Poem, Word Prompt

RDP Tuesday: evanescent

Written for RDP, where Martha asks us
 to get creative with the word โ€˜evanescentโ€™.
Thanks, Martha! Hereโ€™s my take.

Continue reading “RDP Tuesday: evanescent”
Poem, Word Prompt

RDP Wednesday: dwindle

Written for RDP, where sgeoil asks us
 to get creative with the word โ€˜dwindleโ€™.
Thanks Heather! Hereโ€™s my take.

Continue reading “RDP Wednesday: dwindle”
Poem, Wordle

Shopper’s Lament

Written for MLMM Monday Wordle #452.
Our prompt words are: forget, reminder,
busy, time, passing, late, missed, find, out,
store, revolve, and schedule. Thanks, Di!
Here’s where the prompt words took me.

Continue reading “Shopper’s Lament”
Music Blog

Time Won’t Let Me

Written for Thursday Inspiration #302 โ€“
โ€œRight Place, Wrong Timeโ€
.
Hereโ€™s my inspirational response.

Continue reading “Time Won’t Let Me”
Flash, Micro Story, Musing

Just Wasting My Time

Today at RDP, we are asked to share a
story, poem, photo, painting, essay, etc.,
centered on the words 
โ€˜stand inโ€™. Hereโ€™s my take.

Continue reading “Just Wasting My Time”
Short Story

Life Lessons

Written for RDP Friday: PIANO!
This is my story.

Continue reading “Life Lessons”
Music Blog

September Song

This week at Glyn Wiltonโ€™s Mixed Music Bag,
heโ€™s asking us to write about a song in which
the title or a line mentions the current month. 
Hereโ€™s my September artist and his song.

Continue reading “September Song”
Poem, Quadrille

Once A Child

Happy 14th Poet Pub Anniversary!
Written for dVerse Poets Quadrille
Monday – #227
where our inspiration
word is โ€œturnโ€. Here is my quadrille.

Continue reading “Once A Child”
Flash, Musing

You Have All There Is

Written for Only Murders In My Mind
Weekly Writing Prompt #66
. This weekโ€™s
inspiration is the photo seen below.
This is where the image took me.

Continue reading “You Have All There Is”
Flash, Very Short Story

Into The Future

Written for Shwetaโ€™s Saturday Six Word
Story Prompt #139
– โ€˜wishโ€™. This is my flash.

Continue reading “Into The Future”
Free Verse, Poem

Time Unfolds

Written for Sadjeโ€™s What Do You See #291
and Sue & Gerryโ€™s Weekly Prompts โ€“ ย 
The One Day Prompt (13)
This is my response.

Continue reading “Time Unfolds”
Haibun, Poem

Identical Grief Revisited: A Haibun

Written for dVerse Poets โ€“ Fancy
Meeting You At The Pub Today and
Saturday
. We are asked to share any
poem of our choosing. I am sharing
a haibun I wrote almost one year ago.
Since then, our feelings remain unchanged,

except now laughter comes a bit more easily.

Continue reading “Identical Grief Revisited: A Haibun”
Haibun, Poem

With Love From Us: A Haibun

Written for dVerse Poetics where the theme is
โ€œDespite and Stillโ€. My inspiration is the poem seen below

written by John N. Morris. Here is my haibun.

Continue reading “With Love From Us: A Haibun”
Ovi Poem

Another Day: An Ovi Poem

Written for Ovi Poetry Challenge #75.
Our inspiration word is โ€œpersevereโ€ and this is my ovi.

Continue reading “Another Day: An Ovi Poem”
Poem, Quadrille

Memories of Me

Written for dVerse Quadrille Monday #206.
Our prompt word is โ€˜bend; here is my poem.

I long to be myself again,
before the pain began.
Now wistfully staring at
old photos
of a younger me,
lithe with slender arms
and shapely legs
which once did bend
with graceful ease.
Dancing dreams fill my nights;
I want to sleep forever.

NARยฉ2024

This is โ€œPretty Ballerinaโ€  by The Left Banke

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephantโ€™s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NARยฉ2017-present.

Ovi Poem

Tick Tock Ticking: An Ovi

Ronovan Writes has offered up Ovi Poetry Challenge #52
where we are asked to write an ovi using the word
โ€œtomorrowโ€ as inspiration. Here is my ovi.

Songs say time keeps on slipping
Like brooks oโ€™er shiny stones tripping
And kids their jumps ropes skipping
It just keeps moving on

Itโ€™s safe to say time flies
Like an eagle into the skies
So smoothly, he barely tries
Iโ€™d like to touch the clouds

No time to do that now
Worry lines crease the brow
Donโ€™t fret about when and how
Nothing good will come from that

No sticking your head in the sand
Itโ€™s time to march with the band
And accept a helping hand
It will all get done

Why put it off till tomorrow
When time you cannot borrow
It flies faster than an arrow
Like quicksilver in your fingers

Donโ€™t say there is no time
To make another rhyme
Or an old oak tree to climb
You have all the time there is

NARยฉ2024

This is โ€œFly Like An Eagleโ€ by Steve Miller Band

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephantโ€™s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NARยฉ2017-present.

Short Story

Driving Lessons

โ€œDanielle wants to learn how to drive, Bobโ€

โ€œDonโ€™t look at me, Helen. Last year’s lessons with Vanessa nearly put me over the edge.โ€

โ€œWell, I canโ€™t do it! Ever since Marcia Morelli snatched that promotion for Real Estate Agent of the Year away from me, Iโ€™m spending all my time at work playing catch up.โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s not my problem, Helen. Anyway, I signed on to coach Brandonโ€™s baseball team this season, remember?โ€

โ€œOh, cry me a river, Bob! Youโ€™re the one who took an early retirement; your schedule is much more flexible than mine.โ€

โ€œThatโ€™s right, I retired so I could do things I enjoy like playing golf  and going fishing. Itโ€™s important to stay mobile after retirement so we donโ€™t become dust in the wind.โ€

โ€œWell, if you canโ€™t do it and I canโ€™t do it, why donโ€™t we get Vanessa to teach Danielle how to drive?โ€

โ€œAre you out of your mind, woman! Vanessaโ€™s been driving less than a year. She canโ€™t take Danielle out driving! Can you imagine the mayhem when those two hit the streets?โ€

โ€œAt least Iโ€™m making suggestions, Bob. All youโ€™re doing is justifying why you canโ€™t do it.โ€

โ€œOh, Helen, save your breath and donโ€™t look at me with such contempt. Iโ€™m right and you know it. I wonโ€™t idly sit by and watch both our daughters driving without an adult in the car. Itโ€™s out of the question.โ€

โ€œYou wonโ€™t? Oh, thatโ€™s wonderful, Bob! I knew youโ€™d come around!โ€

โ€œNow hold on there, Helen. I didnโ€™t agree to anything.โ€

โ€œWhy, sure you did, Bob. You said you wouldnโ€™t sit idly by while the girls are driving around without an adult in the car.โ€

โ€œBut I didnโ€™t meanโ€ฆ..โ€

โ€œLook at it this way, Bob. Danielle is used to being driven everywhere she goes. If you donโ€™t teach her how to drive, youโ€™ll just have to drive here wherever she wants to go. Iโ€™d say this is a win/win situation.โ€

โ€œAnd how do you figure that, Helen?โ€

โ€œSimple! By giving Danielle driving lessons, youโ€™ll be doing your part to keep our insurance rates down, youโ€™ll be able to coach Brandon’s baseball team and still have time to do the things you enjoy and you wonโ€™t turn into dust in the wind. And all it takes is just one daily one-hour driving lesson! Youโ€™re a genius, Bob!โ€

โ€œI am? Yeah, I guess I am. Hey! Wait just a gosh darn minute, Helen!โ€

NARยฉ2024

This is Kansas with โ€œDust In The Windโ€

This portfolio (including text, graphics and videos) is copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephantโ€™s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR ยฉ 2017-present.

Uncategorized

LESSONS LEARNED

It was painfully obvious that I hadnโ€™t practiced my piano lessons during the week.

When questioned why, I offered the same old tired excuse: โ€œI didnโ€™t have timeโ€.

My teacher looked at me and said something I will never forget: โ€œYou have all there isโ€.

Think about it.

NAR ยฉ 2023
Word Requirement: 48

Uncategorized

ON BROKEN WINGS

Thereโ€™s a feeling you get when a relationship is about to end. It sort of sneaks up on you like ivy climbing up a tree trunk. You see it starting but itโ€™s nothing terribly worrisome; then it slowly starts working its way up the trunk until it overtakes the tree. Itโ€™s got a strangle-hold on that poor tree, suffocating it. It doesnโ€™t matter if itโ€™s a mighty oak or a frail mimosa; the ivy will win out every time.

Thatโ€™s the feeling I now had for Jeremy and I donโ€™t know why. I just knew it was time to break things off. That was clear; what wasnโ€™t clear was how I was going to tell him.

Itโ€™s not as though we started off like a couple of teenagers on a hormone rush. Ours was a gradual connection much like our disconnection. We had chemistry. We could make each other laugh. We liked the same music, the same food, the same movies. We could talk at length or enjoy a quiet, lazy Sunday afternoon. We had incredible sex and a lot of it.

Jeremy gave me a braided love knot bracelet; I accepted it because it was pretty and didnโ€™t feel as permanent as a ring.

We talked about moving in together but it never happened. Now Iโ€™m glad we didnโ€™t; that would have made things so much harder. It was good to come and go as we pleased; now I found we were doing that less and less. I donโ€™t believe it was deliberate; we just started drifting apart. Everything gradually slowed down and cooled off. I realized at some point I had finally exhaled and I was no longer suffocating.

We spent a cool Spring afternoon sitting on a bench at the beach. Watching the waves rolling in and falling back, I knew the time had come. Quietly I told Jeremy what I was feeling and he slowly nodded in agreement. I think he was glad the pressure was off him. I started to remove my bracelet but Jeremy refused to take it back. 

I slowly walked away and took the long route home through the park. It had begun to drizzle. I stared down at the pavement as I walked. Just then I came upon a dead bird at my feet. I stood there staring at the poor little finch; he must have fallen out of his nest. I took a few tissues from my pocket, wrapped them around the bird and carefully picked him up; he was still warm, his tiny body limp.

I carried the lifeless bird home and retrieved a small spade from my gardening tools on the back porch. It began raining a little heavier as I dug a deep hole beneath the tidy row of boxwoods; there I buried the bird. Before filling his grave with dirt, I took off Jeremyโ€™s bracelet and placed it across the broken wings.

My face was wet; I couldnโ€™t tell if it was the rain or my tears.

NAR ยฉ 2022