This is a message to say thank you to everyone who has been asking after me. I’m doing well after my shoulder operation and I’m getting there slowly.
I do hope to be back blogging soon, but in the meantime, Lance Greenfield is holding my Monday and Thursday challenges if you’d like to take part. You’ll find him at https://lancegreenfield.wordpress.com/
Enjoy the summer and I’ll see you soon!
It’s Thursday and your new five-word challenge is here. As I’m going to be out of action after my surgery, here are three prompts to keep you going. I’ll publish all your stories when I’m recovered and back blogging.
Prompts:
KISS
SANDWICH
DEODORANT
Here are your STAMP stories from last week:
Dad loaned me a stamp.
My card needed a stamp.
Stamp received. Card sent off!
Ritu:
He stamped on my heart.
Stamps are bloody expensive nowadays!
Hand stamped. Nightclub entrance guaranteed!
Stamp out motorbike theft now!
Your stamp of approval please?
Stamp your feet, it’s cold.
best treasure? Penny Black stamp!
She stamped on his toe!
A postage stamp sized garden.
Stick To All Mail, Please.
Stamp thefts – Police arrest male.
Butterfly stamps and palace disappears.
The camp tramp stamped daintily.
Screaming Violet Elizabeth Bott stamped.
Rubber stamps can be fun.
Travelling stamp stuck in corner.
Every stamp tells a story.
Stamp out spread of viruses.
Stories need stamp of approval.
Food stamps are history now.
My passport: my stamp collection.
Stamps, licked, steamed off, displayed.
Paul Mastaglio:
Post late. Second class stamp!
I’ll stamp my feet forever!!
Linking People 2003:
Sir Rowland Hill invented stamp.
Knighted for inventing postage stamp.
First adhesive postage stamp, 1837.
Queen Victoria’s head on stamp.
Penny Black Stamp for penny.
Don’t stamp feet instead breath.
Passport needs valid visa stamp.
Stamp on visa invalidates it.
Inky franking mark invalidates stamp.
Invalidated stamp cannot be reused.
Stamp with signature needed officially.
Articles have company logo stamp.
Fructochlorophyll will have SunShineSwasth stamp.
Medals were stamped with dies.
Cricketing ability stamps him valuable.
Leaders stamp authority on team.
Project has stamp of authority.
Soldiers’ stamp of boots seen!
Government did stamp out corruption!
–
And here are some stories from Tessa on the prompt FRUIT from the previous week:
I don’t consume enough fruit.
I love fresh fruit salad.
My favorite fruit is bananas.
***
It’s Monday and limerick time. I’m giving you three prompts this week. Unfortunately, I’ve got to have some more shoulder surgery, so I’ll be out of action for a while. But I’d love to see your limericks so please send them in to give me a smile. I’ll publish them all when I’m back blogging again.
PAIN
HEAL
NURSE
Here are a few limericks to make you smile this Monday. The prompt last week was TRAIN.
Train for the race, I was told;
Running, you’ll never grow old.
And so I agreed;
I did my best speed.
Now I’m just knackered and cold!
Ritu:
Now, that really is a pain
Can’t believe I did it again
Just a tad too much booze
So I had a snooze
And I’ve gone and missed my train!
Cathy Wattam:
As an actor, I do like to train
Caped crusaders are often my game
I auditioned as Robin
But ended up sobbin’
Because I was cast as Bruce Wayne.
–
There once was a man in the rain
Who had waited so long for a train
That his clothes were all soaked
And a passenger joked
That he looked like he lived down a drain.
–
It is a real bugbear of mine
That I can’t find a train that’s on time
So I stand here and wait
Know full well I’ll be late
It’s always those leaves on the line.
–
There’s one thing I’d like to explain,
I get kind of frisky on trains
I’m a great womanizer
Yes, I am the train driver
But I’ve yet to find someone complain!
–
When you are riding a train
It’s best not to take your Cocaine
The train might be busy
And you’re feeling dizzy
The question is – are you insane?
More people should ride the train
It would keep them out of the rain
The roads less clogged
Their minds less fogged
Once working they’d use more of their brain!
An 0-6-0 train in steam
Makes my hubby smile and beam
The Flying Scotsman?
He is a real Fan!
Driving it, that is his dream!
Beth married the conductor of a train
So her wedding dress had a forty-foot train
It wasn’t much fun
The thing weighed a ton
To wear it she had to exercise and train.
–
Bob trained real hard in vault
But the virus put the games to a halt
Go home and pout
For Tokyo is out
Not getting the gold isn’t your fault.
Paul Mastaglio:
Let the train
Take the strain
No more car
For those trips afar
Enjoy your day and return home again.
The amazing red head, Mary Jane,
Knew not that Spiderman stopped the train,
Her trust was slighted;
Their love was blighted,
Swallowing pride is not what she’d deign!
My owner thinks I’m just really dumb.
But truly, I’m having great fun.
On “Stay!” I run,
And I leave on “Come!”
Training treats are filling my tum!
–
We boarded a train going to Delhi.
The driver was giving it welly.
We’d not been going long
Before we were singing this song:
We’re going too fast! Our legs are shaking like jelly!
–
We all went out for a dinner in Staines.
I chose chicken Madras for my main.
The weather was foggy.
And my rice was all soggy,
So I sent the dish back to re-strain.
Linking People2013:
Education is to train the mind to think,
Station master minds the train without a blink!
School master trains the mind,
Former minds, the latter trains and is kind!
Freight train or camel train, train the camera to click!
I wish I were riding a train
Instead I got caught in the rain
I ran really fast
Went down in a splat
The concussion they say hurt my brain.
Sarian Lady:
I once had to rack my brain,
Whilst travelling home on the train.
I thought and I thought,
‘Till my nerves became fraught.
No ideas, it was all in vain.
Val Fish:
I got caught with a fine on the train
Whilst drunk, pulled the emergency chain
There’s no excuse
For improper use
Note to self; next time engage brain!
***
Many of you know Lance Greenfield and I’m delighted to welcome him to my ‘A Poem for Friday’ slot. Before you read his sensual poem, here’s a little bit about him:
Lance is the author of two self-published novels in the ‘inspirational fiction’ genre. He got into writing by submitting reviews as part of the BBC RAW (Read and Write) campaign a few years ago. There was huge enthusiasm for his reviews, so he resolved to post reviews for every book that he reads on his personal blog, Write to Inspire. He now just loves to write anything from flash fiction to poetry to short stories.
Although he has been writing poetry all of his life, he never shared any of his poems from the time that his English teacher told him that his poetry was rubbish when he was only eight years old until he was encouraged by a tutor at the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School in 2016 to read one of his poems. Since then, his natural flow of verse from his pen has been unstoppable.
Wearing Silk
By
Lance Greenfield
Before I open my eyes,
I see you.
I feel you.
I slip out of bed,
Naked, yet enveloped by you.
I slip on my running shorts,
My shirt, my socks.
But I am already wearing you,
Like a silk cloak.
You envelope me.
You wrap yourself around me.
I am inside you.
As I stretch and start to run,
I feel you,
Soft against my skin,
Strong, soft silk.
My cadence becomes your rhythm.
As I push myself up the first hill,
I wrap myself around you,
Like a silk cloak.
I envelope you.
I wrap myself around you.
You are inside me.
You feel me,
Soft against your skin,
Strong, soft silk.
We are sheets of strong, soft silk,
Intertwined.
Inseparable.
A strong wind tries to rip us apart,
But we merge: a silk banner,
Blowing in the gale,
Defying the storm.
We are so closely bound that
Not even the fiercest maelstrom could rip us apart.
Our every ripple, every wave,
Is as one.
We are together,
Forever.
I wear you like silk.
You wear me like silk.
I am inside you,
And you in me.
We are bonded: a strong silk sash,
Forever.
***
It’s Thursday and your new five-word challenge is here. This week, your prompt is STAMP. So can you tell a story in five words, using the word STAMP in it somewhere?
Here are your FRUIT stories from last week:
Mis favorito fruta es manzanas! (my favorite fruit is apples!)
Ritu:
I should really eat fruit.
Fruity thoughts? Go, eat some!
Fruits of my labour, perfect.
Hello! My dear old fruit,
Fruit in trifle? Really yummy!
The tree of life fruit.
My apple bears good fruit.
Fruit and Vegetables. Good fibre.
Sugar and fruit, make wine!
Fruit colours, bright paint ideas!
Fruit Remains Until It Turns.
Fruit Rots Unless In Turmeric.
Fruity Recipes Use Intact Tomatoes.
Murder weapon was fruit knife.
Suffer the fruit of lies.
She’s beautiful yet tainted fruit.
Killer bees attack fruit farmer.
Sharing fruit gives great pleasure.
Eating juicy fruit in bath.
Let’s crush this ripened peach.
Is passion fruit an aphrodisiac?
Eating forbidden fruit is sinful.
Fruit has thousands of uses.
Low-hanging fruit is harvested first.
Hard work yields lush fruits.
Fruit machines are one-armed bandits.
Double cream partners fruit salad.
Sarian Lady:
Picking fruit is very relaxing.
Fruit cake? Matter of opinion.
Paul Mastaglio:
Red wine comes from fruit.
White wine comes from fruit.
Love fruit. I really do!
I hate most fruit cake.
Fruit salad does dental damage.
Tomato. Fruit of vegetable salad?
Kiwi fruit, lost Aussie wanders.
Creamed fruit becomes a fool.
A fruit trifle needs sherry.
Summer fruit pudding tantalizes tastebuds.
Fruity headcovering that Carmen wore.
Apples and pears, fruit steps.
Fruit juice makes cereal breakfast.
Fruit knife in the conservatory.
Fruit salad and carnation milk.
Fruit of my loins, child.
Fruit cake or sponge wars.
Low hanging fruit, Reaper’s pickings.
Eve’s fruit was Adam’s downfall.
Fruit bat shuns laxative medication.
Linking People 2003:
Simon coined fructochlorophyll contains fruit.
Fruit contains fructose unlike sugar.
Sugar has sucrose unlike fruit.
Fructose from fruit better sweetener.
Fruit plus Chlorophyll make fructochlorophyll.
Sweet fruit better than sugar.
Dieting does not yield fruit.
Eating fruit is better dieting.
JJ Smith:
Livingstone Doctor ? – No, Bat Fruit.
wojch:
Not every fruit we eat.
Tastes fruity and so sweet.
Lacking fruitage in the sun.
Bitter, like a sour grapefruit.
***
For part one, click here
For part two, click here
The knife came from nowhere. Eleanor hadn’t seen it before. All she saw was a shimmer of silver and then there was a sea of scarlet. Her mummy didn’t even get a chance to scream. Mrs Draper did. She screamed before she ran down the stairs and out of the house. She didn’t even stop to pick up her clothes.
Eleanor is still now. She is holding out her arms, beckoning the fairies to her. But not scarlet ones. There won’t be any scarlet fairies. Eleanor doesn’t like scarlet.
I wish I could see them. I wish I could be there with Eleanor and feel the flutter of their wings. I wish they would invite me into their magical world and spare me my suffering. Eleanor is fading now. I can’t see her. Come back, Eleanor, come back.
I look around the room. It is so bright, so stark, so empty. The people will be here soon. They think they are helping. I don’t want their help. I don’t want to remember the bad time. I want the fairies to come again. I used to see them. All colours of the rainbow and more besides. Except scarlet. I don’t like scarlet. But they were my friends. For years and years. My only friends, apart from teddy.
The door opens. They’re here.
“Come on, Eleanor, time for your medication.”
I reach for my teddy. Perhaps one day the fairies will come back.
The End
***
Spoilsport…
Here’s your Monday smile – it’s limerick time. Send in your own or here’s a prompt for you –
TRAIN
Here are a few limericks to make you smile this Monday. The prompt last week was SPORT.
Sport can be fun, but I’m lazy.
Perhaps I’m a little bit hazy,
Only I see no joy
Running like a schoolboy.
Too much and I’m sure I’d go crazy!
Ritu:
I’d rather read, and sit on my bum
But that’s not so good for my tum
Find a child who likes sport
And soon you’ll get caught
Like me, now a true cricket mum!
Cathy Wattam:
My funny old pal was a sport
Liked to chase me with things he had bought
Feather dusters were fine
But I did draw the line
At the snake he was due to import.
–
I can’t find a sport I can do
Up to now I have tried twenty-two
But they all make me hot
I can’t master the squat
And am fearful I might follow through.
–
The day I had just become forty
I decided I should be more sporty
But on the basketball court
I heard someone retort
‘She can’t reach, because she’s such a shorty!’
–
In sport you must play by the rules
We were told at our Primary Schools
But when I got a bad itch
On the new football pitch
I had to start playing in mules.
My youngest son was so good at sports
He could play all different sorts
My other two not so much
They liked gaming and such
And none of the three liked short shorts!
A choice between physics and sport?
Which did I prefer to be taught?
Neither, was I good at
My efforts always fell flat!
But Art was always A on my report!
Robbie was selling me short
So I decided to take him to court
He returned my loot
So I dropped the suit
I can be a pretty good sport.
–
Bob’s vest sports a flower
Crocheted with much power
All gaudy and bright
It even glows at night
You’d think his bank job would sour.
Paul Mastaglio:
After a lot of thought
We can now do sport
Golf, Tennis or a bit of cricket
There’s the ticket
That’s the end of my report.
The tennis champ, Lindsay Davenport,
Whether she was on or off the court,
Would take it on the chin,
If she didn’t quite win,
And was always a jolly good sport!
He was every girl’s hottest desire.
Set my heart and my belly on fire.
A runner was he,
With legs like great trees.
But the spoilsport would not be my squire.
Linking People2013:
Soccer needs much physical exertions,
Unlike chess, players shout to cast aspersions!
Referee’s appeal to be a sport,
But, cricket players take dort!
Match fixing, hidden corruptions!
Sarian Lady:
I was never any good at sport,
In running I always got caught.
Still, I practised and practised,
‘Till I had legs of elastic.
And now I never fall short.
Val Fish:
I was always useless at sport
I’m just not the athletic sort
I’d come last every race
I couldn’t keep pace
And at long jump I always fell short.
***
This week, my guest poet is David Marsden, one of my former Writers Bureau students. Here’s a little bit about David, in his own words:
I started off writing short stories, then I became interested in poetry and non-fiction, so I write a mixture of subjects.
Poetry writing is a favourite of mine because it comes more natural and takes up less time. I also like writing short non-fiction about mysteries. I enjoy digging into the past and researching unusual things.
I entitle this poem The Mirror. An old film about a haunted mirror inspired me. It doesn’t reflect on the story but gave me the idea.
The Mirror
By
David Marsden
The mirror on the wall is old and brown
he bought it from the antiques shop down town
he didn’t know the power it possessed
it’s just a gift for his loving wife, Bess.
It’s rather large, she thought, where shall it go
the lounge, he thought, study, she told him so
over the mantle-piece where the flames dance,
to give the room an air of ambiance.
He looked into the glass one stormy night
a figure stood behind, oh what a fright
its face distorted as if in torment
its eyes as black as night, its clothes all rent.
It laid its deathly hand upon his neck
a grip of iron, one mighty squeeze did break
he fell upon the floor in a dead heap
he’s trapped in the mirror, its soul set free.
She could not find her man, he is not there
in all the house, there’s not a single stir
she looked into the mirror on the wall
and saw him there and thought he’d had a fall.
But when she turned to help him off the floor
she did not see his body there no more
she once more gazed into the mirror there
again, the mirror held him in its glare.
She felt a force upon her neck, a hand
and now she lies in there beside her man
she saw him trapped in glass for evermore
and now there’s two of them, or maybe more.
It’s Thursday and your new five-word challenge is here. This week, your prompt is FRUIT. So can you tell a story in five words, using the word FRUIT in it somewhere?
Here are your THING stories from last week:
Ritu:
This thing, too, shall pass.
Need to tell you something.
Things are looking up, finally.
The ‘thing’ was truly huge.
My husband loves railway things.
Several things appeared last night.
I’ll be at the thing.
Think not thing-you fool!
An egg and thingy sandwich?
Thing was made of string…
These foolish things – favourite song.
Thing a thong of thickthpence.
Things Harvested Invariably Need Gathering.
I can’t remember a thing!
Is “thing” a dirty word?
Unknown thing. Approaching Earth. Bam!
The thing I needed. Lost.
Thong? Thing thumb thing thimble.
Thingamajigs bounce around in Thingamyland.
Viking meeting. There’s a thing!
All things to all men.
Julie Andrews sang Favourite Things.
Always wash your thingy thoroughly.
We’re onto a good thing.
Eating custard isn’t my thing.
Chuck Berry’s thing? His Ding-a-ling.
Cleopatra did her own thing.
Crazy little thing called love.
That was a close thing!
Anything worn under my kilt?
Nothing mostly happens quite frequently.
Heavy breathing on telephone line.
Something emerged from the briny.
Sarian Lady:
I can’t remember a thing.
Young, maybe? Fresh another thing!
One thing, two of them.
Thing is, she didn’t know.
Thing is, he couldn’t tell.
My thing thanks to you!
Paul Mastaglio:
The thing is… I’ve forgotten.
I’m late for this thing.
Here’s the thing you wanted!
The thing is somewhat unfinished!
I had this fling thing.
Some thing for the weekend?
Things ain’t what they were.
Red jumpsuit for Thing 1.
Thing 1 divorces Thing 2.
Things created by Dr Seuss.
String and thing, kitchen drawer.
What is your saddest thing.
This crazy little thing life.
Things – sings with a lisp.
My thing is getting away.
Brushes with this covid thing.
Have a great weekend thing.
Linking People 2003:
The word “thing” is “pronoun”.
”Whatitsname” is synonym of “thing”!
Idle mind says, “thing”, often!
A thing of the past!
Learning from everything and everyone!
Sentient being feels unlike thing.
Thing is inanimate material object.
Vacuum does not occupy anything.
***
