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The place for fiction and poetry....

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ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
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Post by ussusimiel »

sgt.null wrote:the Loss of the Steamer Gipsy

at 3 & 1/2 o'clock yesterday
morning the fire broke out
it originated in the wood
on the boiler deck
between the chimneys
and immediately spread
with fearful rapidity
i'll be damned
[link]
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ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
Posts: 5346
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

michaelm wrote:Even though it was 10am, it was still dark due to the heavy, black clouds that filled the sky from horizon to horizon. Jason knew it was going to rain, and probably as soon as he started walking back home from the store.

As there was an overhanging roof, he could sit on the ledge at the bottom of the large plate glass window at the front of the store and wait. Perhaps there would be a break in the cloud as it passed over? He really didn't know what the forecast was, and cursed himself for leaving his phone at home.

Without giving it any more thought, he got up and started walking with his small bag of groceries in his hand. Occasionally looking at the horizon in all directions, he scanned for any sign of a clearing in the sky, but the uniformity of the sky told him clearly that no such break was coming.

After a few minutes the inevitable happened, and the skies opened up. At first a pattering of heavy drops of rain, but within less than half a minute he was getting soaked in heavy rain.

[link]
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
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ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

Linna Heartlistener wrote:I glanced at my blank screen between calls... there was a lull. Looked over the cloth covered partitions, and then stood up, looking to socialize.

Then Dianna wandered over, tugging the cord to her headset around the corner of the desk. A mischievous grin flickered in her eyes as she posed her question to two of us:
"So, if you had to be eaten by a shark or a bear, which would you rather eat you?"
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ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

Sorus wrote:The pilot doesn't introduce himself. That's fine by me. I don't ask where we're going.

Twilight deepens into night as we fly. "When's the last time you visited Earth?"

I shoot him a quick look. His eyes are on the navigation screen. Small talk.

"It's been a few years." I try not to sound evasive. He doesn't seem interested. Wouldn't be in this line of work if he were prone to asking too many questions. Questions. Sometimes it's the simple ones that trip you up.

They won't be asking simple questions where we're going. What's the worst-case scenario? I can't prove that I'm not a spy, traitor, double agent - whatever they believe I am.

And if they do manage to get the truth out of me - what then? It's not like anyone would believe it.
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aliantha
blueberries on steroids
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Post by aliantha »

So when are you giving us *your* two minutes, u.? (Don't look at me like that! I posted a poem! :mrgreen: )
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EZ Board Survivor

"Dreaming isn't good for you unless you do the things it tells you to." -- Three Dog Night (via the GI)

https://www.hearth-myth.com/
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ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
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Post by ussusimiel »

Someday it may happen, ali. I've written short pieces of prose in the past, but always more description rather than story. I'll keep it in mind and if the two minutes fever strikes I'll post it :biggrin:

u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
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Linna Heartbooger
Are you not a sine qua non for a redemption?
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Post by Linna Heartbooger »

This one ran too long for the 2-minute-room.
Nothing fancy, and perhaps a bit heavy-handed, but here it is...
______________________________________________________

"We have never been slaves of anyone. So how can you say that we will be set free?"
She closed the book.
She was a 26-year old woman with her own apartment - of course she was free!

She remembered the story about the girl who had to review "real and not real."
"Free and not free."
She tried to review.

She was free to do whatever she wanted.
No, she wasn't.
She wasn't free to pick up a book and read it just because she wanted to.
…because it might not be productive.
She picked off a scab by her forehead…
She noticed (with a bit of a sarcastic tone in her head) that she was totally free to pick off a scab, thereby damaging her body, but not to pick up a book for fun…
For that matter, she wasn't free to just choose whatever book she wanted to anywhere in the library.
They had to be a certain kind.
Or she had to not know that they were not a certain kind?

So maybe it's things that I think will be fun?
No; she wasn't even free to do difficult tasks that were clearly NOT fun.
She was free to avoid and dread them, but not to do them.
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor

"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
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aliantha
blueberries on steroids
Posts: 17865
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:50 pm
Location: NOT opening up a restaurant in Santa Fe

Post by aliantha »

ussusimiel wrote:Someday it may happen, ali. I've written short pieces of prose in the past, but always more description rather than story. I'll keep it in mind and if the two minutes fever strikes I'll post it :biggrin:

u.
Excuses, excuses. ;)
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EZ Board Survivor

"Dreaming isn't good for you unless you do the things it tells you to." -- Three Dog Night (via the GI)

https://www.hearth-myth.com/
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ussusimiel
The Gap Into Spam
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 12:34 am
Location: Waterford (milking cows), and sometimes still Dublin, Ireland

Post by ussusimiel »

Check out the first two chapters of Rob's excellent fantasy-novel-in-progress:
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Linna Heartbooger
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Post by Linna Heartbooger »

Some snippet I did today:

Behind closed doors,
we fall apart,
In our fragmented lands in The West,
Outside, we mask with lipstick and high heels,
or a tie and shined shoes,
because who wants to deal with the rest?
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor

"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
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