Detective Work

Because everybody loves bad poems.

Kansas Girl

God, family, farm, prairie, wheat, big sky, harvest: these are some of the things that have shaped me. I have been walking in the wheat, my thoughts for company, as I turn to watch my father and brother running the combine over the field. The wheat is being harvested of course. It is that season for the farmers in Kansas.

I kneel here and am apprehensive and nervous. My own season is turning. The pace of time neither speeding up nor slowing down to my command. Should I chase my dreams? Or should I stick with what I know, what is familiar, what is safe? Momma tells me that you can never know until you try. Daddy says they'll be here, always, and that his little baby girl can accomplish whatever she sets out to do. Bobby says he wishes he could be me. That I was always the lucky one.

NYU is a long ways from Kansas. Even further psychologically. It may as well be an alien world full of aliens. Perhaps it even is.

There are a lot of good reasons to stay. The smell of fresh cut wheat, for just one. To stay though is to give up my biggest dream, and my dream, my calling, is the one unrelenting reason that I must go.

Momma says I have to travel to be a writer. Experience different people, places and customs, to gather thoughts and ideas that could never find me here in safe, comfortable familiarity. Daddy says he has always known, in that deep voice of his, the slightest hint of a smile twitching the corners of his dirty, weathered, oh-so-handsome face. Momma should have been a writer. And, Daddy, well, he truly has known all along. I simply have no doubt about it, for I know he is true, a Kansas farmer.

This is a re-post of a story from My Simple Blog.

A Perfect Place

A Perfect Place is a darker drabble (100 word flash).

Just Plain Too Good

Just Plain Too Good is about a dude and his chick who find the ultimate low-rent flat in town. Maybe.

Megalomania

Megalomania is a drabble about the town rowdies who fantasize about overthrowing the evil wizard. Bunch a goofballs.

Space Spider

Space Spider is another drabble featuring a Lego picture.

Wharf Rats

Wharf Rats is a flash fiction piece featuring a confused couple.

Daughter

Daughter is a prose poem piece.

Queenstown Passage

Queenstown Passage is another introspective short written attempting to use the Ishiguro technique. This one is about a young man who flees Ireland to America, forsaking his love interest.

Unlikely Invitation

Unlikely Invitation is a story about opportunity and choices. It is written from an introspective mood.

Mushroom Evidence

Mushroom Evidence is 100 words about a dark wizard and his revenge.

Dragonbait

Dragonbait is yet another in the sequence of Lego prompts and goofball flashes.

The Rains of Springtime

I never told you this before, but you will no doubt remember it well. Remember that day at the park? Yes, the spring, the rain, the wet shoes. I told you then that it was to get out of the apartment and see the azaleas. And, it was, though not entirely.

What I never told you, until now, is that I had been to the park many times before. You remember the old black bench there? Yes, that one. Well, on my strolls through the park every afternoon before you came home from the store, I used to see an old couple sitting on the bench together. Sometimes, he'd be reading the paper. Sometimes, she would be knitting. A sweater for one of her grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, I imagined.

We came to know each other in this chance way. Myself, playing the young man, striding briskly through the park off to carry out the day. They were the audience, sharing another afternoon together, talking, holding hands, listening to the birds and frogs. I suppose they may have waited, sitting on that bench, until sunset. Waited for the skies to turn cherry red and tangerine with the pink cotton candy clouds majestically sailing past overhead.

So, you see, my dear, it was no accident or random chance that day. I had planned it for some time. I never knew why, but the elderly couple simply disappeared one day, unexpectedly. I never did see them again. Maybe they got sick or had to move away.

The idea didn't come to me at once, but I knew it was perfect. So, that is why I asked you to come walk with me in the park that day. The rains of springtime tried to dampen my spirits, soaking us both. But, I still say that you never looked more beautiful than that day, when we were both dripping wet, your dark hair clinging to your smiling, laughing face. My heart raced with joy when you pointed to the rainbow, for I knew it was meant to be. So, now you know why it was that I proposed to you there. It was our turn.

(360 words)

Monster Wedding

Monster Wedding is what happens when a bride, the monster apocalypse, and an Easy Button collide.

Princess Pink

Princess Pink is another Lego prompt. The pink princess is fighting zombies and manicure schedules. She's that bad.

Hiking Rails

Hiking Rails is a 100 word flash.

A Novel

Get Rid of Unneeded Words: A Novel

Just some advice on how to write the perfect novel.

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Masterplans

Masterplans is a 100 word story about when genius strikes.

Maybe not.

Snowmaggedon

Snowmageddon is another fun one based on a picture of Legos.

From Up Here

From Up Here is yet another 100 word flash. Hope you like it.