Take a seat

In my mind, I’m still young, still thin, and still agile. In my body, I’m feeling my age.

The simple task of putting away dishes have my joints complaining. I can’t take stairs two at a time any longer, but instead have to pull my old bones up with help from handrails. I’m not reduced to plodding along with a cane, but do need a lift sometimes to get out of a low chair.

It sucks getting older.

It’s not so much the slower pace I have to take that’s bothersome, it’s that loud Rice Krispies crunching that’s most annoying.

The 100 Word Challenge is to tell a story in only 100 words. This week’s theme is ‘Age’

Raining petals

Beautiful flowers
Red, my favorite
Daisy petals too tempting
Not to pluck
A fortune to tell,
A future to ponder
Each crimson blade
Aimed at my soul
Cupid’s true arrow
Or love’s cruel dagger
One by one, bringing
Hope or despair
Joy or misery
Ecstasy or pain
The outcome a mystery
Once begun
Cannot be interrupted
Once decided
Cannot be undone
The arrows cannot be returned
To Cupid’s quiver
The daggers cannot be withdrawn
From my heart
They cannot be recounted
What is done, is done
The fates have chosen
This won’t be pretty
He loves me not
Heartless bastage!

The 100 Word Challenge is to tell a story in only 100 words. This week’s theme is ‘Pretty’

Past imperfect

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Buddha

Confess your imperfections, write them on a wall for all the world to see. Use big, bold strokes, in brutal black paint, where it cannot be ignored. Admit to every flaw, every shortcoming. Reveal your darkest lies and faults.

Yet… leave it unsigned.

Watch as the world passes by, watch as they read your words and see your images. Listen as they speculate about who is the author of these admissions, listen as they speak the names of those they believe are guilty.

Yet… you are not among the accused.

No one recognizes you. Only you see these perceived failings.

The 100 Word Challenge is to tell a story in only 100 words. This week’s theme is ‘Wall’

Inspired by the Studio30 Plus prompt “Imperfect“

Conversion conversations

One foible of working from home is the great temptation to stay in pajamas all day, sans bra and makeup. It can make for awkward encounters if you feel compelled to open your front door.

He blushed a shade of pink that reminded me of a newly washed baby, a color that I wished I could duplicate on my pale, aging cheeks.

I admired his faith and dedication, but was amused that he suddenly had somewhere else to be when I offered to share my beliefs with him. Seems his door-to-door calling didn’t extend to reciprocating conversion chitchat.

The Trifecta challenge this week is: Color [noun \ˈkə-lər\] 3: complexion tint

The 100 Word Challenge is to tell a story in only 100 words. This week’s theme is ‘Calling’

Twisted

I turned down that dark road, 
         Abandoning who I was 
                For who you wanted me to be.

Contorted and transformed, 
         I have become unrecognizable in the mirror 
                Held up to my down-turned, shame-filled face

Careful where I tread,
         I twisted an ankle trying
                Not to break the eggshells I walked on.

My stomach knotted with every malformed word I uttered.
         Lies and disgrace, like heavy stones in my mouth,
                Choked out my cries for help.

Hunchbacked from being
         So long under your thumb,
                 My mishapened spirit may never stand tall and free again.

Your weight has broken me.

Submitted to WordPress Weekly Writing Challenge. This week the theme was to “…write a poem about anything you choose, and in any style you choose. The catch: play around with the formatting in your verse.”

The 100 Word Challenge is to tell a story in only 100 words. This week’s theme is ‘Contorted’

The sun on my face

Grey, lackluster skies are thick with regret. Rain and tears both threatening, my emotions and the weather mirroring equal measure of melancholy.

The energy I expend withdrawing from the emptiness of my room is Herculean. Cocooned in my isolation, I’m comforted by the predictable trivialities of what my life has become. Living in the world terrifies me.

My journey takes me far away from these fears, far from the pervasive and oppressive anxiety. The sun on my upturned face is a warm, loving caress on my skin. The gentle breeze, a mother’s kiss.

One step, one day at a time.

The 100 Word Challenge is to tell a story in only 100 words. This week’s theme is ‘Lackluster’

Submitted to Skywatch Friday, Season 6: Episode 39

*Photo venue: Fort Pickens, Gulfshores National Seashore, Pensacola, FL

Spring break’s lost weekend

Frat boys linger late at the bar, throwing out baitless pick-up lines at all the pretty girls misbehavin’ for the lovin’ and attention. Gobsmacked by their lack of success, blaming rejection on the game and not their feeble hunting techniques.

All popped collars, and gelled hair, believing they’re irresistable and not just ridiculous. Puffed out chests, and puffed out egos, clipped wings that can’t soar off balconies, falling short of the concrete ponds.

Twenty-one shots in the dark hit the spot until the morning their whole weekend is lost. A souvenir from their first time away from home.

The 100 Word Challenge is to tell a story in only 100 words. This week’s theme is ‘Misbehavin’

*Spring Break has brought hundreds, if not thousands, of college co-eds to our beaches. Every year there are reports of some drunken reveler being injured falling from a resort balcony trying to jump into the hotel pool. I haven’t read about any balcony divers yet this year, but there were more than 200 arrests for underage drinking in the first two weeks of the season.