Tag Flash Fiction

Only A River

freyathewriter 19 Comments

Dogs howl, as is their wont. 

The cold moon rises, her blank face pierced by branches turned naked and brittle. All trees are leafless at this time of year, bark rimed with frost.

My breath hangs, shimmering in the freezing air, and the iridescent image swims through a mirror that flows like liquid silk. I frown at such misplaced fancy. It is only a river reflecting evidence of my vitality. 

A river… A chance.

The bloodhounds remain far distant yet. I brace myself against the cold and step into the freezing depths, gritting my teeth. 

I wade agains the current, skin, muscles, bones aching in protest, my greatcoat sagging, dragging heavy with water. 

Until the wretched creatures lose my scent, here I must remain. I plead, to any great benefactor who might hear my prayers, for clouds, mist, a dense fog. 

For my freedom.

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, it’s time for a bit of Prosery, courtesy of Dora. She has asked us to create a piece of prose, fiction or non-fiction, to include the following line from Stanley Kunitz’s most famous poem, King of the River:

“. . . and the iridescent image swims
through a mirror that flows.”

I haven’t written a Prosery for some time, so this is a fun diversion from my usual poetic adventures. it must consist of maximum 144 words, and while the line can include different punctuation, it cannot be otherwise changed. I truly enjoyed incorporating this line into my fiction piece, and I hope it fits well into my narrator’s thoughts.

If you want to join us in this poetry adjacent journey, head on over to dVerse and dive in!

(Image courtesy of Muhammed Zeya on Pexels).

Luft

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They burned books in the hallways. I could smell it, the pain, the anger, the protest as the words scurried out of the open windows, sucked out into the great, black yonder by the treacherous summer wind.

I had expected more of Nature. After all, She had suffered enough over the millennia, as Man chewed Her up and spat Her out. But no, here She was, aiding the destroyers of the only beautiful thing that we had managed to create without destroying Her.

But. Maybe that was the point.

Helping Man wreak his own destruction.

Checkmate.

 

In absentia – Magpie Tales

freyathewriter 3 Comments

gerrit.photography

To Carly, the world around her was muffled and blurred, as if she were being tossed about in swelling seas, utterly at the whim and wish of the tides. This was a long yearned-for feeling, this separation, this distance, this other-worldliness. It had been a long time coming.

Others saw her as emotionless, cold, unfeeling, least of all broken-hearted. That’s what they wanted from her, to see her weeping and wailing, maybe even clutching at her hair, ripping her shirt in two, destroyed by despair.

They didn’t understand her, and now it was clear as the summer’s day outside her, that they never would. She was more broken, more destroyed, more cast adrift than she had ever been before, probably never would be again. But she channelled, she focused, she used all the pain, the loss, the emptiness and turned it into something real. It was, for her, the only way.

‘This time last year, none of this existed,’ she thought to herself, and raised a small smile. ‘Oh, I wish beyond all measure that you were still here in the flesh, but wishes are not horses and the devil will not ride. This book is testament to you, my love. Thank you for inspiring me with your absence.’

Carly raised her coffee cup, saluted her absent love and swallowed her tears with the bitter-sweet beverage. ‘For you, Andy, for you.’

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Here’s this week’s entry into Magpie Tales. Please visit here for more creativity, and why not take part, if you feel the urge!