Although I have not written a lot of poetry lately I have decided to add to my writing a page to collect pieces along the way.
Enjoy
Category Archives: Writing
Jibe
To Jibe means to agree, as one definition. In sailing it’s also the opposite of ‘tack’ in which you go across the wind rather than jibe, go with the wind. This piece was submitted to the PWP, Professional Writers of Prescott group of which I am a member. Will be part of 2018 Anthology. Late in the process, a request was made for more short stories that could fit on one page (<450 words), a printing accommodation.
JIBE
He was reasonably sure that his look of concern and husbandly demeanor was convincing. Her doctor was going on about the test they were running, and he hung on the doctor’s every word, nodding at this suggestion, pursing his lips at this medical conclusion. But he already knew the outcome or the hoped-for one.
A quarter tablet every three days he was told. The poison would build up doing its damage slowly, inexorably. Any greater dose and she would still be dead, but the molecules would pool in her organs and be detected. He had been assured, promised, that it would be undetectable, untraceable but more importantly, effective. And it seemingly was, he still had two tablets left.
The doctor went on. The liver, the kidneys, both were failing. Time was short, treatment options exhausted. Needed to find a cause. But the faithful husband knew there would be no discovery, couldn’t be any discovery; ever.
It was late. She was sedated. He told the nurse he needed to go home for a few hours but would return to his wife’s bedside that night. Would someone be here to let him into the hospital? Yes, the guard in the emergency lobby would let him in. Gratitude exuded from the obviously exhausted husband.
He showered and pulled on a pair of slacks and a tee-shirt. He had skipped lunch and dinner to make a showing at his wife’s bedside; his stomach rumbled a bit. He could grab something out of the fridge before returning his vigil, unless, of course, they called.
He was particular in what he ate: she was not. It showed. She had let herself go, at least to his standards. He was still trim at sixty-seven, an enviable physique, a well-maintained body. She was ‘relaxed’ she would say.
He thought of the kitchen as two camps in a war zone; his was a Spartan’s field, hers was a Bacchus’ trough. He opened the refrigerator door and pulled a glass carafe of power drink. He closed the door and gulped down the whole container, almost greedily, eyes closed. When he opened his eyes to watch the last drops slip from its lip to his, he noticed a small note stuck to the bottom.
Her handwriting, ’Sorry dear.’ A moment’s pause. A cramp, a churning and nausea. His eyes opened wide. He dropped the carafe and spun through to the living room, then to his office at the further end of the house. He yanked open the desk drawer, and an empty bottle rattled around like the tail of a snake. And another note, ‘Sorry dear.’
Shortest Short
I’m finding that short stories are a good way to keep my juices flowing. This was submitted to www.101fiction.com. The theme of the call was “werewolves” and restricted, as per their format, to a one-word title and a one hundred word story, in this case, all dialog.
Partners
Lord priest was older. The other, more grizzled.
“And so, priest you think my kind is devil spawn. But, we are of the same coin.”
“How so, Lycaon?”
“You save souls in this life, as do I. We are in the same salvation business, true?
“Of course not. You are the underworld. I am a servant of light.”
“If you do your job, they will see the light?”
“Yes.”
“If I do mine, they will see it sooner.”
“Demented.”
“Less demented to suffer daily?”
“I give them hope.”
“I give them terror: and release. Who is the better at salvation?”
New Theme, New Format
New work in progress.
Ambrose Bright
Misdirected
Madness is personal, specific. Regardless of the source, the vector, the pathology, it is personal. Treat the symptoms with your pharmacopeia and your insurance approved therapies if you will. But madness is personal.
Chapter one:
The new blade pulled through his beard. The scraping sounds only slightly louder than the run of hot water in the basin, the tingling pain of the steel gripping the stubble was not totally unpleasant. A renewal of sorts, a splitting of the chrysalis after months of fevered hibernation. The ink staining his fingers had been scrubbed away, the cuticles cleaned. He toweled the fog from the mirror. The bags under his eyes seemed less full and a returning younger man was emerging.
Of gods and bots
Chapter One
He was rumpled. Like a white shirt at the bottom of a suitcase. The trip from Los Angeles hadn’t been easy on the old guy. Coach seating and no food had spindled McNamara like a laundry ticket. It was the first time she met him. They were in the Director’s office, and she wasn’t impressed.
WORDS
IDEAS
ACTIONS
com·plic·i·ty
kəmˈplisədē/noun
- the state of being involved with others in an illegal activity or wrongdoing. At least 17 adults and teenagers are dead after a 19-year-old suspect opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida, police said Wednesday. The shooting is now among the 10 deadliest in modern U.S. history.
Thoughts and Prayers and NRA Funding.
artificial intelligence
1: a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers2: the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior
ACTION-NONE
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate intelligence committee that Moscow viewed its attack on the 2016 election as decidedly worthwhile given the chaos it has sown compared with its relatively low cost.
“There should be no doubt that Russia perceived that its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian midterm operations,” Coats said.
Off to the editor
I have sent my newest book, “The Madness of Ambrose Bright” off to an editor here in town. Micki Shelton is a local writer, theater entrepreneur, producer and professional editor. I am anxious to see her assessment and the necessary changes she suggests.
An excerpt of the book is at the tab WIP. I’m going to work the photo above as a painting for a possible cover. Who knows?
In the mean-time, I have started a new project, “MisDirected” as the working title. See WIP as well
Self Publishing
What a hoot!
Publishing the mush between your ears is now easier than EVER!
There are many sites to self-publish, some simple, some grandiose. I’ve chosen Blurb.com and frankly it’s dangerous. I can spread my babble in multiple ways. God help you all.
Oh yes, I also have a Kindle book too. Though after the first flurry of activity it has been quiet. No Pulitzer this year.
Certainly more later.
The Wisdom of Buffoons
Jan Matejko, Poland 1893
The wisdom of buffoons, the disgraced, the outrageous and those just out in left field.
Creative people should learn early on that inspiration or personal direction rarely comes from expected sources. Academia gives us tools, mentors, advice and our peers sometimes provide us with sounding boards. It is the out of context, nutty and odd things we find from time to time that provide the sparks to refreshing creativity.
So here are four wells of knowledge: Reality, the Self, the Work and Confidence. Words by some who have proven they should know something about life and creativity, if only for nothing else than creating themselves.
Quotes thanks to brainyquote.com and goodreads.com
Interpreting Reality
When we begin the best we can do is observe. We are newbies without experience, skill or confidence. Take off the blinders that others have put on you. Look at the world with the wide open eyes of voracious children. Reality is a friend, a cold friend at times, that’s true; but it will serve you better than the rose colored, blue skied , yellow brick road that only fools the less experienced
“A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere”
Groucho Marx.
The fear of the bogey man has probably destroyed more sleep and denied more dreams than the statistics of success would allow.
“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is.”
Yogi Berra.
“Luftmensch”. One who blows smoke in the air and talks all day, an impractical contemplative person having no definite business or income. The reality of things is only found through experiencing it yourself. Leave the theories to the luftmensch.
“If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?”
Seymour Cray, the father of supercomputing.
A little critical analysis on your part may uncover holes in generally accepted knowledge that others take as the truth. Just because the number is big doesn’t mean it has a higher value. We have all learned early in life that the sky is blue, and yet, it seldom is and a pound of feathers is the source of many bad word problems.
Reality is not only what you make of it. It’s what others would like to make of it for you.
“I apologize for lying to you. I promise I won’t deceive you except in matters of this sort.”
Spiro T. Agnew
“There’s one born every minute…”
T. Barnum
“Facts are the enemy of truth.”
Don Quixote – “Man of La Mancha”
What about you? Knowing yourself
“It ain’t what they call you. It’s what you answer to.”
W C Fields
“The worst crime is faking it.”
Kurt Cobain
“All I have is my creativity”
Jack Abramoff, multimillionaire convicted of bribery
“I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand”
Al Capone
Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.”
W C Fields
“I’m not funny. What I am is brave.”
Lucille Ball
“I think knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can.”
Lucille Ball
“It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.”
Lucille Ball
“We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves.”
Paul Gauguin
“Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
Mark Twain
Getting to Work, Doing the thing.
“Age Quod Agis”
Latin, “Do what you are doing” or more contemporarily
“Just Do It” Nike.
“Practice rather than preach. Make of your life an affirmation, defined by your ideals, not the negation of others. Dare to the level of your capability then go beyond to a higher level.”
Alexander Haig
“Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting.”
Karl Wallenda
“Half this game is ninety percent mental.”
Yogi Berra
“Write drunk; edit sober.”
Ernest Hemingway
“If you’re afraid – don’t do it, – if you’re doing it – don’t be afraid!”
Genghis Khan
“I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.”
Lucille Ball
“The more things you do, the more you can do.”
Lucille Ball
“Ability is of little account without opportunity.”
Lucille Ball
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“You got to be careful, if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”
Yogi Berra
“When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.”
George Bernard Shaw
Confidence and Commitment
Knowing not only what you’re doing but why and not worrying about the other guy.
“The difference between ‘involvement’ and ‘commitment’ is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was ‘involved’ – the pig was ‘committed’.”
Unknown
“Polls? Nah…they’re for strippers and cross country skiers.”
Sarah Palin
“Everybody pities the weak; jealousy you have to earn.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas A. Edison
“Never give in and never give up.”
Hubert H. Humphrey
“Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”
Richard M. Nixon
“Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.”
Richard M. Nixon
“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.”
Zig Ziglar