She didn’t understand him. She had never understood him. She wondered why she loved him. He was elusive. He was foreign in his differentness. And yet. He pulled her. Yanked at her with his allure. Kept her aching for him in his absence. She knew they were no good together. They were mountain and plain….
Month: January 2012
Prose Poem Prompt: Hamster Wheel
Today is one of those days when I want to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Go sit out in the sun and just let its rays wash over me. Warm these cold feet of mine. Fill me with power from somewhere other than myself. I get tired of the need for constant self-initiative. When you are…
Flash Essay Prompt: The Word “Other”
Other? What does that mean? Other means not us. Someone different. Someone who does not share common traits or beliefs or locations or even species. Other is a word that comes up a lot when people want to judge someone harshly. He has other beliefs. She has other interests. Not ours. Against us. Not with…
Nothing Like an Award or Two to Brighten Up My Day!
Much thanks to my fellow bloggers for two awards for my blog, 20 Minutes a Day. Thank you susanwritesprecise for the Lamplighter Award! This is for a blog you find that brightens the world. This award can be passed along as many times as you like and the recipient either accepts or declines and that’s…
Flash Fiction Prompt: Foot, Jacket, and Silence
The day was cold. Camille pulled on her jacket and trudged outside for a cigarette. Damn these new laws that made standing by the dumpster behind the building the only acceptable place to smoke. And what a social pariah she had become. Almost everyone in the call center glared at her when she left, and…
Prompt: The Word “Encounter”
Encounter is a word that conjures up mystery. Encounter is not just a meeting, but something more fleeting. An encounter suggests movement, as if both parties are on their way to somewhere else and they briefly come in contact. One can imagine an encounter in a stairwell, where two people pass and glance at one…
Flash Fiction Prompt: A Shift in Perspective
The sky was light in the east, and the world had just begun to stir. Calista sat at her kitchen table and thumbed through the LA Times. Where was Brian and why hadn’t he come home last night? He usually called if he wasn’t going to make it home. The dog barked. Calista knew this…
Prompt: Reading and the Recession
Beloved. I need to read Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Rachael has asked me to help her with one of her college essays on the book, plus one of my high school students will be writing about it in his AP English class and asked for my help. I’m happy to read it; I’m delighted to read…
Flash Fiction Prompt: Apricots, Lilacs and Lilies
I am not an apricot kind of girl, all small and soft; squishy and sweet. No, if I had to choose an orange fruit to characterize myself, I would have to pick a cantaloupe: a rough exterior, but sweet once you find a way to break me open. This exercise we’re doing in group therapy…
Early Sunday Morning and Changes in Life
The sky is gray today and I can see the leaves of the bushes bouncing in the wind outside the window. Traffic is light this morning; our usual busy street only sporting the occasional car. Cordelia, our corgi, is stretched out on the couch beside me, her head resting on a pillow. She was up…
20 Minutes a Day 