(2)

Jennifer or Jen for short (never Jenny) drank from her Nalgene and stood listening to the water slip across the sand. The Nalgene bottle smelled like mold. Equally unpleasant was the cold damp air. Jen pulled her jacket tight and yanked at the zipper. She noted that the moon was full and close to the horizon, making it seem huge. She shivered and searched her jacket pockets for her gloves. They were in her right pocket. As she put them on, her pistol fell out of her other pocket. She dug a hole with her foot and pushed it in.



["A lie told often enough becomes the truth." --Lenin]

Got the Time?

James never knew the time. He gripped his wrist nervously. As a child he had worn a Power Rangers watch. He hadn’t bought it, just found it on the ground walking home from school one day. It kept the time and served its purpose well into middle school. He didn’t even like the Power Rangers. He wore it ironically more than anything else. Eventually the watch was lost in the wash, obliterated in the drier. He never wore a watch again. They made his wrist sweat. He didn’t like them. So he was late, or early, or off the ball.

[Prompt: Where did Jenny hide the gun when the fog descended?]

Short, Short Story #1

The children were playing loudly in their room. Donna smirked, adjusted her apron, and snickered to complete her expression. Extending her right forefinger, she plunged it into the center of the warm pie. She wiggled it around. She added her middle finger and scooped out a big chunk, stuffing it into her mouth, giggling, half moaning a surprised ‘mmph’ as crumbs fell to the ground at her feet. “Shit,” she swallowed the pie chunk without really chewing and reached for a towel hanging off the stove. A loud crash stuttered down the hall! “Moooooooooom!” the youngest one cried. Donna sighed.

[Prompt (instead of a question, though it can be a question): "Oh! Do not attack me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch." --Jane Austen

... so now you write a short, short story inspired by this quote, or even using the quote or a portion of it, siting the source, of course, and not using greater or fewer than 100 words in your actual prose. Should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... roughly. Can also be just description... really, you can't go wrong with whatever you do.Title and new prompt for me don't go towards the word count. Okay! Go!]

Suggestion Box

I'm Bored. Let's play something else.
???

Two Ripe Peaches

sat in summer heat
with little umbrellas
and big margaritas,
shootin' the shit
and defying the sun.

They thought they were smart, but
as it goes and it goes
the sun burnt 'em
and bruised 'em 'til mush,
to make his dinner guests peach margaritas.

Struggle

Night ate Day,
swallowed it whole.
Night shat Day,
twelve hours old.
"What the fuck?"
Day cried aloud.
"Eat my dick!"
Night turned around.
A sissy slap fight
therein ensued.
The sky orange-red
they mottled and bruised.
"Choke on it, bitch!"
The fight Day had won.
"This isn't over!"
Night ran from the sun.

Monsoon lips

counted time on my fingers
measured it in teaspoons
bold, its frail lines fell

off of each fingertip, and I
ate each word with lime
warbles like sunken teeth, I

forgot that melancholy tune
who'd time & time, times many
pushed me to the oubliette...

Who's Askin?

soccer, suck 'er, call the doctor
eat the trimmings, say my name
nothing safer, nothing lost
save the loser, save the boss
the game ran long
the game ran short
I died six times
she gave a snort
all to bring the summer back
for everything I find I lack

Priorities.

Coming soon! the most economically important
animal. You love horses? Here, take them.
Trailers, trailers, first time horse blues &
blue-blooded race horses still brings millions
of pony riders & horse drivers to write
about politics & world affairs.

America on a wavelength of 520–570 nm with
information about a specific horse's
health, plus trail riding & all discussion about
Gulf meetings' general interest; specifics are listed:
history and breeds for sustainable building design
and construction, the earth, an alphabetical listing
of what the Pentagon can do despite
the suffering behind a common question:
Function? Aggregates of answers that
no longer use the green pioneers
of pro soccer. In the shadow
there is news regarding tribalism & disease.

You love horses? Here, take them.

My Organic Pants

They fell apart in the wash.
I should have seen it coming,
made from recycled pinatas,
and heaps of Indian clay.
I only wore them once.
I should do the math
and find out the fraction,
minuscule though it may be,
of the Earth I saved
when I bought organic.
I expect it to be tiny.

Various goat farm hobbyists; Linux

Your tongue: You taste
Like porn clips and censorship,
Demonic chickens and the
Composite of muscles. It is
The biological role in reproduction;
Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe
Exclude self diagnostic methods
That will make you leave your lover.
Fiber breeds minor and very
Organic--capable of various
Sex; editors recommend Sex.
Dairy Goats and Pygmy Goats
Velvety; Use for the open & free.

Aching world of blather

Ever flowing stream;
in the eaves of winter.
A coherent thought lost,
drowning in the wake.
Like a stinking brock
I stare, numb, dumb
at a loss for words
which spill not right
from the tips of my
tongue or my pen.

hubris

Hubris like honey
or methamphetamines
or maybe, maybe money
bricks a brock
on the street corner
and baby, you Fine.

the bravest cactus

Against every urging,
every warning,
every behest,
the bravest cactus
shook loose every spine.
His smooth green flesh
was laid bare to the desert.
He sighed.
The wind swept new
against his now naked skin,
lulling him to sleep.
He was devoured in the dark,
by he knew not what
for such is the folly of hubris
among cacti.

Honor

She uses spells
differently,

examines practices
in other cultures:
honesty,
integrity,
Virtue of the Week,
the Day, and
words produce:

gorgeous golden temperaments.
our nation's bravest Marines.

Bizarre.

headstones

river-smooth pebbles arrayed afore
the sweet simple something so soon.
like headstones they honor him or her
or whoever should find them in need
and, praying--praying to god or man
such wishes are granted forsooth.
suffer not such saviors to be scattered,
nor should you gather them thus.
the power, the power is in the hope
and only the hope of discovery.

Pome 1 of 8

Courtesan, friend:
choose a warning symbol,
bathe in acid rain, or
take up machete juggling,
because a riverside-scorpion
is taking satellite photos
and selling used headstones
by Pennsylvania Way.

Ampersand Alphabet

angry & bashful & careless & dizzy & exquisite & funny & garrulous & hairy & impotent & jubilant & kitschy & ludicrous & magnificent & nubile & opulent & petty & quiet & reliable & sexy & terrible & ugly & vague & witless & xenophobic & young & zany.

apple & bunny & courtesan & dame & elephant & fowl & gorilla & hutch & Icarus & jarhead & kettle & llama & marigold & nymph & organ & parsnip & quiche & register & symbol & tragedy & uncle & vagabond & wicca & xenomorph & Yankee & zebra.

Blanket Book

He scolds me, yet
I do not know why!
In soft tones, I explained
my truth: the aching 'neath
terrible dreams! and now
I walk the streets smelling
of blood & cigarettes:
fresh binding.

Each Day

I did it first Monday,
and each day that followed,
not that I had such a plan.
It was simply the result
of built up inertia
and post hoc justification.
So day after day
I find myself trapped
by a choice but barely made.
And yet that's just fine.
I cannot complain.
I've envied such affectations.

B.S.

cheery in theory
his cans are a mess
I'm sure if you asked him
he would confess
that he hates all his Legos
he hates all his toys
and each apple you buy him
is just a decoy

Underwear

The underwear weren't his.
Nor were they mine.
The dog brought them home
like a right cheery find.
This was the latests,
though not likely the last,
in a long line of gifts
starting years in the past.

Ululāre, ululāre.
I don't care;
I'll pull down
your underwear.

Oft maligned,
Refused trial,
Oft confused,
Turned aside,
Under sold,
Never right,
Dissent remembered.

Quick to fight,
Ululation,
Indiscriminate,
Sacrifice,
Loggerheads,
Indignation,
Nightly poems,
Goodly tidings.

Pistol in Hand

carbonated soy milk
dance
tube of dread wax
dance hippy
bullet-proof corduroys
dance hippy dance
filthy poultice
dance hippy dance hippy
Lockenstock™ sandals
dance hippy dance hippy dance

orotund quisling

Salt Spray

The salt spray seemed nicer in the spring; in the warm.
Now it chafes and freezes beneath a dark sky.
The wind buffets and blows hard against us all
as the waves are driven into the rocks below.
A shadow is cast o'er the whole of the world
muting the color, hardening hearts...
But briefly, so briefly the light breaks through
and the leaves dance like fire.

'z' --d 'an' --d bl--ks

zugzw--g: a situation,
in chess, of fucking up
that asshole's shit.
zen--a: where we keep
our women.
z--der: a fish that
dislikes salt.
zoom--ia: -- obsession
with --imals.