#wordsketch — Public Fediverse posts

“I did it because I had too.”
“You had no choice?’
“No choice.”
“And you just kept going?”
“Yes. Till it was done.”

“So now what?”
“I don’t know. At first I missed them all.”
“The characters?”
“Yes. I knew them so well.”
“They were real for you?”
“Leaving them there felt like grief - at first.”
“And now?”
“Now I just feel empty.”

“But there’s always next year, right?”
“I can’t wait that long. I can’t! I have to start writing again...”

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #COMPULSION #NaNoWriMo

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#FRIGHTFUL

“What rhymes with frightful?”
“Delightful? Insightful?”
“Wrong number of syllables. And hardly the same mood.”
“I dunno then. It’s your poem. Spiteful?”
“Aha! Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“So what’s the deal?”
“Well we feed on human emotions, right? Any. Good, bad, love, hate, fear - doesn’t matter. We don’t care. As long as they don’t forget us. Then we’re dead.”
“Dead? Haha! Good one...”
“Sigh... I’d roll my eyes if I had any.”

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallpoems

#Narcissus #Nemesis

#ADMIRE

This poem is a tiny bit too long for a toot, with all the hashtags and whatnot, so here's a link to an itty bitty site that supports it:

https://is.gd/T7P7vO

CW: POL implied (maybe)

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallpoems

#CUTE

What should I be...
If I can’t be adorable:
Quiet and ignorable,
Or brazen and deplorable?

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallpoems

#SOMEWHERE

somewhere now
a sun is setting
dream fragments
and leaves fall
blown and separated
forgotten

somewhere
dew clings
new light
new season
shocking
dawn

somewhere there’s a long horizon where one artist smudges day and night endlessly across snowy expanses and no one knows what time it is

it’s cold there
where light appears
and hope rises
i’m going to need
to wrap up
warm

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallpoems

#HEAVY

I am a Heavyoceros,
I move a little slow.
I graze the plains and prairies where
Once roamed the buffalo.

I like you all to know your place:
Behind me in the line.
If you remember who’s in charge
Then things will turn out fine.

I like things as they’ve always been.
I like my status quo.
I’d like you all to disregard
Who lived here long ago.

I am a Heavyoceros,
I am a lonely beast.
They say that I’m endangered but
I don’t care in the least.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#MAJESTIC

Less than 1 mile from my childhood home was a large cinema, built in 1912 as a silent movie theater. When I was 7 years old, it was converted to a dance hall and renamed The Majestic Ballroom. 🎶

The Beatles played there three times! I wasn’t allowed to go. I was only 10!

When I was 12, it was converted again - to a bingo hall. 😕 Later it became a furniture warehouse, losing the Majestic name. And finally in 2004, it was demolished.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#EMERGENCY

I pulled over. We all did. Without a second thought. You hear those sirens. You see those flashing lights. You know one day it could be for you. For someone you love. And you hope.

Today, though, maybe it’s for someone else. Like...

The emergency vehicles scream by. And here he comes, following. The Opportunist. The Slipstreamer. First behind them. Cannoning along the path they cleared.

And you know, somehow, that he will be next.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#EXPERIENCE

On this day, 48 years ago, Jimi Hendrix - leader of the Jimi Hendrix Experience - passed away at the age of 27.

I’d seen him play live less than 3 weeks previously, and I still remember his playing the intro to Watchtower two semitones too low.

I owed him so much, yet I’d thought him overrated. Ha! Who am I, a third rate guitarist, to talk? I’d judged him on a small detail and missed his towering artistry.

And I still miss him.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#DIY
One thing I missed after immigrating to the United States was good curry! Before anyone jumps to the defense of US cuisine, I’ll merely say that if you, like me, had been treated weekly to the high standards of British Indian restaurants for decades, you’d feel the same.

So I learned to cook it myself. And I’m both embarrassed and proud to admit it’s the only DIY I’ve ever done successfully! If you’re passing, come and taste for yourself.😃

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#LUCK

My ancestors called it “sæl”, which meant luck. But it wasn’t mere chance or fate. It was something you could have. A fisherman might be successful if they had fishing sæl. You might borrow the luck of a king, or desert a leader whose luck had left them.

Sælig meant lucky, but over the years it changed to mean happy, then blessed, then innocent, then simple, and finally foolish. And today, it’s still pronounced almost the same way: silly.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#FUTURE

The future was a place unknown to our ancestors. Even their language allowed no place for it. They had only 'past' and 'non-past.'

It's as though they walked backwards into their future, always conscious of their past, their family's past, their village's past, their people's past. All the threads of past deeds interweaving. A colorful tapestry!

What next? How best to snip ugly threads and add new ones in harmony with what already is?

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #poetry

#MYSTERY

Instead of something new (I'm very busy today), here is a poem I wrote two months ago, inspired by the fabulous artwork of @JenJen . If you want someone to follow on this #subsun Subscribe Sunday, please take a look at her websites! 😊

Apologies if you've read this poem before. And because it's more than 500 characters, here's a link...

WHO IS SHE?

https://updraft.writeas.com/who-is-she

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#BRAWL

I once knew a girl. She was in my class at school. She wasn’t happy unless the boys were fighting over her. Poor girl. What little sense of self-worth she must have had if she only felt validated that way.

Not me. The boys never guessed. What I wanted was someone to fight FOR me, not over me. Champion my causes. Right wrongs done to me. Protect me. Not add me to their list of possessions.

#dailysketchchallenge #wordsketch #smallpoems

#DELIVERY

When Montague got up to speak,
I felt my fortitude grow weak.
With wit and charm, and richly dressed,
His audience was full impressed.
He struck a pose upon the stage
In front of lovers half my age,
And thus regaled us with his power
For slightly more than half an hour.
And when at last he took his bows,
To such applause as form allows,
I sat composed, demurely plain,
And felt myself go quite insane.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories

#VEHICLE

A short journey, but I can't make it myself. So I'm traveling again. Ha! Seems like I never stop.

The boat will be here in a minute. It's being poled! Wow, I've not seen that since I visited Cambridge in... how long ago was that? The boatman's a bit scruffy, but whatever, I won't have look at him for long.

Wait, I can't get on without the fare? But I thought it was all included. Oh I see. That probably explains the coin in my mouth.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #end

in the end
everything
will all fizzle
out

#smallpoems

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallpoems #origin

Richard Strauss
did not play that day
no monolith
nor bright sunrise
just what is
transforming into
what should be
as always

Now comes the time
for the origin but
it will slip by
unnoticed save by
one that day who
sees themselves
in a mirror for
the first time

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #smallstories #SpacePilot

“Join the Space Force, see the galaxy,” they said. “It’s glamorous,” they said. Yeah, well that may have been true once, 300 years ago, before the Singularity. But now?

I do get to see the galaxy, from the observation deck, but the wonder wears off.

The bots are kind, but I’m not needed as crew. I’m cargo, a life sample, a bibelot and bargaining chip, in case we meet life and the AI space pilot needs to negotiate.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #waves

They called me a madman. Some said “saint”. Perhaps some thought “witch”, but they kept their mouths shut - they’re alive, aren’t they?

Desperate, and half-blinded by stinging storm spray, yet I saw her, walking over the waves to our tossed and beleaguered boat. One last hope.

We made a deal, Nehalennia and I. And here, broken but alive on Zeeland shores, I am building her an altar, before I forget, before I say it was a mad dream.

#smallstories

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #air

It was snowing, and both the DJs called in sick to the tiny radio station. “Put the emergency all-night tape on,” they said.

No. He’d prayed for this. If not now, when?

Heart pounding, he went to his locker and changed. He was alone, it was radio, no one could see, but he felt more relaxed.

The ON AIR sign flashed red, the signature sax solo played, and a sultry feminine voice said, "This is WYJZ, and you have Simone riding with you through the night."

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #escape

It's cold out here in the wasteland, but it was colder in the city.

They thought me one of them, but I changed. I got out before they realized, before I became sport, prey, kill, to prop up their insecurities. They don't like different.

I'm a coward, please forgive me. I didn't fight. I just thought of myself and ran. But I promise I will return to help others. To escape. Or fight. What else is there?

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #statue

I can’t remember when I first knew I existed. But I was sleek in those days, shiny, polished, looking down on the world, a tryst for lovers, respected even by the birds.

I saw love grow, families grow, children grow - till the heat came, and the long snow, and they all vanished, and I was alone.

There’s no park here now, only thorns. I am covered in birdlime, inaccessible, watching long ages as I rust. And I still don’t know why I’m here.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #dance

I have cracked
my own inner shell
and find a dance
chaotic
unfathomable

A choice

To stay the observer
calm and detached
like a lotus
risk becoming
a lotus eater

Or abandon self to dance

Only within the dance
mystery gives way
pattern emerges
meaning forms
intense

Enough with faking the sage

I am swept high and low
my feet hurt
mind aches
breathless
alive!

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #scholar

A scholar and a time machine
Once traveled from a future age
To distant Alexandria
To study works of ancient mage.

Alas! The library burnt down,
Destroyed the fruits of that great mind,
But also burned the time machine
That had been safely lodged behind.

So stranded, he went on to Rome
Where all his knowledge did impress.
Renowned philosopher became.
His name? Aha, you'll have to guess!

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #faith

She was like an apothecary, selling edible baubles, little gems of faith. Each could make you believe in something, just for a while. Pink to believe your lover’s lies. Yellow to believe you could succeed. So much fun!

Small beer. That man, the one who's in all the pictures, wants the magic adding to the local water. And he pays well. Very well. And so she took a white pill, and suddenly - of course - whatever she was doing was the right thing.

#DailySketchChallenge #WordSketch #jewelry

Our mother wears her jewelry,
Her absinthe veils and topaz lights,
Attracting secret lovers who
Come visiting on fiery nights,
Or stray too close, one last embrace,
One fatal kiss, one fall from grace.

(Photo: aurora, sunrise, and the lights of Ireland the UK from the ISS.)