“My guinea pig has lice,”

she says, which means

a veterinarian and an

ivermectin prescription,

Google says, which means

a drive too long for the

ailing minivan, the

check engine light says,

which means the mechanic

again and time off work and

a loan, my account balance says,

but she held him close

when COVID closed the world

and she could not hug

friends, this warm little creature

cooing on her chest, nibbling

hay as she Zoomed with

her teacher who would die,

so many would die,

“I’m sorry,” I say,

“we’ll help him.”

The dreams only come some nights, but always leave a strong impression. Never the same, but always similar in nature. At first they were baffling in a benignly worrisome way. Not quite a nightmare, but certainly unsettling. The place is always different, sometimes occurring in a strange wooded forest, other times a teeming city that seems familiar by way of a recognizable landmark but not much else. In any case, the context remains constant.

So, in every version, Ralph starts in a comfortable place, a familiar place, like home perhaps. But then, for whatever obtuse reason not entirely clear, he must venture out to find someone in order to deliver a message. That is always where things get complicated. Because on the way to deliver the message, he gets increasingly farther from finding whomever he is trying to find and share it with. Getting lost to the point where sharing the message is not nearly as important as trying to find a way back.

The problem always starts with asking for directions. He has odd encounters with an ever changing cast of characters that point him in the supposedly right direction. Unfortunately, he only gets more lost, going increasingly wayward, off the beaten path.

They all seem so helpful! Obscure bit part actors from cinema whose names are hard to recall, the long dead headmaster from the academy, the new postmaster, a young girl he'd chatted with briefly at the market only yesterday, so many others. They all confidently give directions. "Just head up there and turn left, you can't miss it." That sort of thing.

Unfortunately they all direct him farther and farther from his original purpose. At some point the feeling of being too lost to continue is what will wake him. On opening his eyes, he typically takes a brief moment to realize that, no, there isn't a hole worn in the soles of his shoes.

At first Ralph assumed the dreams were about trying to find Piggy. During these nocturnal walkabouts, he routinely meets the living and those that passed. So why not wrap everything into a tidy interpretation that made sense even if it didn't offer any consolation? Ralph finally eventually decided that not knowing might be better. What would he say to Piggy anyway?

"Sorry" would not do much good for anyone at this point anyway.

Realizing that actually helped offset the feeling of being lost. Why not enjoy the journey instead of worrying about the outcome? Getting lost isn't so bad if you find an adventure and meet interesting characters along the way. So today, with that in mind, Ralph smiles as he rubs the Sandman's grit from his eyes.

He rises from the bed. It is chilly, but the sun will rise soon. There is time to sleep some more, but getting a head start on the day makes sense. From his last interview he knows the company will offer the management role. More pay for less hours. Sounds great, but after sleeping on it, Ralph has decided otherwise. He wants to stick with the union to protect his benefits. A management position doesn't offer that security. Besides, he needs to stay with his crew. They need him because he keeps the herd in line. He could always change his mind in the future.

He just hopes they will understand when he delivers the message.

(This is a prologue for a sequel to "Lord of the Flies". According to the American Library Association, "Lord of the Flies" is the eighth-most frequently banned and challenged book in the nation)

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to share that I'll be releasing a collection of short stories on February 1st. Many of the stories in this collection have been featured here, while others haven't. If anyone is interested, you can find it on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CRQZTJM5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CRDHZ7RB04E0&keywords=theres+gold+in+those+hills&qid=1704751382&sprefix=theres+gold+in+those+hill%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-1

I'm pretty excited about this and I just wanted to thank The Prose community for being the major reason for this collection. Before I joined this community, my writing was directionlesss and you've help me find direction.

So, thanks everyone!

What do you do when your car breaks down.

On the side of the road.

In the middle of nowhere.

What do you do when the trucker who stopped behind you askes if you need help.

Do you trust his green eyes?

Do you trust the way the green darkens when you step out into the slippery mud.

What do you do when he steps closer, too close.

When you know your pepper spray is expired.

Do you run?

Do you pray?

What God would you pray to?

Did he follow me you think, or is it wrong place wrong time?

Nothing like this has ever happened to you.

You were the play it safe, stay away from the dark, the bogyman never chases little girls.

So, you always turned your back to the shadows that reached to far up the walls and chalked up whispers to creaks in the night.

Now the bogyman is here, come to collect after all his years of chasing.

No words form, no thoughts come spilling out.

Fear.

Cold, splintering, paralyzing fear.

Grabs your shoulders and pushes you down into the gravel.

Ropes bury themselves into your legs.

And a hand crushes your windpipe to stop your screaming.

When the numbness recedes.

And the flashing stops.

And when the laughter finally fades into the distance.

You realize the bogyman doesn't exist.

The devil maybe.

But there are no traps for little girls like you.

They're not waiting around corners for us to trip.

We are convenient in convenient situations for them.

Because I was alone.

On the side of the road.

In the middle of nowhere.

Written for my niece who lost her little girl in a drowning accident:

I know your anguish is for me

But take a breath and let it be

I am not far as you may think

Time nor space will break our link

I feel no pain and have no fear

I was with you shortly and hold it dear

You have more to do and lives to touch

my love for you is oh so much

So take a breath and hold it deep

Let it out and please don't weep

I am happy here, this new place I live

but you have so much more to give

I'll be here when it's your time

my heart is yours and yours is mine

So when you're sad and miss me so

Take a breath and always know

I am where I need to be

Smiling at all I see

So until I can hold your hand and bring you here

Live your life without fear

Happiness seems far away

But will get closer with each passing day

So take a breath and let it out

There are great things for you, have no doubt

In your reflection see my smile

I am part of you there is no denial

Our binding link is always there

Even though it seems unfair

There is a way to see it through

See me happy as you always do

and know when you smile, I smile too

... so take a breath

and let it out

From one of our fine wine writers, here's the honesty for which he is famous in our halls. And, a belated Happy Birthday, Led!!

Here are the words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=druzMv3zs94&t=19s

And.

As always.

Thank you for being here.

-The Prose. team

I’m often reminded of you.

When I feel joy overwhelm me.

Joy I thought you were faking.

When joy reveals itself plainly.

When joy reveals itself through song.

When synths feel cinematic and manic

and make me want to morph my body into a star.

When I hear lamentations about our eventual fate

that still allow space for awe amid lingering angst

When I want to feel everything, everywhere, all at once

When I want to feel everyone I love.

When I am wondering where I learned how to care.

You know love the second you see it.

Love at first sight has been pitifully romanticized. Shrouded.

Torn from the misty minded cloak of nonsense it remains. Nevertheless.

Love at first sight is a thing, acknowledged, simple and clear. Like a ghost.

Every time you spot it, you know it for what it is: "Oh, a phantom".

09.26.2023

Is love at first sight possible? challenge @Raynstar

a concept, finite:

Sin Cuentas withheld in All

~ wave & particle .

I am I am I

in Palindrome lineage

---Río of Being

...Encantas, silence

the world in one thou' and song

Leaves and needles crawl

Metamorphoses

belong to the Corazón,

bottled, blot; sparrows

what clouds hold heavy,

(in wind all is traveling)

una bebida

*Translation of Spanish & Author's Note:

aliento means breath

(the foreignness I believe speaks for itself)

Haiku 1: Sin Cuentas is the Infinite

the thought is of all as a point in motion, one in many/many in one

we begin (and end) cellular, a spark of light as if--

hence Einstein's wave and particle, illustrating a duality of Existence

(Sin Cuentas is in fact the inspiration "point" of my poem. I ran across it in a children's book "Papi, How Many Stars in the Sky?" and was struck by the Sin in Spanish meaning "without" and Cuentas translates literally to "accounts," but idiomatically the translation is "the Infinite" and so this powerful (in my perception!) link to being born without account of Sin, and Infinitely so! --that is how my mind ticks---in strange gestalt :)

Haiku 2: The dawning of Awareness, I

I as a beautiful most concise Palindrome of thought.

To me it is redundant to say I am, as I is enough. It already exists once marked as line.

It can only grow, or stop, i.e. die. So, again in my perception, the continuity suggests age, and visually a lineage, as that line may be passed. Hence, the subsequent imagery of the river; and a nod to Leonard Cohen, inevitably, as he uses this metaphor liberally, and with apt sexual overtone.  Río is River in Spanish, but it harkens to the ear like Royalty, a sound regal and proud. Thus, awareness as a life-giving force, internally, and in generations to come.

Haiku 3: Encantas is to sing.

In truth, I vaguely recalled it as Enchantas and was very hopeful that I recalled correctly, as might be obvious, for the "enchant us" that is alluded to-- I was wrong in that the h was not there, but that made me think of a gap of silence, and I was delighted with that insight! The contrast seems so fitting, as we grow to appreciate our ability to act, and to refrain from action. Thus, turning to the world inside oneself (thou) and outside (in song).

I was charmed by combination of one and thousand, as a single unit/ many simultaneously, and again how thousand can be abbreviated to thou, bringing in the notion of one "you," you, being either singular, or plural. Leaves and needles crawl, is an illustration mentally of the passage of time, evoking I hope, music, writing, visual arts, and in the changing of seasons from the emergence of these, literally, upon the trees in Spring, to their departure in the Fall. (*If you're picking up connotations of ink and vinyl, that is very astute! and intentional.)

Haiku 4: The key in this one is Corazón, meaning the Heart-- and I adore how much it reverberates in English as the core zone!! To me this the center, poetically, where all our changes personally occur. True growth, as it were, spiritually, emotionally-- our point of maturity. The content of our Hearts is bottled; it spills, like Rorschach blot tests, and we can let these visions fly as sparrows (i.e. like live arrows) if we let them go (from the cocoon). The incongruity of the release of a bird, rather than butterfly, did not escape me-- the idea is not to limit our Imagination.

Haiku 5: we are mostly air and water, and emotion, and this I hoped to convey in the verse, "what the clouds hold heavy," much as when we say the sky is pregnant, or the sky will break, and rain will come like tears, heaven sent in the winds (of change). And so, the suggestion of "bebida," which to the English ear suggests a baby, but is in Spanish in fact a drink, and in this case the sip of a final breath (of life/death). To optimistically end:

"Cheers!" to a life (well) lived.

*As a personal aside: I chose the Spanish, because my second Mom is in Mexico and her birthday is coming up so I thought I would share this with her <3