In His Arrogance

December 21, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Arrogance, Current affairs, Expectations, Hubris, personality, Poetry, Politics, Weekend Writing Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 35 Comments

Photo: Phil Botha on Unsplash

In his arrogance he sees

Himself reflected

In everything.

All positive is commandeered as his

Achievement,

Any negative is protested as

Insult to

Him,

To the supposedly undisputed

Glory

Of his being.

In his hubris he

Expects only effusive

Praise.

He demands fealty in all

Things.

Admiration to any idea he

Hijacks

To claim it was never invented

Prior to the mighty of

Him.

In his presumption he feeds on

Adoration

And punishes

All critic

As wounding the belief in

Him.

In his arrogance

He sees only,

Appreciates only,

Allows only what feeds

Him.

Disclaimer: No offense meant to the (truly magnificent) bird …

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Hubris in 94 words

Over Barricaded

December 7, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Professional Development, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Barricade, Consequences, coping, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, Micro-fiction, Protection, Trauma, Weekend Writing Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 13 Comments

Photo: Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash

There was a wall in there.

A barricade against the world.

He’d built it, bit by bit, from hurts and slights and bigger woes.

And hid.

Within.

Where he thought he’d be safe, and from where he could watch from a distance, reassured by barriers and gates and locks and elaborate booby-traps that made sure no one got too close.

There was a wall in there.

And a moat.

Alligators, too. For insurance.

Only that they had become hungry with the years, as less people even attempted to get near him, and therefore there was less bait.

So that he was, in many ways, imprisoned.

He’d been young when he’d built the wall, and he didn’t plan ahead. So needy of a solid barricade he’d been, that he never made a way to unlock the gate.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Barricade in 136 words

Ode to Morphology

November 30, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Speech Language Pathology, Writing Tags: Building blocks, Communication, Grammar, Just for fun, Language, Morphology, Poetry, SLP, speech pathology, speech therapy, Weekend Writing Prompt, Writing prompt 15 Comments

Photo: Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Ode to the needed application

Of distinctive word formation

And appropriate derivation

(With Speech Pathology implications

For morphological miscalculation).

Because without the permutations

Of root words in combination

And grammatical allocation,

There’d be much missed in

Communication.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Morphology in 37 words

Note: As a Speech-Language Pathologist, this writing prompt would have been absolutely impossible to not take on! 🙂

Not Long Enough

November 23, 2019November 23, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Memoriam, Muse and Flow, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: caregiving, Creative writing, Grief, Longevity, Loss, love, Poetry, Relationships, saying goodbye, Weekend Writing Prompt, Writing Challenge 18 Comments

Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev

“It will be long enough, for a life,”

He said.

She blinked back tears

And said nothing

Because she knew that no matter

How long he would be

Around

Would not be longevity

Enough

For her.

Instead, she patted his hand and

Plumped his pillows

And fussed with the covers

Over his beloved

Form,

Once robust,

Now a shadow of itself.

The shadow smiled.

He understood.

He always had.

At his last inhale, she smiled back.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Longevity in 76 words

Note: Dedicated to all tender goodbyes. Especially the final kind.

Cruella De-Guile

November 16, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Abuse of power, Change, Corruption, Creative writing, Draconian, Poetry, Power, Rhyme, Survival, Trickery, Weekend Writing Prompt, Word Play 17 Comments

Photo: Martin Adams on Unsplash

She was queen of artifice. The mistress of malicious.

She made rules that made no sense yet claimed to be officious.

There was no way to do right by her. Even flattery was suspicious.

She’d lay down her law with harsh demands. Her punishments were vicious.

“Beware the dragon,” many warned. “For she is capricious.”

Those who did not heed soon realized that her attentions weren’t auspicious.

She was queen of cruel decree. Her requests often lubricious.

They learned to lay low and wait. Salvation would not be expeditious.

But the day came when he arrived, beautiful, seditious,

And turned the draconian,

Propitious.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Draconian in 103 words

Unspoken

November 9, 2019November 12, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Clues, Creative writing, Current affairs, Flash Fiction, Messages, Micro-fiction, Refugees, Relationships, Secrets, Weekend Writing Prompt 15 Comments

Photo: Kelli Tungay on Unsplash

He couldn’t bring himself to tell her.

Instead he left breadcrumbs. Glowing pebbles on a midnight road.

Receipts. ‘Forgotten’ notes. His boots in the garage, muddy though the yard was not.

Liminal clues in hope she ask him where he goes …

Refugees sheltering in the woods.

Perhaps she already knows.

The mud this morning on her shoes.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Challenge: Liminal in 57 words

Unspoken

November 2, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Speech Language Pathology, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Childhood Adversity, Flash Fiction, Ineffable, Intimidation, Micro-fiction, Secrets, Siblings, Silenced, Taboo, Trauma and Development, Weekend Writing Prompt 16 Comments

Photo: Rosalind Chang on Unsplash

It was a thing they would not utter. Ineffable. In their home, at least.

So much that it baffled them to see how others in their own homes — and often without a moment’s hesitation — did.

To them it felt impossible. Dangerous … though they wouldn’t dream admitting fear or conflict.

Those, too, were taboo. As was to contradict.

Their parents’ word was law. Speak “No”, and you would certainly be whipped.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: ineffable in 70 words

In Twilight

October 26, 2019November 12, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Creative writing, Dreams, life, light, Poetry, Sunset, Twilight, Weekend Writing Prompt, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 8 Comments

Photo: A. Asif

In twilight we live.

In twilight we love.

In edges of morning

And evening

We strive

To become

What we hoped

We could master

As we have

Let the sun

Roll itself into

Night and

Rise the moon

To the dreams

We sleep of.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Twilight in 44 words

Painted Sky

October 19, 2019November 12, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Aurora Australis, Aurora Borealis, Beautiful world, Micro-fiction, Nature, Night sky, Poetry, Polar lights, Weekend Writing Prompt, winter 13 Comments

Photo by Tobias Bjørkli on Pexels.com

They woke

To see

The painted sky,

Where spirits

Skated

Angel-winged

On light and

Turquoise dye,

And looped the

Heavens

And the earth

Like stars

Learning to fly.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Aurora in 28 words

Irreplaceable

October 12, 2019October 12, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: attachment, connection, Creative writing, Family, Flash Fiction, grandchildren, grandparents, love, Replace, Sweetness, Weekend Writing Prompt 21 Comments

Photo: Hu Chen on Unsplash

She could not get enough of him.

She’d spent the last few hours gazing at him as he slept.

She could spend another lifetime.

Nothing could replace the sweet contour of his back, the curve of his neck, the fists that could fly deliciously out of tempo with his kicking, the softness of his cheeks dimpled into smile.

His breath.

Joy expanded her chest and spread a warmth under her skin that flushed through her soul to fill her with a flood of well-being.

She was his forever grandmother.

Note: Dedicated to all the grandmothers and great-grandmothers. To the aunts and great-aunts. To the mothers and mothers-to-be. To the grandfathers and great-grands, to the uncles and fathers. May you know this love, for nothing can replace it.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Replace in 89 words