Entering the cold A frigid winter’s evening Hides inside the car Cross town trip drags by Car heater spews icy air Legs quiver and quake Front door lock resists Wind so cold it slides through clothes Home awaits with warmth Gas stoves radiate Shivers are replaced with heat A happy relief A night filled with…
Tag: writing discipline
Prompt: Haiku: A Winter’s Night
Weather shifts to cold Wind brings Canada far south Stars white in black sky Gas stoves cast orange glow Hot flames flicker with quiet joy Warmth melts away cold Thoughts of bed entice Cozy under heavy quilts A warm, safe cocoon Dreams of summer days Green trees, red birds and blue water Fill this winter…
Underestimating LA Rush Hour or Why Not to Go 50 Miles for an Award
Today I went with one of my students and her mother to the awards ceremony for the California Division of the Scholastic Artists and Writers contest, the oldest and more prestigious contest for youth in the United States. The time of the event was 4:30 in a city 50 miles east of LA. Rush hour….
Flash Fiction Prompt: Hands
Sheila was surprised when the phone didn’t ring. She’d waited all day; waited into early evening. She was certain he’d call, but he didn’t. Not even after he said he would; not even after she said it was okay. She checked to make sure the battery on her phone was charged. She even went to…
Flash Poetry Prompt: Mother Mary
She stares at meA trace of sadness in her eyesThe baby’s cheekNext to hersHis warmth matching her warmthHis baby scent mingling with hers. Her nose is long with a soft tipAnd the baby’s matchesin miniatureTheir lineage clearMaking it no questionWho belongs to whom. And yet the baby looks at his motherWith wisdomHis dark eyes matching…
Flash Poetry Prompt: Venturing Into The Unknown – 1973
First, having scoured all the travel books, And sold my car, And gotten my passport and plane ticket I don my Backpack of purple canvas My silly “Earth” shoes My ‘70’s maroon jeans and top. I am on my way Not like Jack Kerouac with his drunken friends Cruising down Route 66 But on this…
Attention Older Readers: I Need Your Advice
Okay, so it’s happened: I looked up and realized my kids have grown up. Yes, okay, so Sarah IS 29, Liz 26 and Rachael 20, but you don’t understand, I’ve been a Mother with a capital M for the past almost 30 years. And Ray has been a Father with the same focused interest. Alas,…
Flash Essay Prompt: Leonard Cohen, Brother George, and Recovery
As Leonard Cohen writes in his song, Anthem: Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There’s a crack – a crack – in everything That’s how the light gets in. I just read a fellow blogger’s heartfelt account of the bumps on her road to recovery from alcohol abuse. She spoke…
Prompt: Describe a Favorite Piece of Furniture – My Favorite Rocker
The bent wood rocker is brown with age, and the thin arms are lighter than the rest of the wood where human arms have rested upon them. The back has five wooden rungs that are attached to two long round pieces of wood that stretch three inches above the highest rung and all the way…
Flash Essay Prompt: A Stolen Cross and the Lesson that Comes with It
Jesus is hanging on a metal cross. This cross is part of a stand so it is freestanding rather than designed to hang on the wall. The metal is silver and Jesus is silver and the nails that are attaching him to the cross are silver. The cross and stand are about a foot and…
20 Minutes a Day 