Amorphous Anchors

Like the slap of waves on rocky shores, grief never stops it’s assault.  Like a phantom limb  sensed by habit-worn nerves, grief senses the departed.

“I can feel Dad’s presence”, “Mom’s looking down”…we soothe ourselves. But some days we know it’s a lie  and  a sense of irrevocable loss opens up …a vacuum.

In that vacuum rushes in that formless, colourless, odourless thing  – called love or it’s sad synonym grief- for if there was no love would there be grief?  The heart moves on …like the slap of waves on a rocky shore.

 

salt and water

anchoring life

to earth

— end —

This 100 word Haibun – a prose and poetry combination –  was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at:  https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/05/25/27-may-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

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Across the aisle

“Approach the bench counselors”.

Sufficiently chastened to watch their words, the lawyers resume their arguments on the cost of infidelity.

Joe’s sniffles waft across the aisle.

Joe hadn’t wanted a divorce when I found out about his affair. Couldn’t I forgive him?

“Infidelity is not a crime! It’s fundamental human nature to be poly-amorous…”, Joe had been  persuasive.

“My client, Joe, is heart-broken since he found his wife of 25 years in flagrante delicto with his friend. He seeks divorce and needs to be compensated for his emotional distress…” his lawyer droned.

Heart-broken huh? You shouldn’t have been so damn persuasive Joe!

—end—

This 100 word story  was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at:

https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/20-may-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

 

Through Darkness…

 

 

earthworms tunnel- through

darkness -salt diamonds shimmer

wind ripples through light

Alternate ending line:

earthworms tunnel- through

darkness -salt diamonds shimmer

wind’s touch ,light’s ripples

 

—end—

Which ending do you like?

This 17 syllable Haiku  was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at:

https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/6-may-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT © CEAYR

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

Social monogamy

One word after the other. One line after the other. I can do this. Aspiring author Rob O’Mallard was willing himself to write but after two lines his thoughts wandered to the birds lined up outside his window.

What a peaceful and uncomplicated life these birds have! How romantic that they mate for life! 

That thought led his eyes to his baby’s hook nose. The O’Mallards never had a hook nose.

“I’m as monogamous as those birds  you romanticize”, his wife had sworn on her father life.

Still something bothered him. His thoughts wandered again.

The third line was never written.

–end —

I read a story as a child of a bird killing itself when it’s mate was shot by a hunter…science supported the story with it’s observation that birds mated for life…it was so romantic and then DNA technology  came along and ruined the romance:

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/21/science/mating-for-life-it-s-not-for-the-birds-of-the-bees.html?pagewanted=all

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

This 100 word story  was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at:

https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/6-may-2016/

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

One more casualty of war

Everyone dreams to become something growing up- Doctor, fire-fighter.

Joe’s dream was not to become …a casualty of war.

That  desire, his sole aim in life,  kept him alive when  war rampaged all around him, burning all his possessions to the ground.

He didn’t let the horrors of war keep him awake at night. He laughed, loved, worked and sired his family tree as if his soil had never met blood.

Joe neatly arranged the used matchsticks. He might need those for fuel ,he thought, if there was a  war.

“…war changed him…”, people whispered behind his back.

— end —

This 100 word story  was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at: https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/29-april-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT © Mary Shipman

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

Of tongues and barbs

“ha ha . In your house ‘Shakti’ is dominant eh!?  The lady wears the pant eh! In my house ‘Shiva’ is  dominant! “, our male guest puffed up his chest.

My husband turned beet-red. The ‘pin-drop’ silence that followed –  a loud presence in my life.

That day I discovered a sub-species of the human male ,with dominant ‘obnoxious moron’ genes, who get emasculated whenever a woman displays intelligence. And another sub-species of intelligent-human-males who care about what such moron-sub-species-males thinks about them.

“If you love me… don’t say anything intelligent in front of guests”, my husband begged.

So I write.

— end—

Note:  I try  not to talk more intelligently than such moron-sub-species-male whenever I encounter them but it’s such a challenge that I give up after a while. I’m not being vain …it doesn’t take much to be more intelligent than such folks 🙂

Shakti – Feminine energy; Shiva – Masculine energy

This 99 word piece based on true life events was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at:  https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/22-april-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT © Madison Woods

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

Ruins

 

Dear husband,

Would you let our garden go to weed because your distant cousin doesn’t love roses?

Would you let the paint chip and peel because the street vendor doesn’t like the colour?

Would you erect high walls blocking light because a thief robbed someone a continent away?

Would you let that bitch-in-heat sniffing  fire hydrants take a dump in our marital bed?

No, you wouldn’t let anyone ruin our house. Our house – it’s a beautiful thing.

Can you treat our marriage the same way? Our marriage – it’s a beautiful thing too.

Love,

Wife.

— end —

This less than 100 word letter was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at: https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/8-april-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

 

 

From Armour to Amorous

 

Borekowski’s patronizing voice always pissed Carla off .

She deliberately delayed his reports sending it through inter-office mail ignoring  requests that she come in person to hand it in.  She had never met Borekowski face-to-face and she was going to keep it that way.

“If I lay ever eyes on  Borekowski  I’m going to drag that old geezer to the 55th floor and arrange a date for him with gravity”, she fumed.

One day she laid eyes on Borekowski working out in  the office gym in his ‘UnderArmour’.  She dragged him to the 55th floor of the Marriott next door.

— end —

This exactly 99 word story was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at: https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/1-april-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT © Marie Gail Stratford

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

 

 

 

Growing rich with grace

Shanti came from a humble background. Grew up on the border of being poor and middle-class.

Life got better with each passing year and decades later she was on the border of being middle-class and moneyed-class.

On her retirement day she hit the jackpot on the lottery and found herself smack in the middle of the moneyed-class.

You can spot her easily. She’s the one in backyard summer parties sweating under the folds of her garish silk dress and a network of gold jewellery wrapped around her neck when all around her lounge in plaid cotton and laugh at her.

— end —

This exactly 100 word story was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at: https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/25-march-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT – © Ted Strutz

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”

Born in captivity

 

 

“Why should we dance to Rob’s tune mama? ”

“Look around you child. Do you see food?  Rob brings us food.  Protects us from those sharks outside. In turn  he wants us to dance , the way he taught us, whenever he commands. We need to be grateful for this life.”

“Mama, I heard that we are meant to live free…”

“What does live ‘free’ mean child? Do you know? I for one sure don’t”

Rob gives a signal and Tilikum slides into the tank with the grace of a ballerina.  Rob throws a dead fish and Tilikum swallows her meal gratefully.

—- end —

This week’s story is inspired by this photo and a news I heard on radio about Sea World ending it’s breeding program for killer whales:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/seaworld-end-breeding-program-orca-whales-n540646

This exactly 100 word story was written for the 100 word photo challenge. More details about this challenge can be found at: https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/18-march-2016/

PHOTO PROMPT – © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.

Click on the Froggy below for other amazing takes on the same prompt by fellow “Friday Fictioneers.”