Category Magpie Tales

Fishy Tale – Magpie Tales

freyathewriter 20 Comments

wyeth n c Dark Harbor Fisherman

Dark Harbor, 1943, N. C. Wyeth

“We have too much food here, Jacob. What are we supposed to do with it all? It wasn’t our plan to empty the sea of all its fish.”

“Nonsense, Simeon, nonsense! There is no such thing as too much fish! How ungrateful you are! Me and my men have risked life and limb on the mountainous waves to bring this fine haul home to harbour. Not a life lost, not a bruise nor a scrape did we sustain. Does it not cross your mind to utter one word of thanks?”

“But where is your common sense? All of our salt has been used for the preserving of meat and our barrels are taken with wine. We cannot consume the fish fast enough. It will be left to waste and rot by the quay.”

“You see problems where there are none, Simeon. I propose a feast – let us build a bonfire, barbecue the meat over the flames and wash it all down with copious gallons of wine. We will have empty barrels, spare salt and extremely happy villagers. A solution, do you not agree?”

“I suppose I do, Jacob. You are an ingenious man, so it seems…”

——

Here’s my latest entry to Magpie Tales – Jacob is a quick-thinking chap, no?

I hope you enjoy this week’s entry- and please do visit Magpie Tales for amazing poetry and prose!

 

magpie tales statue stamp 185

Constant – Magpie Tales

freyathewriter 4 Comments

Starry Night by alex ruiz

Starry Night by Alex Ruiz

 The man gazes up at the thin silver crescent suspended in the night sky. It is immovable, as if anchored by invisible threads that have been woven by the hands of the gods themselves.

He can see her, his love. She is waiting for him.

He is the Moonkeeper, yet without her, he would be lost. She has no idea that her home is also a moon that waxes and wanes at the whim of the universe.

It is better that she does not know. It is better that she remains unaware of her power and responsibility. Only he knows that her moon remains whole, remains illuminated as a constant. It is only the shadow that he casts from his moon that turns her light to shade, her shade to light.

He blows her a kiss, imagines it landing on her lips.

It will reach her. It always does.

——

Here’s my latest entry to Magpie Tales. It follows on from the theme of the piece I wrote for Five Sentence Fiction the other week – I love a moon! What a beautiful, magical inspiration of an image, don’t you think?

I hope you enjoy this week’s entry- and please do visit Magpie Tales for amazing poetry and prose!

 

magpie tales statue stamp 185

Anchor – Magpie Tales

freyathewriter 20 Comments

stainforth Shetland 2014 Yell Sound

Yell Sound, Shetland, 2014, by R.A.D. Stainforth

I am finding it hard to watch. My ship is pulling away, not from the shore, but from its sister ship pitching and yawing as it heads out of the mouth of the bay and into the open sea.

There is no protection out there, no place to hide from either the gale force winds, or the waves as high and hard as mountains. The battering will be relentless.

I turn away, feeling a rush of betrayal. My betrayal of him as I turn my back, and his betrayal of me as he has once again refused my pleas to stop, to stay on board with me in the safety of the harbour.

It is complex, our relationship. Built on shaky foundations – built on none at all, some would say, those who are sticklers for truth, those who are pedants. Ships do not have foundations. Only hollow hulls.

I whip round, face out to sea once more. I lift the binoculars, blinking as the ship fills my vision. A solitary figure is standing on the deck, binoculars trained on me.

I wave.

He waves in return.

I wait for his return. There is nothing else that I can do.

————-

Here is my latest entry into Magpie Tales – please do pop over there for more writerly goodness!