Flash Fiction 55 — impressions

The Waning Honeymoon, 1878 (oil on canvas) by George Henry Boughton

        Old Woman by Suzanne Marie LeClair


When she was a child, Jacqueline’s aunt Lily made two pronouncements that left lifelong impressions.
“Paul is crazy."
"Sex is incidental." 

Auntie truisms warped and wrapped together, even decades after Lily and Paul passed. Paul died first, screaming mad he was at the end, leaving Lily to years of no longing with shortbread and tea.

______________________________
My post written in exactly 55 words for Flash Fiction 55, now hosted by the lovelies over at imaginary garden with read toads. In searching for images to accompany this prose I could not decide which of the two above most suited the fiction. The mood seems to change with each, yet each touches the tone.......so I kept them both!
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55 — for Bobbb

Photo of his beloved Bandingo Farm by Robert Butkereit

September 2, 2012

In stillness now,
the beloved farm manifests the
lovely seasons of observation
and reverence that he

       Soft summer is still soft,
       but lonely for the reflections
       written and photographed
       that only he

              The bear snores in the woods,
              blossoms are full and lazy, birds
              ready for migration in autumn,
              and he

will be remembered here.

~~~

My post written in exactly 55 words for Flash Fiction 55, now hosted by the lovelies over at imaginary garden with read toads.

Sorrowfully, this poem is not fiction and is written to honor a friend and fellow blogger who died suddenly this week, alone, on his farm in a remote part of New York.

Known as Citizen of Earth and also as Bobbb, Robert Butkereit authored one of the best blogs out there and I can hardly believe how few followers he had. Robert and I became friends via our blogs, a friendship that extended to Facebook, which is where I learned of his death. Please do yourself a favor and visit his blog, Zenspace to read some, or many, of his deep posts.

I have chosen to reprint his post from February 10, 2014. The photo and writing are pure Citizen of Earth.
RIP, dear friend.

In Passing

This long road I never expected to see
Past the vanishing point milestone markers melt slowly
A billion billion drops of rain never counted and the wind
Working overtime to the same conclusion
The silent stars stand witness
They alone hold the key
For the road begins and ends by their good grace
Time and space
And the secrets they share
Be they particle
Or wave

Flash Fiction 55 — Llama

Aymara the Llama by Migy Blanco

Dark blond and übersoft,
my winter coat
gained a magical air when the
babysitter showed me the label,
pronouncing the word — Llama —
telling me about the animal, its
mountain home, its prized wool.

I spent the remainder of the day
coat across my lap, an
encyclopedia opened atop it,
lost in discovery and wonder.


My post written in exactly 55 words for Flash Fiction 55, now hosted by the lovelies over at imaginary garden with read toads.
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Flash Fiction 55 — There in my dreams

 Image via Pixdaus: 40 Breathtaking Places to See Before You Die by www.boredpanda.com - Venice, Italy

In one ray of light a dust particle sparkles in flight.
I ride on it.
In the gondolier's melody my name is sung.
I cling to a building as a speck of
cardinal red paint,
then am a thread freed from an awning
of bright aquamarine
floating in heady air
into this canal of dreams

~~~

My post written in exactly 55 words for Flash Fiction 55, now hosted by the lovelies over at imaginary garden with read toads. 

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Flash Fiction 55 — obligation

The Room by Anne Selleck (2005)

A ration of time, just
a fraction. But
fractured.
Hard to schedule, hard
to please. Dreaded.
Can be dreadful when
not in a zoned-out,
zen-like space. In
laws and in lives some
things are not meant
to be. Human
frailty.
Dis-ease, these
disjointed
hours. He’s cracking
his knuckles. She’s
cutting off her nose.
In spite.


Written for Flash Fiction 55, now hosted by the lovelies over at imaginary garden with read toads.
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Friday Flash 55 — Last Call

The tuxedo t-shirt bar crew
yelled Last Call to the crowd
of hot grinding dancers
     and solitary pointstars.

Their club DJ sequed to his final song,
urging them all to find a spark,
a spark to ward off the lonely dark.

With his final notes pairing magic
pulsing in the air DJ sighed:
     “There, there.”

###

My post written in exactly 55 words for Friday Flash 55. This is the last week that G-Man will serve as our Host here. It has been a great ride, G!
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Friday Flash 55 — MH370

Image: Albuquerque by Bryan Collins

She will not look down -

    will never give up - will

trace invisible contrails

making circles in the skies

over many lands, teasing

blue waters that wave

back, then swell and fold

over stories forever untold -

    while she grows old

looking up (never drown)

as dark arcs deepen

under her arid eyes,

    and time flies.

~~~

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 5. Next week will be the final week that G-Man will be our Host here. Thanks so much for your many encouraging words, Galen. I will miss you!

  

.G-Man, who has been our host 

Friday Flash 55 — Roots

Rite of Remembrance by Madeline von Foerster

When there are roots

something seemingly dead is still

alive at the heart of the world

where silence lives.

Roots go deep,

holding fast to the memory

of days growing in the sun.

Then darkness displays

a crown of stars blessing the 

primal essence that could not die. 

And night birds sing to the moon.

~~~

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.
Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

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Friday Flash 55 — Marking a page

Image: Book Sculpture by Thomas Wightman, Musetouch at facebook

Someone forgot his or her meds —
A manicure is long overdue.
Scoring a book into deep shreds
Save the title, leave a sad clue.

This might be called a bad hand day—
Or perhaps that describes what was dealt.
Truth is love no longer holds sway
O'er the brittle exhaustion now felt.

Turn the page.

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.

Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

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Friday Flash 55 — The beaches

I must have them for they
had me at foggy swoosh —
at hoods-up walks with doggy
at making seabreeze stories —
at one hand pulled by another’s
up to lips for a tender kiss
at sunset, later drifting to a
warm pocket where the day's
sweet find lay hidden in granular
grace. It is the beaches.

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.

Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

♥

Valentine's Day is also celebrated as Oregon Statehood Day, and it is Oregon's 155th birthday today. This poem (that contains a few words from a favorite Avett Brother's song) is to honor my state's spectacular coast, my special connection with it, and my love for those who have shared time with me there, never to be forgotten.

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Friday Flash 55 — One with Everything

 

This is me.  No one — made of Stardust.
 I am one with swirling planets,
    conifer cones dusted with snow,
        delicate ice crusting upon my vacant footsteps —
one with the underweight babe, the bloated beast,
the aged woman praying over beads one final time.

I am the beads, the breath, the bursting, and beyond.
All one.

-*-

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.
Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

(Image via Facebook, source not attributed)

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Friday Flash 55 — So(chi) there

He found her in an ad, you see.
Single Russian Girls! he saw—
and the messages, oh, the
messages he sent, sweet and raw.

At first he said he'd marry her
“Sight unseen,” then mentioned he
wished she could come be his "mate,"
but his later notes changed to
“I need me a date.”

   - конец -

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.
Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s. 

(I keep getting ads like this one in the sidebar of my blog's MapLoco and they, among other things, drive me loco.)

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Friday Flash 55 — Being

Image: from 1000 drawings by sarah nieman, via Tumblr

More than just the personal blip
that at first she thought it was,
instead,
a major discomposure, a gravitational
pull, bore heavily down and
around her, compressing her essence
for self examination, then
gently
it drifted and filtered away, and,
with it, she too began to let go,
being
a being of release and liberation.

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.

Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

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Friday Flash 55 & Mag 201 — Imprinted

They were freshly-poured

long before I strode

upon their cobbles and cracks,

but look down

near the young Linden tree

around the corner from the

tailor's shop with that wall full

of multi-colored thread spools

on lacquered dowels.

Look with your heart,

and you will see my

prints preserved

on the sidewalks of New York.



Written for Friday Flash 55, G-Man, and his Mr. Knowitall community...
and also
Written for The Mag: Mag 201 that inspired with the above image prompt
(New York at Night, Vivienne Gucwa).


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Friday Flash 55 — Pet Thoughts at New Years

Enough Already! by Anji Johnston

My expression says, Ho-hum,

this year is now over. —

But my insides are all jumpy

(same thing’s true for Rover).


Loud noises make us grumpy

and scare us out of our wits.

So, be your pets' heroes

wearing cool New Year outfits:


Please close all the windows —

feed us soothing treats...Oh yum!

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.

Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

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Friday Flash 55 — little bird

Yellow summer bird
who perched on Meghan's
delicate hand, who knew
her soul was studying trust
in precious places — for singing,
for brief rest — before her test
of ultimate flight away,
away…..

Oh, little bird, return to
Meghan’s winter house.
Sing to the brokenhearted,
beckon their glance over the
drift.

There, a snow angel glistens.

***

My post in exactly 55 words written for Friday Flash 55.

Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

My poem was inspired by and is dedicated to Tom Degan's sharing about the death of a beloved little girl in his life, a family friend, on December 18, 2013.  Four days before she died, he posted at his blog and facebook wall a photo of Meghan's hand holding a wild bird, and since her death has posted a photo of the two of them together along with some of his perfect words. You can find the photos and his short, beautiful commentary at the bottom of his post titled "Nightmare Revisited," dated December 14. I hope this link works. (If not, go to tomdegan.blogspot.com)

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Form for All & Friday Flash 55 — Remembered

After "what if" happens
some will survive to tell
how their hate, their weapons
made Earth a living hell.

Few names will be remembered—
and sung a capella.

With memories of atoms
at eve’s blast all pell-mell
they’ll look into the heavens
and raise a new groundswell

of hearts never surrendered—
à la Nelson Mandela.

 ~~~

Written for Friday Flash 55, G-Man, and his Mr. Knowitall community...

      and also for

dVerse Poets Pub Form for All, where host Samuel Peralta invites us to write a poem in 55 words this week.

Please visit both links to read many more "55s" as these two writing communities join together this week. What a special idea, Sam!

[Image via tumblr, where credit to the photographer was not given.]
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Friday Flash 55 — At Thanksgiving

She was across the table

rambling on, as go her

conversations, directing some

questions to her husband—

and in between all that,

mentioned they had thought 

of planning sea scatterings

(just as my mother had 

arranged) but, instead, bought 

two cemetery plots in Portland

and was I going to have some

pumpkin pie for dessert?

My post in exactly 55 words written for, Friday Flash 55.

Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

Note: Image via Tumblr
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Friday Flash 55 — the interview

A strong steady fire
is what I hope for.

Too long the pre-heating
and energy is wasted.

Team of chefs
well-steeped in your craft
tossing me into the stew:
Please pierce my brain from the first
to dispel steam,
to allow even cooking.

Please discard the worn-out recipe.
Pick me to serve a higher purpose.

A decades-old poem reworked in exactly 55 words for Friday Flash 55.

Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s.

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Mag 192 in 55 — tea-hee

We’re talkin' about
a new resurrection—
Proud kinfolk tout
'merican, not Briton.

Waving our hands—
Preaching exceptionalism!
We’re firebrands
pretending to be blithesome.

Join our Tea Party reunion—
Forget the historical facts.
We’re of religious persuasion
pushing born-again pacts.

We can save this land
and steal the show.
You, friend, we understand—
Psycho to psycho.

***

Written for The Mag: Mag 192 that inspired with the above image prompt
(Resurrection Reunion 2, 1945, Sir Stanley Spencer).

In this particular prompt, the painting's title had as much to do with inspiring my words 

as the image itself. Visit the link to see many creative takes on the prompt.

Also written in 55 words for Friday Flash 55.
Visit G-Man and his Mr. Knowitall community for more weekly 55s. 

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