Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Lost Time – Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction

Thinking back Bill wished he did things differently years ago. Not that he would have had any basis to change given what he knew then, but he wished he knew then what he knew now.

His son Clifford was screaming obscenities at him. He saw himself through his father’s eyes and cringed. He realized he deserved the scorn, but for reasons Clifford wouldn’t acknowledge.

Bill regretted all this lost time. How could he make things right now? He considered praying and cringed again. Was it a miracle, he wondered, when embarrassed he bent his knees, cringed and finally understood?

Linked to Carrot Ranch November 5 Flash Fiction Challenge where Charli Mills offers the theme of “lost time” for these stories of 99 words.

Tender – Six Sentence Story

Stephanie suggested that her father visit the Nature Center at a part of the Forest Preserve that was further away than his normal trails. Every year when she was in middle school they took a field trip to that center and listened to the guides describe the wild birds and animals that lived there.

When her father reached the Nature Center he chose a loop trail realizing that he had been there before, long ago, with Stephanie when she was at a tender age, barely able to walk. He counted the decades and felt time disappear in his memory.

A healthy, but elderly couple approached and asked him how short the loop was concerned that it might go on for over a mile. He answered as one well-acquainted with this very short loop that even a child could walk saying, “It’s not long at all.”

Linked to Six Sentence Stories where Denise offers the word “tender” to use in the story.

GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley's six-sentence-stories icon — GirlieOnTheEdge Denise Farley’s six-sentence-stories icon

Exhale

Some decades earlier he went
Along this way he’s walking now.
A child in hand and wife somehow
Were with him as if Heaven sent,
But now his energy’s near spent.
The sign suggests he’s on some trail
That loops to somewhere vaguely known.
A wind picks up. The oak trees groan.
His strength returns though flesh stays frail
While every breath yearns to exhale.

Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge Prompt No. 30 where the rhyme word “exhale” needs to be used as a C rhyme in a décima with rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.

I realize I got the rhyme pattern wrong for a décima. Here is a revision:

Some decades earlier he went
Along this way he’s walking now.
A child in hand and wife somehow
Were with him as if Heaven sent,
But now his energy’s near spent.
The sign suggests he’s on some trail.
His strength returns though flesh stays frail.
The curving path becomes well-known.
A wind picks up. The oak trees groan.
His every breath yearns to exhale.

Ronovan's Decima Poetry Challenge Image — Ronovan’s Decima Poetry Challenge Image

Water and Rescue

When Lydia was playing in a shallow pool about four inches deep she stumbled and fell face down into the water. The problem is she did not stand up. She kept her face submerged in the water. She was very young.

Her father was watching her and saw what happened. He got up out of his chair, stepped into the water and lifted her. He and his wife wiped off the water. Lydia smiled. That was enough water play for today.

It wasn’t a dangerous rescue. Some rescues are routine, but imagine the consequences if they had not happened.

Linked to Carrot Ranch October 30 Flash Fiction Challenge where Charli Mills offers the theme of “life savers on any body of water”.

A short story of mine, “Unexpected Call”, appeared in Whispers and Echoes. I am grateful to Sammi Cox for accepting it.

All that blue at the horizon is Lake Michigan

Spooky Exorcist

I have no fear of ghosts or such,
But humans - compromised, possessed -
They do cause trouble - very much -
They're twisted, troubled, without rest.
They think they're tough. What do they know?
They aren't so difficult to see.
When eyes blaze hot with hate they show
Their weakness then their fear of me.

Linked to Cosmic Photo Challenge where Dale offers the theme of “spooky”. I doubt these photos are all that spooky unless one imagines an appropriate backstory. So imagine dark secrets, including those long forgotten nasty ones that you don’t want the kids or your parents to know, suddenly polluting the light, standing out like these silhouetted trees.

If that doesn’t work, here’s a happy pumpkin.

Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. The forest preserves and parks were beautiful this past week. We went to many that I had not seen in years including some along Lake Michigan.

Sunday Walk 13

And many of us, we’ve not come to that place. We’ve become saved, but our lives still belong to us. It’s not the way it’s supposed to be.
Wes Bentley, Calvary Chapel Miami Beach, October 25, 2020 (about 8:50)

Wes Bentley was the guest pastor last Sunday (October 24th, 2020) at Calvary Chapel Miami Beach. He is the founder of Far Reaching Ministries. His sermon on world missions is powerful.

Wes Bentley, The Road to Damascus

Erica-Sommer Dudley is the administrator at Calvary Chapel Miami Beach. Here is one of her songs, “In the Footsteps of You”.

Erica-Sommer Dudley, In the Footsteps of You

Will Your Vote Raise the Flag or Burn It – The American Swamp 6

The Biden scandal is massive and real. There is still time for you not to vote for a criminal who sold out America.
Mario Murillo, THERE IS STILL TIME, October 29, 2020

Here is a message from Jonathan Cahn.

Jonathan Cahn, Warning for Election Day & Call for Day of Prayer & Fasting

So where do you stand? Will you be raising the American flag or will you be burning it?

Here is a photo I took of the Fort Sheridan Cemetery in northern Illinois while walking yesterday through the Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve. Vote as if you had to explain yourself to them.

Fright

The day is warm. The sky is bright.
I don't know why I worry so.
The witches have refused to go,
But have they ever? Where there's Light
There never is a need for fright.
It's true that sometimes things do seem
More like a nightmare than a dream
Like wizardry raised to the sky.
What wealth that brings will make you cry
And turn true peace into a scream.

Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge Prompt No. 29 where the rhyme word “fright” should be used in the A line of a decima with rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.

A very short story of mine, “Dream”, was published in Whispers and Echoes. I am grateful to Sammi Cox for accepting it for the Tiny Terrors theme.

Lake Michigan at Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve

One-Liner Wednesday – Beware What You Are Cosigning

There is no champion for abortion rights in America that is more passionate, more dedicated, than the Democratic Party.
Dr. Francis Myles, Sid Roth It’s Supernatural, “Jesus Showed Me 2 Surprises Coming in November”, October 22, 2020 (about 17:00)

Sid Roth It’s Supernatural, “Jesus Showed Me 2 Surprises Coming in November”

Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday.

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com

Foundation – Six Sentence Story

The foreign interests used the pleasures of wealth and sex as the foundation of their plan to blackmail those with political, judicial or media power. The moral character of a good many across this spectrum was weak enough that they took the bait.

When the foreign interests informed those entrapped of the incriminating evidence possessed against them, they realized they were compromised. They should have resigned and faced the appropriate punishments exposing the infiltration of those foreign interests in the process. Instead they decided it was safer for them to do what the foreign interests told them to do.

That is, it was safer until those with stronger moral character exposed them and drained their putrid swamp.

Linked to Six Sentence Story where Denise offers the prompt word “foundation”.