Decide: Dread, Fury or the Guilt that Haunts

Decide Five years ago… Blood dripped into his eyes, blinding him; pain hammered his body. Bones poked through his skin. One arm and one leg bent the wrong way. Pain throbbed in his head, darkening within ’till without faded, awareness dwindled down to a woman’s voice. “You must decide to live or die.” She squeezed his hand, kindled a flicker of will whose blaze had once pried him from death; it would now  if he allowed. “The Kid’s strong; I can’t help if he objects,” said the healer. “His magic won’t allow.” “Sarn,” said his brother, “don’t you dare object.” Decide now: life … Continue reading Decide: Dread, Fury or the Guilt that Haunts

Self Portrait?

Self Portrait Who are we but collections of our ‘selves’? Puzzles pieced together by memory. Experiences housed in skin bags. Halves seeking wholeness, but e’er in assembly. Captured in pixels or film, photoshopped; filters applied; curves adjusted; brightness added or reduced; shadows dodged or ‘shopped. Not happy with the resulting likeness. Make it black and white–desaturate life. Yes, now I see! Those stark lines and gray curves, soft focus, fine detail–sharpen that strife. Am I in the final image preserved? Or was I lost in the details refined? Can one image ever, myself, define? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Inspired byBulldog Travel’s Selfie prompt … Continue reading Self Portrait?

Contrivance – One Word Photo Challenge

Contrivance In chrome it gleams; at the bottom of pots, it waits. In my fridge it chills, though it still beckons. More insistent than dark chocolate, it baits me with visions of green valleys; dead-on in my sights, an Enchanted Forest spreads. Dragons ride the thermals and cats foretell, offering beach blanket fliers not bread, but bowls of soup to sup upon while spell Cat winds with words both old and kind of times when heroes rode, a Child of Magic strode and sword made whole when right healed the old crime which drove a line of men onto shame’s road. Reflected in glass on my appliance, is … Continue reading Contrivance – One Word Photo Challenge

Masks

Masks He toweled birth fluids off his hands; the colt tottered to his mum’s waiting teat to eat. A tickle in his mind, a soft slide, no jolt, just a smile as the connection that cheats the miles ‘tween his mind and mom’s cemented. Her much-missed voice in his head, soft and sweet, praised the colt he’d helped birth; sad news dented his mirth; his captive grandpa’s dead; grief beat him down, twelve years of mind-talk, no contact, not safe ma’d said. He kicked the mask, pining. No masked fete for him, not when this contact had broken his heart. “Are the stars shining?” mom asked. He tilted his head, … Continue reading Masks

Peace

Peace Peace’s posed behind glass; she stood spotlit, melting in the heat, walled away from those passing on the street. They don’t give a whit about peace as she stands there her hands to those chasing dollars ‘stead of dreams. They don’t see her sprout wings, a white dove breaking through glass shattering the scene. She’s flying now, free from admiration lauded on her glass cage; no longer a concept seen but not touched. She can go where she’s needed; no one can impede her. She’s no exhibit, not some high minded-ideal. She’s everyone; Every smile we make; every hand we shake. Every … Continue reading Peace

Alight – Photo-Fiction #14

Alight Seven years ago… She’s a slave with a mark on her shoulder, in an illegal lumir mine worked by children but in her mind she’s free of this boulder, with the boy whose iridescent green eyes captured her heart. He’s special, finds gems like none she’s ever seen; it makes the foreman happy, so he spares them, his brother–tyke– clinging to Green Eyes. Later, she’s dreamin’ somethin’ made of light, goodness and right. It’s filling her up and carrying her to Green Eyes;  in her hand’s a gem so bright, he must have it; protection it confers. It belongs to the boy with the green … Continue reading Alight – Photo-Fiction #14

Night Lights

Night Lights Stalks wrapped in lights rose up into the night. The Fungal Forest spread from the river sheltered ‘neath the Enchanted Forest. Bright as sunset, never plain, a world inside that domain, where the wee folk fly about. Naked except for wings, they sit beside glowing ‘shrooms and keep the sacred worm stout. The worm then spins silken threads the wee folk trade with the Tall Ones for red dyes to make colorful draperies for the Mount Folk. In the ceremony, the ‘shrooms they take, to find clarity. Instead their mind’s dazed. They wanted what the wee folk had in spades. ~ ~ ~ Like vignette-style poems? Intrigued by this corner … Continue reading Night Lights

What Do You Want to Be?

What Do You Want to Be? “When you grow up, what do you want to be?” Sarn listened to the boys talking, his own answer clear; if given a choice, he’d be a Guardian of Shayari, his own master too, not subject to others’ whims. He’d right wrongs, defend the weak, save the meek. In short, he’d not be intendured, nor grim. Below, knights sparred in bright armor that creaks. Then his son’s voice captured his attention. “I’ll be like my Papa, when I grow up.” After that stunner, Ran smiled and motioned Sarn to join them, though he was all grown up. As for me, … Continue reading What Do You Want to Be?

Lockdown

Lockdown Branches twisted, twined, knotted, connecting each enchanted tree to its neighbor; roots ripped free of earth, through gaps interweaving, forming a barricade from crown to roots, that spanned a thousand feet into the air, sealing off its hinterland, keeping penned malformed creatures who eat magic. They spare no one; they kill all they encounter; penned they do no harm; their teeth made to rip flesh, not bark; their poison’s useless and their eyes don’t mesmerize plants. Keep their neighbor’s flesh whole, keep the Magic One safe, that’s the prize. So the enchanted forest’s on locked down; no one enters, nothing leaves that lock down. … Continue reading Lockdown

Takeoff

Takeoff The jet screams down the tarmac but it’s all fading fast. Grass breaks through asphalt; trees rise; branches twine forming a forbidding wall. The jet skids; its body molts its disguise. The passengers wink out of existence leaving me astride a dragon wond’ring if they were ever real. At this instant, it matters not; the dragon leaps, wings catch the updraft, propel us towards that place I can’t escape nor unplug from for long. Shayari’s calling me, I must now race back to her verdant lands, where I belong. There’s no trace of that jet left behind, nor hint of whether I was e’er … Continue reading Takeoff

Waiting

Waiting (Picks up from Light the Wreath) In dark we stand about a candle slim. We light this Advent taper in caves deep, in castles old and forests bold. Though dim it stands this tiny flame to ward of sleep. We keep the watch and wait for the promise. In monasteries, the brothers’re chanting. Everyone’s waiting for the one promised. In Shayari, purple stones are glowing, in wreaths ringed around it, families are praying. They wait for the promise to come and his light shine, banishing the darkness there. For that promise they’ll wait, do kind acts from from the heart’s wish to aid, to … Continue reading Waiting

Not a Fan: Pumpkin Chuckin’

Pumpkin Chuckin’ (Hear, ye! Hear ye! You’re invited to: The First Annual Chuckin’ of Pumpkins at Mount Eredren, Shayari Presented by Mount Eredren’s Ranger Core Judged [under duress] by its commander, Jerlo Come one; come all and have a ball!) ~ ~ ~ How’d I get into this situation? Jerlo wondered as his Rangers built trebuchets and catapults from odd bits at stations on the green. ‘Team building’, no way, it’s play- time for adults dressed up as ‘team-building’ and it cost him a day’s worth of patrols. A day for the forest to play, boding ill for people stupid enough to stroll about an … Continue reading Not a Fan: Pumpkin Chuckin’

Light the Wreath

Light the Wreath (picks up after Faith ends) Ran cracked the door open, peered though to rule out mischief in the living room. Standing there Nolo, Inari, their son Nerule, in a small circle, with Nolo talking, “…livest and reignest forever. Amen.” Nolo nodded; his son hesitated. “Put the purple one in; we can eat then.” “I’m not the youngest child,” Nerule stated. He nodded to Ran who spied all this through a door cracked open. “Ran should do this now.” “What’re you doing?” Papa asked though he knew. Or maybe he didn’t ’cause he joined Ran now. Like a protective wall, he … Continue reading Light the Wreath

November in my Rearview Mirror

November in my Rearview Mirror November draws to a close; I repose and reflect on the adventure so far. I’ve come from fantasy places supposed to exist where bright dreams and nightmares spar… Come into the seeming, the dreaming time and slip into the fantasy I’m weaving. Leave reality behind for some time, let someone else, to the real, be cleaving. Dive into these highlighted delights from November’s storehouse of memories taken. Into their fair tales do descend and come back for more for December awakens. Holidays tiptoe near on angel feet upon Shayari‘s green miles bearing treats. ~ ~ ~ Sarn, his son and … Continue reading November in my Rearview Mirror

Faith

Faith “…he needs faith,” Nolo said, “in something, my God, any god, it would help a great deal.” “Faith takes time,” his wife replied, “meetings by friends who introduce…don’t make a big deal out of it if he refuses to come.” Footsteps. “So I shouldn’t invite him to church?” “I just meant if he says no don’t succomb to anger. Please don’t sour him on church.” Ran crawled out from under the low table pushing his ball, wondering what ‘faith’ meant while they left for the place with that label. He waited, but didn’t ask what they had meant. He’d go ask Papa; this was an adult thing, so … Continue reading Faith