#mastoprompt — Public Fediverse posts

Some of the lost asked only to be remembered. Others establish kingdoms, and I kneel long after the sovereign has vanished, carrying tribute to an abandoned throne, the old oath continuing to govern when the world that bowed before it is gone. There must be some moment when keeping faith with the lost means releasing the living from its rule.

#MastoPrompt
#fealty
#writing
#smallstories
#creativewriting
@stevencudahy

The institution moved at the speed of liquid methane. Frigid lakes turned beneath an acrid sky. Nothing hurried. Nothing had to. Still, the blows came: window, gate, name, number, wait, each small refusal delivered at a temperature no human being can live. I came carrying a human claim. The machinery had no category for it.

#MastoPrompt
#volley
#writing
#creativewriting
#smallstories
@stevencudahy

It turned out the new rallying cry of Chief Seattle High's volley ball team seattled the victory crown on their heads. Their opponent died laughing at the lyrics of 'Into the "Volley of Death." 1/1

#Wss366 #MastoPrompt #MicroFiction #TootFic #NMFic

counting off
the singer shouts
at the rhythm section

#MastoPrompt

counting off
the singer shouts
at the rhythm section

#MastoPrompt

counting off
the singer shouts
at the rhythm section

#MastoPrompt

Rabbits at Tea

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore
(C) Image: Nara Moore - Seattle Street in Spring with usagi plushies in hyacinths

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写 #UrbanPhotography #都市写真 #Plushie #Plushies #MastoPrompt #Hyacinth #DailyHaikuPrompt 9/9 #Sparrow #Ivy 9/10 #Warbler #Morning #ThingToWriteAbout #Toad #InkMine #Arcane #IsTheOrderARabbit #Rabbit #GochiUsa #Flowers #FlowerScrolling #Garden

Willow Leaves

6-Link #Rengay
(C) 2026 Randy Bradbury @moto17
& Nara Moore @NaraMoore
Image: #ClaudeMonet Lily Pond and Weeping Willow, 1916–1919
& Endless Knot - Rick J. Pellegr,

#dailyhaikuprompt #WillowLeaves #Gusty #MastoPrompt #whisk #Dharma #Buddhist #Willow #Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Haiga #俳画

Seen & Unseen

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #thingstowriteabout #bread #MastoPrompt #vssdaily #Celebration #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写真 #Wedding #Ancestors #Food

Sea-Green Boat

6-link #Rengay
(C) Paul David Mena @extraspecialbitter & Nara Moore @NaraMoore

Illustration: #TripToTheMoon1902 #OwlAndThePussyCat

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #MastoPrompt #frontier #Tanka #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写真

Wind's Choice

••⋅☾ #俳句 ☽⋅••

Nimble wind selecting
Grumbles at the choice ☽⋅••
Hummingbirds treble note

••⋅☾ #Haiku ☽⋅••

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Wss366 #treble #MastoPrompt 9/3 #nimble 9/4 #Grumble #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写真 #UrbanPhotography #都市写真 #Flowers #FlowerScrolling

••⋅☾ #俳句 ☽⋅••

Crosswalk watch
The cars burr by
killers on wheels

••⋅☾ #Haiku ☽⋅••

••⋅☾ #俳文 ☽⋅••
An observation, as a line of #cars whizzes by a major crosswalk.
••⋅☾ #Haibun ☽⋅••

••⋅☾ #ものく ☽⋅••

Arrogant youth steps into the street

••⋅☾ #Monoku / #Monostich ☽⋅••

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #PoetryOnTheFly #MastoPrompt #burr #Safty

••⋅☾ #連歌 / #連句☽⋅••

daily haiku prompt
see you in September
bless you my love

Summer smoke writhes
Genteel fall yet to be

••⋅☾ #Renga / #Renku ☽⋅••

Kami-no-ku: @MarkBrigham

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #Summer #Fall #DailyHaikuPrompt - fall colors #MastoPrompt #genteel

Season

••⋅☾ #俳句 ☽⋅••

Yellow orange
Local Rainier cherries
Season ending

••⋅☾ #Haiku ☽⋅••

••⋅☾ #俳文 ☽⋅••
Taken at the local fruit and vegetable stand. (Top Banana [ #Seattle #Ballard ])
••⋅☾ #Haibun ☽⋅••

#Poetry #詩 #NMPoetry #MastoPrompt #Cherry #DailyHaikuPrompt #Orange #Summer #Haiga #俳画 #Photography #マストドン写真部 #写真

Dyed Carnations

#Mastoprompt #Wall

withering wallflower
the weight of the world
in her weary words

the ivy trellis
a prince in the making

slow waltz
toes a small priceless
his and hers

Pink sneakers on the steps
Now lost in the haze

Chess club
The queen endangered
In the door

violets blooming
sultry high school air

3 verses one person #Renga (Linked #Tanka)
Credits: First three lines @extraspecialbitter
Rest @NaraMoore

#Poetry #PoetryCommunity #NMPoetry

#MastoPrompt #dream #Dreams

There is a myth that you don't feel pain in dreams.

Serpent fangs
And sneaker foot
Sudden sting

#senryu #Poetry #NMPoetry #PoetryOnTheFly #haibun

#Goldilocks and Three Grim Fates: This On is too Hot: Part 2

#Mythpunk #Horror
#Wss633 #Mastoprompt

Clair meanwhile, had drifted to the bookshelf. “They’re bound funny,” she called over to us.

“It’s just leather,” Rebecca said. Her face was red from blowing on the fire, but it was going now and had begun to warm the room.

“No, they’re icky, all crinkly to the touch and slimy. They make you feel weird.”

“Then don’t touch them,” I said.

“But they’re interesting,” Clair replied.

I shrugged and turned to Rebecca, saying, “She’s our daughter, all right.” Rebecca nodded.

“This book is too hard, but you might like this one.” Clair handed me a thick book. On the spine was written “Das Kapital. Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie.”

Clair was right; it made you feel funny: sad, like you were listening to someone crying. For a moment, I thought I heard someone shouting in Russian, followed by a scream.

“And this one is too simple,” Anastasia said, waking me from my daydream. She handed a copy of “Lang’s Blue Fairy Tales” to Rebecca.

I blinked; the room was fuzzy. “Anastasia?” That wasn’t right. I meant Clair. That was my daughter’s name.

Puzzled at my confusion, I watched her walk to the bookshelf again. Her white dress sparkled in the firelight.

She took out a third book. “#Dope! This one is just right,” she said in an odd voice: distant and sinister. She was holding a copy of “Ivanhoe Continued: The Burning of Rebecca.”

“Ah,” Rebecca gasped. I turned, expecting her to object to the “Goldilocks” game again, only she wasn’t there. All that was there was the wall, stove, and blaze in the fireplace, all seen as if in a distorted mirror.

“Mom?” Claire said and walked past me—diamonds draped her snow-white dress—she stopped at the fireplace, gazing at the blaze, which was going nicely, making the air smell faintly of pine smoke. Then I choked as a whiff of burned meat reached me.

Clair screamed, “Mom!” and pointed to the fire.

Wreathed in fire was the image of the woman I loved tied to a stake. The flames licked around her. You could all but her screams. Rebecca. Our Rebecca was there. Ivanhoe’s Rebecca. A witch burning for our sins.

2/4

#TootFic #MicroFiction #Serial #NMFic #NMV366 #NMSAM #Ivanhoe

#Goldilocks and Three Grim Fates: This On is too Hot: Part 1

#Mythpunk #Horror
#Wss633 #Mastoprompt

Rebecca closed the cabin door, shutting out the winter wind and snow that blew in. Our breath hung in clouds in the still, cold air of the room. We might be trespassing, but it was better than sitting in our stalled car.

I called out again, “Anyone home? Sorry for intruding, but our car broke down, and it’s freezing.”

Again, there was no response. The owners had probably gone to town to avoid the blizzard that was in the forecast.

We really shouldn’t have been on the road, but Grandma had grown tired of us and had hinted, “Thanksgiving is over. Wouldn’t you prefer sleeping in your own beds?”

My girlfriend moved past me to the fireplace. “I’ll light a fire. Why don’t you see if there’s food? We can leave money on the table when we leave to pay for any inconvenience.”

Clair had already begun exploring and called from the door at the far side of the room. “It’s a bedroom with three beds: one big, one small, and one in between. This one is too…”

“Don’t say it,” Rebecca called to her. I wasn’t sure why the joke bothered her so much, but it did. Rebecca had always been the stricter of the two of us and got peeved if I interfered, so I kept silent.

While the two did their thing, I began looking for food. The can on the table proved to be red bean soup made by a Japanese company. I’d always thought a sweet bean drink was weird, but I guessed it was popular. It was funny finding it here in the middle of the Bitterroot Mountains, and I wondered if the owners were Japanese.

A cupboard next to the stove proved more fruitful. There was some cup ramen, tins of diced tomatoes, a package of sun-dried #prunes, and a couple of kilos of rice.

Part 2 in the next post

#TootFic #MicroFiction #Serial #NMFic #NMV366 #NMSAM #Ivanhoe

summer's arrival
tender paws on hot pavement
cool off in the grass!

#dailyhaikuprompt - time / cool off
#MastoPrompt - arrival

ART
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/soft-blue-dog-paw-sharon-cummings.html

#dog #dogs #dogsofmastodon #dogsittergifts #gifts #woof #doggies #puppy #puppies #puppylove #doglove #doglovers #doglover #dogpaw #dogmom #dogdad #blue #animallover #animallovers #homedecor #pet #pets #summer #summertme #heat #poetry #poet #poets #poem #poems #haiku #smallpoem #smallpoems #shortpoem #shortpoems #SharonCummingsArt

"That's your fourth coffee." The rookie eyed his boss.

"And?" The detective wiped his moustache.

"Wouldn't it be cheaper to go for the bottomless cup?"

"Clearly that's a scam."

"How come?"

"Lad, if the cup has no bottom, how do they #refill it?"

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

heart's open portal
love should never hibernate
'till February

#mastoprompt portal
#DailyHaikuPrompt -hibernate

ART
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/light-of-love-1-handmade-art-sharon-cummings.html

#art #artwork #fedigiftshop #fediart #masotart #artist #artists #valentinesday #valentinesdaygift #valentine #valentinesgift #valentinesday2025 #haiku #smallpoems #romanticgifts #poet #romanticgift #romance #love #SharonCummingsArt #handmade #handmadeart #poetry #poem #light #heart #hearts #colorful #colorfulart #ideas #creative #creativity #shortpoem

fallow days take root
mounting to crushing summed weight
of emptiness borne

#MastoPrompt: #nourish #NegativeSpace
#haiku #senryu #poem #ShortPoem #SmallPoem #loneliness #starvation #drought #dysfunction

@stevencudahy

Never Done

When the time comes,
Which life and some unknown
Spirits might determine, and
My mind flies out to some
Undiscovered universe and its
Attendant galaxies, when
All that is done

Let my ashes #nourish the
Earth, or my body science,
Whichever lays the first claim
On what was never mine
To begin with.

Then let the fireworks begin,
And some elation, because
This is what living always was;
Too short, too quick, and
Never done.

#MastoPrompt #Writing #Poetry #SmallPoems

My unexpected hosts seemed generous types. It had been amazing luck to find their cottage in the storm. But as I regarded the steaming bath, something didn't seem quite right. I sniffed, then picked up the empty bubble bath bottle.

It was labelled: ALL-PURPOSE #MARINADE.

#MastoPrompt #MicroFiction

the tipsy pirate
would menace the seven seas
to wrestle booty

#575prompt #tipsy
#MastoPrompt #menace
#DailyHaikuPrompt #wrestle
#blog
#prompt
#RDP
#RagtagDailyPrompt #pirate
#WordPress
#haiku
#poem
#SmallPoems
#poetry
#PoetryCommunity
#writing
#WritingCommunity
#craiyon

The difference between
Jungle then and jungle now
Is concrete for trees.

#MastoPrompt - jungle
#haiku
#haikuFR
#senryu

The difference between
Jungle then and jungle now
Is concrete for trees.

#MastoPrompt - jungle
#haiku
#haikuFR
#senryu

I sat on the porch and looked out. The sunset glowed orange, slowly being replaced by the glow of fireflies in the dusk gloom. It was a sight to warm the most barren soul. And I had all eternity to enjoy it. Yes, eternity, for I was immortal. Barring some untold calamity, I could not die. A gift dearly bought. Eternity traded for my soul. Yes, the sight would warm the most barren soul. #Haibun

#Horror365 #Soulless #Horror #PhychologicalHorror
#MastoPrompt #Orange
#MicroFiction #SmallStory
1/2

#MastoPrompt #Cathartic #SmallPoems #Grief

Cathartic tears
Wept at your bed
Are temporary relief
For the aching void
Left in my arms

All day David kept thinking about the 1918 diary that had mysteriously appeared on his desk. Late that night, the newsroom and building quiet and dark, he resumed his reading, a #cathartic sensation this stopping, taking a breath, this reading of something from so long ago.

He pushed away his questions: Who was the writer? Why was the diary put on my desk? What's in it? He just read, unaware that one of the entries would change his life.

#MastoPrompt #HiramFalls #WritingCommunity #amwriting

A good bout of tears
will always be cathartic
but also, vomit.

#haiku
#MastoPrompt #cathartic #SmallPoems

This journey has trundled on
Through a landscape that never changes
Crossing drifting sands
Neither setting sun, nor crack of dawn
To count the passage of time
Until finally
Death stands before the counter
'I believe this is mine,' he says reaching out
For the disposable white cup containing the black ichor that gives life.
'#cathartic?'
'Quite, it seems to have taken an age-'
'Um, no the name in the cup, it's for Cath Artic.'
'Oh... I'll keep waiting.'
#mastoprompt

The most recent #MastoPrompt for #SmallPoems #Poetry I've seen is... #infernal

Was it Herr Mercedes
Or was it Mister Benz
Invented an engine with
Both big and small ends?

A large block of metal
Parts moving internal
Pipes connected external
Devices labelled infernal

Lead added to petrol
To smooth out the knocks
Doomed entire generations
Time bombs, ticking clocks

The future's electric
Or powered by human
A future for people
Is the only conclusion.

/ @tanweerdar