The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Music

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
Music

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

Click the link to read other people's flashies... 
http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday-17-music/     
Why not give it a go?

Here's mine...


Yesterday, I watched an episode of the David Attenborough series, Life - the one about fish, so this poem is based on one of the scenes.



Music

He fans his fins to glide in one place

Fighting against the rushing tide

As if in a dream, they drift like algae

Echoing each other’s movements

Sliding through the clear water

Entwining their tails, ever flowing

Deep in the silence of the sea

The duo create their own dance

To music only they can hear

Shadowing each other’s move

Bending their heads to see

The sea dragon’s secret smile

This is a sea dragon - I think they are so beautiful. Almost like make-believe characters.

If you don't know what they look like, here is one, taken from this website: http://aquaviews.net/explore-the-blue/beware-sea-dragons/

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Justice

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
Justice

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

Click the link to read other people's flashies... 
http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday-11-house/     
Why not give it a go?

Here's mine...

Justice

She trudged up the steep hill, her boots sinking into the wet mud. The rain pelted against her eyes, sticking her eyelashes together, as she gazed up from under the hood of her coat. It was a cold day. The weatherman had even predicted hail, but she didn’t care. She had to see him one last time. The dirt slid beneath her feet. Even the trees seemed bereft of life in this place. Above, the clouds gathered, dark and heavy, moving swiftly as the rain poured. Glancing around, she changed direction. Her destination must be straight ahead.

She had read the article quite by accident, flicking through the usual news, good and bad. The story hadn’t made the front pages and it was tucked away, almost as if the terror had been forgotten. But she would never forget. An ice cold hand snaked its way up her spine. Here.

Stepping back, she took a deep breath. Here he lay, his final resting place, beneath her boots. She stood on the spot where she believed he was, imprisoned deep below, in a place where he could no longer do anyone any harm. The wind coursed around her back, but she stood rigid. “Justice,” she sighed out loud, remembering the best friend she had lost and the innocence she’d left behind in meeting the man who was now buried beneath her feet.

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Friendship

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
Friendship

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

Click the link to read other people's flashies... 
http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday-11-house/     
Why not give it a go?

Here is mine:

Friendship

Gazing up into

The eye of the silver moon

He remembers all

A small boy running

Across a field of white blooms

Chasing a red kite

He raced to catch him

Before he could grab the rope

Of the trailing tail

Summer lasted long

Warm days drifted together -

How he misses them

Life was so simple

Friendship was easy, chasing

A twisting red kite

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: House

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
House

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

Click the link to read other people's flashies... 
http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday-11-house/     
Why not give it a go?

Here is mine:


The house in the forest

In the summer of my mind I spy a house. Windows darkened and curtains drawn, the sun blazes down on the cracked windowpane. Water trickles from a broken drain. Grey paint flakes from the wooden door that has stood against the elements and braved them for so many dark winters long. The red brick is dashed with a few pebbles, but most have been cast out, long gone. On top, a brown-tiled roof sits perched like a well-worn hat that has seen better days and is hurrying off to a second-hand shop, but charity seems to have departed this home. 

In my mind’s eye I see people busying themselves. A woman hangs blankets on a swinging line, a laughing boy cycles nosily, a girl runs rings round a barking, leaping dog, and a stern man huffs and puffs his way through the daily newspaper. 

In my dream I walk for miles in never-ending circles of wandering beneath the dipping branches and the falling yellowing leaves of autumnal mists. I wither in the turning. The rivers run fast towards the end of times, the skies open their arms in mourning. In my dream I turn towards the eyes of glass staring back at me, knowing that the house is me.

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Date

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
Date

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

Click the link to read other people's flashies...

http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday-9-date/     Why not give it a go?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I first read that the prompt was ‘late’, straight away I thought of the song from Alice in Wonderland. You know the one, "I'm late, I'm late for a very important date. No time to say hello, good-bye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late." So that inspired my first Flash today.

Eric's date

He was late. He scurried out of the little green door, which clanged on its hinges. Opening the rusting, metal gate, he hurried down the eeling pathway, jumping over a slow-moving worm on the way.

“Thanks,” said Willy Wormer, breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn’t going to meet the big old Worm Maker in the sky today.

“You're welcome,” mumbled Eric, rushing along the ground.

He’d forgotten his umbrella, which would never do. Eric glanced up at the sky, and sure enough it looked like rain and he was wearing his favourite waistcoat too. It was green with little blue buttons. How he hoped it wouldn’t get wet because then he just wouldn’t give the right impression.

Leaping a puddle, he jumped across the train tracks, one by one, careful to avoid the live rail. Since he was a wee one, his grandfather had lectured him daily on train safety. “Avoid the dastardly choo choo,” he’d wail at the end of every grand performance, which was often scarier than the prospect of a speeding train.

Across the field Eric ran, stopping now and then to greet a familiar spider, beetle or field mouse. After what seemed an eternity, he reached his destination, huffing and puffing. 

Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door to The Wandering Inn and breezed inside. Scanning the wooden tables and chairs, he sighed to himself and smiled. She was there. She’d come after all. The sweetest mouse in all the world was waiting for him, her white fur shining in the light.

Brushing down his waistcoat, Eric strode towards her, his little black eyes sparkling. “I’m so squeaky glad you decided to meet me,” he beamed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How time flies

Music plays softly in the background

A subtle tune fills the boredom

She glances up towards the clock

Tick-tock, it echoes against the wall

An old man sips his lager, cursing

As another waves his paper in the air

The 3.45 hadn’t been a dead cert

After all, and his piggy has run dry

Sara dips her finger in the wine

Runs a tip around the circular shape

It squeaks as though conversing;

How she aches for some chatter

Waiting, how she hates waiting

Why is he forever late?

Can’t he tell that she’s tiring

Of the same old, same old?

Yet she forgives him always

Just as she has these 30 years

Loving him always, no matter

That they spend more time apart

Of secret dates, secluded meets,

This pub aches with age-old stains

She sips the deep red wine

As he saunters through the door

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Giving

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
Giving

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday/

Why not give it a go?


Here are mine... each individual poem was given a maximum of 5 minutes. 

Giving

In the doorway he slumps down

Turning neon below a hotel sign

A trickle of rain bounces off his nose

To patter on the cold stone ground

Passersby give him the cold eye

As he stares out beneath his hat

The night chill wanders around him

Hugs his shoulders tighter yet

Across the street, crowds gather

Queuing noisily to enter the club

In the distance a guitar is wailing

Inside, his hopes are languishing

He remembers times past in light

Faces he once loved and lost

The times they change so swiftly

He almost doesn’t know himself

Here in the doorway, no one stops

Invisible his heart seems to pour

But no one feels it sitting there

They step over his legs, he isn’t here

Down the pavement a girl strides

Hugging her warm coat around her

The lonely man looks up and smiles

At her sweet and bonny face

Peering down again, he sniffs

While the cold sneaks into his toes

Swirls of water chase down the gutter

Carrying a forlorn leaf or two

Yet she stops and speaks and smiles

Spilling coins into his waiting hand

The spirit of giving warms him

Resurrecting the man inside.

Haiku on the theme of giving

Dressed all in pink, she

Recalls her mum, finishing

Her JustGiving race

Walking Shep, she stops

Before the open smile to

Post a greeting card

“Giddy up” shouts Santa,

Chasing the elves with their gifts –

“Christmas is coming!”

Sparkling tinsel lights

Bright boxes eager to thrill

Waking Christmas kids

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Broken

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
Broken

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday/

Why not give it a go?


Broken
(given 5 minutes)

Today I checked the theme of this week’s flash and it was ‘broken’. I thought it was really apt as this week and the last I’ve been glued to the Paralympics. On Monday and tomorrow, I had the honour, and I underline the word ‘honour’, to go and watch these magnificent athletes racing. Winning. Fighting. Overcoming. Not giving up. All of these things so important. Life takes us all on different journeys, throws up different challenges, surprises us, confounds us and sometimes poses us with something that we find difficult to overcome. But these athletes have overcome. I watch with tears in my eyes every time someone crosses the line, and fulfils their dream after years of hard work and determination. Which brings me back to the theme of ‘broken’. What does broken mean? Can such a thing always be overcome? And what of the body and the mind? When are they broken? From watching the Paralympics and these amazing people, I would put forward that nothing is ever truly broken. The spirit is stronger than the body, and the spirit fights back over adversity. A big cheers to the Paralympics athletes. I am in awe.

Dolls

(given 5 mins)

Lopsided smiles

On broken faces

The porcelain cracks

Black lines drawn

Around dark eyes

Red lips beam

The colour smudged

Echoes of a name

Repeated some time

In ages long past

When words frayed

Emotions spent

Childhoods passed

We learn as we cry

We grow as we smile

Giggles at bedtime

Tumbles beside

Running into tomorrow

Pausing to recall

Cracked expressions

Of aged dolls

Some haiku 

(given 5 mins or less for each one)

She fades into dark

Places where sanctitude reigns;

Memories shattered

Snapped into pieces

The doll cries in silences

Tears deep etched in dust

The body broken

Digs deep from the heart to learn

Ways to live again

Into the light she

Shines – before rows of faces

She crosses the line

Despite this cruel crush

The spirit fights in the dark;

A sense of awe shines

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Myths

It's Friday Flash time again...

The prompt is...
Myths

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday/

Why not give it a go?

I did three, allowing up to five minutes for each one.

Two haiku

Enwrapt we hear dark

Tales of Ancient Greece and Rome,

Laden down with myth

A ball of twine led

Theseus from the deadly

Cretan Labyrinth

Myths

In legends of old we read of heroes

Racing to the fore to save damsels

Green men with bows robbing the rich

To give to those without a stitch

Cruel Minotaurs roam dark labyrinths

Where heroes escape by a thread

Poor Arachne spins a web of beauty

Only to grow long spidery legs

Randy Greek gods chasing nymphs

Only to see them turned into trees

Where Narcissus lies and stares and dies

We see reflected these ages of old

Truth to tell or written from the pen?

Are we hearing histories or only myth?

The Indie Exchange #FlashFiveFriday: Woods

It's Friday Flash time again...

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday/

Why not give it a go?

I had three goes, allocating the five minutes to each one.

Tweet

Flying through the woods

Robin tweets, searching for food;

Hopes between branches

Into the woods

Under the branches they walk

Arms entwined through autumn leaves

They make a new path, running

In between trees laden down

With promises and a night escape,

Dancing in between glances

A cool breeze pulls them sideways

As if the wind is keen to part them

The lake sparkles as they greet it

Halfway round the endless woods

Offering a silent sanctuary, away

From the bustle of yesterday

Elfin green

Elfin eyes stare in forest glades
Where the green days run deep
Linger long in the summer sun
Warm rays twinkle upon leaves
A rush of cool air soon ruffles 
The rough fingers of twigs

Smell the glistening rain
As it pelts its way through
Trickling into earthy puddles
It twirls and glitters merrily
Birds sing as they ponder
The elfin eyes that stare

#FlashFiveFriday: #2 – Graveyard

#FlashFiveFriday is a weekly flash fiction/flash blogging prompt run by The Indie Exchange.

The rules are very simple if you’d like to take part:

1) Write for no longer than five minutes;
2) No upper or lower word limits;
3) You must write something new;
4) You can prepare your post ahead of time but the 5 minute limit still applies; and
5) If you add your blog post to the weekly linky you must visit five other blogs that week too to show your support.

http://theindieexchange.com/flashfivefriday/

Here's mine...

Graveyard

Between the fields where no one goes

Sits a graveyard, dank and grim

All alone the blades of grass blow

Back and forth in the chilled breeze

Nothing speaks in the distancing

In between the jagged thin stones

Memories lie undisturbed here

At peace, longing no more to breathe

I step a while through these places

Tracing a path that never was

I can feel the echo of my yesterdays

Now I wonder if they feel me too

Does my warm breath tease them?

Can they hear my every step above?

The hour ticks forth into a new day

Past the witching time to my dismay

My hands are cold, my fingers stiff

Worn, my feet are tired of treading

But here I go, round and round

Tracing this never ending circle

This dance of mine will never end

This life of mine I cannot spend

For it is gone, vanished a while

In the distant past it fled 

I cannot find my shadow here

Bereft I no longer have my voice

Between the grave stones I dance

Alone on this empty uneven path.