Winter Pantoum 1 (w/audio)
I watch my pale, winter hands
painting butterfly pleas against an insouciant sky.
I pray and wait in solitude, in great numbers,
will you greet me when the sun returns?
We painted butterfly pleas against a pale sky
that solemn afternoon we lay curled upon each other in denial.
"Will you greet me when the sun returns?"
"I promise, upon all I hold dear, I will be here."
That solemn afternoon, we lay. Curled upon each other in denial.
You promised me Summer Eternal, your deceit jangled in my head:
"I promise, upon all I hold dear, I will be here."
You returned, with Springtime on your adoring arm, her beauty fruitful.
You promised me Summer Eternal. How your deceit now jangles in my head!
I shall wither with no mourners to gnash their teeth or tear out their hair.
You returned with Springtime on your adoring arm. Oh! How her beauty was fruitful!
Death brings a lover's touch, and I smile, grateful, as I watch my pale winter hands.
Miles de nulle part
When I was six
I had an imaginary friend
named Miles
He paid me no mind
All he ever did was shout at furniture
in a fake French accent
Miles was a shit imaginary friend
The last time I ever saw him
He was berating an ottoman
for being Burgundy
Not the color
the town
Ce qu’un con........
Doomsday Diaries: Day 1, Alone Together
I sat alone in the cold cellar under my house. A little piece of wood shoved in between the cellar door's handle was the only thing that protected me from the hell unfolding outside.
I wasn't prepared, no one was. It just happened all of a sudden. A blaring siren sounded across the nation followed by an emergency broadcast. A panicked broadcaster informed her viewers that zombies were erupting out of the ground and to seek shelter.
I was home alone when it happened. My parents were at work and my little sister was still on her way home from school. Unsure of what to do in such a situation, I locked myself in the cellar. I sat there, cold and alone, wishing for some sign that my family was alright.
My heart jumped when I heard someone banging on the cellar door. I huddled further into the corner, trying my best to keep quite. "Anna! Annabel! Are you in there?" the voice outside the door screamed. I let out a sigh of relief when I realized the voice belonged to my little sister, Phoebe.
I rushed to the door to let Phoebe in. I removed the wood block from the door's handles and pulled open the door. "Phoebe," I cried happily, "you're okay."
"I thought you, mama and papa were all gone," Phoebe sniffled.
"Hurry inside," I urged Phoebe. She entered the cellar while I resealed the door.
"Are mama and papa down here?" Phoebe asked as she took a seat in the corner.
Once the door was secure, I sat besides her. "No, they're at work still," I responded solemnly.
"Will they be okay?" she cried.
"I don't know."
"Will we be okay?"
"I don't know."
"What are we going to do?"
"All we can do is wait. The phone lines are still working and so is the power. The military can handle this. I'm sure they'll issue another broadcast saying the government has everything under control. Until then, we'll just wait."
Phoebe gave me a small nod.
We spent the remainder of the day reading books Phoebe bought home in her bag under the light of my cellphone. Sometime around ten, Phoebe crawled onto my lap and buried her head into my chest before falling asleep. As she slept, I stared at the cellar door. I prayed that at any moment my parents would walk through them and tell me that everything was alright.
They never did.
The End is the Beginning
The world is slowly growing quieter...
The nature of this world is slowly turning from assumed ordinary chaos
to walking undead. These beings of human origin but not at the same time. Only a few reports have been coming through so far but I have no worry that soon society will crumble. This virus, wherever it has come from, will build and build...no one will be safe. The first reports show that the affected are seemingly lethargic and in strange state of dreamlike stalking...they walk the streets not lifting their heads or talking much. There has been little so far on whether or not they're dangerous. Media tells us it's nothing...I beg to differ.
Welcome to the end of the world.
Monday Motivation: Record-Breaking Challenge
Good Morning, Prosers,
It’s Monday Motivation time, and what better way than to tell you that we are all about to try breaking a world record with our words alone?
This is a community effort, and we need your words. We are expecting this to be popular - why wouldn’t it be? We need 15,000 entries with at least 100 words per entry to break this record. So, it’s imperative that you get your entries in as quickly as possible.
Let’s take a look at the prompt:
It’s record-breaking time. Together, we are going to break the world record for longest book. 100-word minimum. When this challenge gets 15,000 entries, it will expire, and we will turn it into a book. Each entry will be its own chapter. The plot? It’s the first day of a zombie apocalypse, write a diary entry. Each contributor should share this challenge prompt with as many people as possible. If we break the world record, this will be read by people for generations to come. In fact, it’ll probably be read by people experiencing an actual zombie apocalypse.
So, those of you who love The Walking Dead have zero excuse not to enter, and those of you who don’t? Well, you’re writers aren’t you? You still have zero excuse not to enter.
The challenge is live right now. Get yourself scribbling those diary entries. Here’s to making history together as a community.
Until the next apocalypse, Prosers,
Prose.
From Grandma
You may full plainly see
Why I have never penn'd a line to thee
Because my thoughts we're never free
Nor clear
And little fit to please a classic ear
Like yours my dear
Pray my child that you never love
For love demands a lot
For love will eat you whole
For love will rip you apart
Raise you high
Then set you down like a comet
Say no to love
For where there's love, there's hate
Embrace hope, she never dissapoints
