Not Much Sweeter

November 13, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: CCC, Creative writing, Family, Flash Fiction, grandparents, History, Honey, Loss, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Sweetness 13 Comments

ccc105 CrispinaKemp

There was not much sweeter than Grandpa Gulliver’s honey. Then again, there was not much that was sweeter than honey. Berries, perhaps, in their short season. Or maple syrup, when they found it. But there were not many maples left anymore, and those she knew of were not particularly generous with their sap now that they had to parse energy for growing.

But there was Grandpa Gulliver’s honey. The slow pouring amber liquid of deliciousness. As valuable and as glorious as gold. The warmth of happy in her mouth.

Grandpa Gulliver had built Hive Homes for the bees. Tiny mansions of industry where workers and queens could shelter from the rain under eaves that shed the snow and cut the wind.

She used to watch the ins-and-outs for hours. The buzz. The promise.

Now they stood desolate.

No bees. No Grandpa Gulliver.

Who knew they’d all be taken, sweetness gone?

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

What She Left

November 7, 2020November 7, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Memoriam, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Bequeath, Creative writing, Everything's relative, Legacy, Life Lessons, memories, Micro-fiction, Poetry, possessions, Values, Weekend Writing Prompt 30 Comments

(Photo: Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash)

There was not much there for her to

Bequeath:

A bit of lore.

A song no one had sung

Before.

Handwritten maps of forest paths

That others were likely yet to

Find.

A man’s sweater someone must have left

Behind.

Assorted photos of odd things,

Like stumps of trees

And rocks

And feathers that her favorite cat would

Bring.

There was not much for her to

Bequeath.

But what she had,

All could concede,

She loved and therefore

Was itself

A gift

Of life well-lived.

For Sammi‘s Weekend Writing Prompt: Bequeath in 85 words

His Insatiable Need

October 31, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Authoritarianism, Creative writing, Cult, Current events, Drama, Hystrionics, Poetry, Politics, Reality check, Truth, Weekend Writing Prompt 24 Comments

Dictator-

He is known for his insatiable

Need

For drama.

Histrionics

Are his drug.

He requires frequent dosing

Of idolizing

Chants by crowds.

He does not believe in

Science

Or in reason

Or in truth,

Which to him detract from

The ardent fervor

He craves as complete

Fealty

Proof.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Histrionics in 48 words

Going Green

October 23, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: CCC, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, Mallard, Micro-fiction, Monsters, Nature facts, personality, Photo prompt, Siblings, Taking risks 11 Comments

mallard-drake CrispinaKemp

“No way Jose!” Jessie’s arms were folded in what was half stubborn refusal, half terrified self-preservation.

Derek laughed and wiggled his toes, which were caked with mud and muck and unidentifiable stuff that was best left well outside of sniffing range.

His sister groaned. “Do you have to be so gross?”

“What’s wrong with a little bit of nature, eh?” he teased. He took a step and bent to touch the carpet of green algae that covered the pond. It looked like velvet.

“Are you nuts?!” Jessie looked ready to lunge and probably would’ve pulled him back if it weren’t for the fact that it would require getting closer to the pond’s edge.

“Chill, Sis,” Derek shook his head. “It’s not like I’m gonna be eaten by Nessie.”

“Imaginary monsters don’t worry me,” Jessie’s lip curled in disgust. “Salmonella from those mallards and whatever else in this water sure does.”

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Fully Drawn

October 19, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Creative writing, Destiny, Determination, Dreams come true, dVerse, Magnet, Poetry, Poetry prompt, Quadrille, Self Discovery 19 Comments

(Photo: Al Battison on Unsplash)

She could not help the pull of lore

And hopes that drew on her

Heart like a magnet right into

The polar

Opposite of what

She had been raised to

Know and

Want.

For how could she possibly

Be anything but

What she

Was?

For the dVerse quadrille poetry challenge

Conclusively Lucid

October 17, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Communication, Creative writing, Frustration, Lucid, Misunderstanding, Poetry, Practical solutions, Relationships, Rhyme, Take action, Weekend Writing Prompt 15 Comments

(Photo Michal Balog on Unsplash)

She couldn’t have been clearer.

She couldn’t have been more firm.

Still he chose to disregard and

Pretend it wasn’t him.

She told him to pack his stuff.

She told him he must leave.

Still he chose to linger and

Refused to cleave.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Lucid in 43 words

A Matter Of Scope

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Quotes, Reflections, Writing Tags: Arts and Crafts, Botany, Creative writing, dVerse, Flash Fiction, Historical fiction, Making it work, Micro-fiction, Prosery, Quote, Relationships 35 Comments

(Photo: Anna Sullivan on Unsplash)

“It was never a matter of reach, but of scope,” Morris mouthed the words around his pipe.

Ethel harrumphed under her breath, but gently. She had to take care to not move the petals or she would have to restart the lot, and there was nothing she disliked more than having to redo tediousness. Be it in business or in marriage.

“Cannot see what you find in him,” her mother had criticized her daughter’s choice of man.

“Perhaps we look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time,” her father had chuckled in knifing disapproval.

“Too long a telescope it must be,” her mother had deadpanned.

Her parents were both gone now. To the shorter end of cholera. Left Ethel and Morris the house. And a failing botany business which they were slowly but assuredly pressing into sought after art.

Prosery quote: ‘We look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time’ (Hummingbird, D.H. Lawrence)

For the dVerse prosery challenge

Going Farther

October 9, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: CCC, Coming of age, Creative writing, delight, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Folklore, Forest, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt 16 Comments

into-the-woods-ccc100

On the tenth visit on the tenth week following her tenth birth day, she took ten additional steps beyond the Big Tree Boundary.

She went Farther.

At first nothing happened. The woods looked as they had before. The trees no different in the Farther Realm than they were in the land she’d known and was allowed in until then: Green branches, a ground springy with the fallen leaves, wind whispering in the tree tops, birds’ song.

Then the light shifted and the air shimmered with a sense of something else. A being with.

She shuddered. Not in fear but with expectation. Not everyone went Farther, and none she knew spoke of what they’d found.

She stilled. The world around her blinked. The forest floor awoke.

Her heart raced and she inhaled. Her soul spoke. She knew it! She knew it! She’d be among the few allowed to see Fair Folk.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge