In a week when I found out I was longlisted and then not shortlisted in the Brilliant Flash Fiction competition, I was delighted to find out about five minutes ago that I won the last Wicked Word Wednesday – see http://runninginmyhead.com/ The prompt word was ‘mediocre’ and my winning poem of 42 words is below: Mediocre […]
Month: September 2015
A found tanka inspired by a letter from Franz Kafka to Oskar Pollak
Kafka on Books Read books that wound you Affect you like disaster Grieve for characters Banished to far-flung forests A book must be the axe for The frozen sea inside us Free image found on www.theguardian.com
More of the mermaid
The Little Mermaid Stave 6 For the last time the mermaid returned to her home. She thought her heart would break as she rose through the foam And swam to shore. The silver moon was high when she drank the bitter potion; The sharpest pain passed through her and she fainted away. When the sun […]
Better luck next time
This is the story that was long-listed but didn’t win a prize. The Bay Tree When they moved in, the bay tree reached the top of the living-room window. Its leaves were dark and glossy, and it released a pungent aroma, reminiscent of Mediterranean holidays. Sam and Helen loved the way it arched over the […]
And so the fairy tale goes on
The Little Mermaid Stave 5 Hearing that mortals Had eternal souls The mermaid yearned To be loved by the prince; For that she would give up her fishtail. She set off for the maelstrom, The sea witch’s home, Barren of sea flowers and grass, Where currents swirled and roared, Through which she had to pass. […]
Thinking about women in literature…
I read in an article that, in large parts of Victorian England, women had higher death rates than men because of differences in the impact of tuberculosis, also known as consumption, the most common single cause of death at that time. I was also reminded of Mimi in La Boheme. Consumed A wracking cough Leaves […]
Haiku Horizons prompt ‘between’
In between our lips An empty space waiting for A kiss to fill it For: Haiku Horizons
