… waiting to see it in print.
(and fun with photoshop)
The longest drumroll
3
Tag Archives: #amwriting
Toothless in a Fur Coat
Hardly Saddler’s rolled up his wagon, pitched a tent and started up his Medicine Show. He told us about his elixirs and about how, if we bought them, they could treat most of our ailments. If he had an elixir for meanness, I would have bought a bottle right then and there, mixed it into a Pearl beer and taken it straight home to Dad.
Hardley Saddler had all kinds of shows to see and games to play. One of them was a contest to see who could hammer their one big nail the fastest into the wooden board. This contest was only open to girls, since there were other contests open for boys.
“Hey, look who’s enterin’ the contest,” Dorothy says , spitting a watermelon seed at my face. I spit one back and see Aunt Nolie and Genevieve, Dorothy’s sister, step up to the boards.
Besides Aunt Nolie and Genevieve, there were five other ladies lined up at the board. The whistle blew and there they were, those gals pounding their nails in such a hurry you would have thought they were putting up a church roof to keep Jesus dry before a storm. We were all cheering and a hollering for our favorite girl and wouldn’t you know it? I was still picturing Freezer’s eyeballs twitching and Aunt Nolie hammering something else.
Aunt Nolie got real close to winning, her face just dripping with girl sweat. But Genevieve slammed that nail in quicker than a racehorse coming out the gate.
After Genevieve was declared the winner, I couldn’t believe what the first prize was. Genevieve had won herself a brand new, over-the-knee fur coat. Even the folks who had rooted for someone else to win were hooting and clapping that at least one person in Rotan owned a new fur coat.
The next morning peeked out the window and saw Lottie, Genevieve’s mother, standing outside her cabin, a cigarette dangling from her bottom lip, her bare feet in the snow. She looked over and waved to me like she does every morning. But on this particular day, she waved like she was the Queen of England except she was wearing nothing but a toothless grin and a brand new over-the-knee fur coat.
Ain’t that a pisser?
A true story from No Hill for a Stepper.
photo credit
via Particular
More than Nostalgia
The wonderful thing about writing down memories is keeping them. Because later, like me, you will find those written words.
I wrote this 26 years ago when my son was two years old:
As grown-ups, we have learned much about life. But we learn much more by watching children experience and discover the world anew. I am about to be the grandmother of my fourth grandchild. I have much yet to learn.
Childhood and it’s atmospheric beauty!
(my daughter’s first child — my second grandchild)
I am forever grateful.
via Atmospheric
Awareness
Day One:
It poured on my parade of glee
a deluge in my eyes
the incidence,
no coincidence
Lost days, a sad demise.
Day Two:
Once again the morning comes
the sun makes its reprise
I leap in joy
’till learnt the ploy
in the snake’s unveiling eyes.
Day Three:
Hope knocks on my door and says
“Forgot we are allies?”
I turn and ear
from which I hear
“Self pity, so unwise.”
Day Four:
Rain or sun, it matters not
life’s twists and turns surprise
for if not so
we’d fail to know
the blessings in disguise.
Artwork by Rene Magritte
Daily Word Prompt: Coincidence
She “took a knee” and …
I once knew a girl named Strict Janet
the Moonshine Still, she ran it
one sip of her “tea”
at once took a knee
and she kicked me off the “free” planet
Dammit!
Planet– Daily Word Prompt
photo credit
First Drafts
When you have to search beneath the layers to find a good story idea …
Art by CD-W
Weekly photo prompt: Layered
Yet She Rose
She believed in something greater
no concern for self or rules
nothing would abate her
as she fought for open schools.
She spoke of female rights,
opportunities, a claim
for education she would fight
but then, they learned her name.
On a dusty bus they found her
where she spotted weapon drawn
and everyone around her
thought the shot, her final song.
An unexpected outcome passed
forgotten sorrowed woes
as people of the world, aghast
Witnessed as she rose.
Yes, we watched her as she rose.
Photo credit of Malala Yousafzai
I Much Prefer the Elephant
To think another irrelevant
are thoughts from someone arrogant
slow in their development
lacking in their etiquette
don’t let them set a precedent
of how others should be treated.
I much prefer the elephant
obviously more intelligent
and not nearly as conceited!
Photo credit
Daily word prompt; Irrelevant
Stone Decisions
Internal Lies
Why, the mighty serpent,
lay coiled beneath the sea?
Malicious, angry, frightened
of an aimless destiny.
That breath of ire, that binding twist
all internal lies
The whip of tongue, the slash of swords –
veiled in mocked disguise.
How then, perchance, to come alive
in apathetic scales
To lighter states, to softer heart –
what happiness entails.
Unleash the truth and let it soar
to surface, past the churning
through honest waves of grace be found
a myriad of yearning.
daily post prompt: Mighty
photo credit
Carolyn Dennis-Willingham 