In response to 1000 Words: Twelve They had just passed the ancient town carved into the mountainside when the sun finally disappeared. Darkness made it difficult to navigate the rocky terrain, and they had only a vague idea where they were going. The valley seemed endless, and the mile-high slopes on either side seemed threatening; […]
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A warm summer breeze blew along Mthatha’s main road, carrying dust from the bone-dry verges in a whirl of hot air. The afternoon sun beat down on the commuters, shop workers and vagrants moving about the pavements – some stopping for a chat with road-side pallet stall vendors; some just waiting patiently to hail the […]
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Marred by Sue Coletta My rating: 5 of 5 stars I don’t want to say this book is nightmare fuel, but this isn’t the kind of book you want to read before going to bed. Especially as a woman. Even more so as a single woman living alone in a dark apartment with no one […]
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When you get to her age you discover life becomes more about the routine of birth and death. And while she’s experienced the first she often sits alone in the dark of her living room waiting to experience the last. A ringing telephone becomes the pistol in a game of Russian roulette; whether her […]
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Islands of cascading mossy trees lined the gritty sand of ocean beaches. Waves trickled in from the calm gulf, a gentle breeze through the sound’s leaves. The water was murky, stagnant, diseased. He huffed out a sarcastic laugh. A sea to match his withering soul. He dug his toes into the […]
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Response to Writing Prompt Ninety-Seven: A kayak, a tent, an endless horizon and yet… A kayak, a tent, an endless horizon, and yet the tall towers of the city shimmered before Laura’s eyes where there should have only been the endless waves of the Pacific. Whispering pines were drowned out by honking taxicabs and the […]
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Inspired by The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, 1894. “Darling, Mr. Crawford and his family will be coming to dinner tomorrow. Frank and I have much to discuss over the railroad so I will need you to entertain Mrs. Crawford and their children…” Brently whipped the newspaper he was holding in an attempt to […]
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“You have a lot of nerve, kid.” I couldn’t be certain, but that puff of air half resembled a laugh. He sat hunched over, a repugnant smirk on his face as I watched him from across the steel table watching the guard pacing in the corner. All the glory I knew in him was stripped […]
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They named her Francis the day she entered into their home. A lost and wounded woman forgetful of her nature, name, and needs. They named her Francis for the way her face drooped to the side like the monks of Franciscan art, their heads tilted downward inspecting their inner depths as if their ears were […]
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On a backdrop of war and tyranny the laughter of a child slips through to the aging cracks of my consciousness. With brown eyes bulging out, head tilt back, and the tip of her tongue pressed up against her nose she burst forth with magical energy that sent shocks of life back into bones I […]
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