey Binder is a high school student from southern Louisiana.
The unopened letter stared me down. He’d promised to write, but this was the first letter in weeks.
I anticipated what it said: his time abroad changed him.
Finding courage, I began reading. Everything became clear with that last line:
“Distance can’t separate us. I return next week. Marry me.”
Jennifer Carnesi is an eleventh-grade student in southern Louisiana. Besides writing she enjoys drawing, dance and spending time with friends.
Underneath the tall trees.
A cool and soothing summer breeze,
A blanket spread on fresh-cut blades of grass
“Our love is strong and steady
So I suspect you may already
Know exactly what I want to ask?”
Bird songs foreshadow reverie
“My everlasting love, my sweetheart, will you marry me?”
Alexander Key teaches high school whenever the moon and stars are in perfect alignment.
I didn’t tell my latest wife Mary about my previous wives until after we were married. Sooner would have tainted the mood of our nuptials.
My previous wives all died in tragic accidents.
Mary was upset. She had a tragic accident too. Her gun went off while pointing at me.
Joe Malone is living in a mud hut in South Sudan. Read more from him at http://joem18b.wordpress.com/.
“We share everything. I stay in cave. You hunt. Prey’s body is mine; head and tail are yours.”
The bigger one was infatuated with the other’s beauty. “What should we call this?”
“Marriage.”
“Good. And you won’t leave me until we die.”
“Agreed. I love you!”
“What does that mean?”
Saeed Rezaee, from Iran, holds a B.A. in English Translation and shares his creative writing at teanglish.com.
Amanda woke to crinkling paper.
She squinted at her husband as he flipped through a magazine at 5:00 a.m. on a Sunday. “Do you have to make so much noise this early in the morning?”
Jerry lowered his reading glasses.
“It depends, really… Do you have to snore when you sleep?”
Kristina England resides in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her writing is published or forthcoming in Gargoyle, Short, Fast, and Deadly, Yellow Mama, and other magazines. For more on her writing, visit kristinaengland.blogspot.com.