Now I Shall Be Spectacular

A seed blew into my garden. It took root, sprouted and grew unnoticed until wisps of honeysuckled air come-hithered me. So spectacular was the flower that I gobbled it up, fruit and all.

33 words for the last . No topic, no word, just a free write.

Lisa. Joules. You rock. Trifectans. < 3

Rapture at 101Fiction, #Issue3

The first full day of Spring seems like a good one to put up the link to my story at 101Fiction's #Spring #Issue3

               Rapture

I'll get up a translation soon. There are thirteen stories, all about Spring. And other things : )

Tramuntana

Gusts like wrecking balls howl the picnic table through our bay window. The majestic red maple, shorn of its roots, clasps the jeep in a fierce, shimmering embrace. Nothing will satisfy this keening banshee.

33 words for , including SATISFY  (transitive verb) 3a : to make happy : please   b : to gratify to the full : appease

Amor Roma

Pleased to be one of 5 winners for this second-to-last Trifextra. Gold is good.

  Fingers fluttering,

arms floating high above

staccato crack, heels pounding wood.

Over swishing train, flamenco dances;

Sara Baras dances, flamenco train swishing over

wood. Pounding heels crack staccato.

Above high-floating arms,

fluttering fingers.

33 words for , one of which must be a palindrome.
This poem is not a palindrome, but if each word were a letter, it would be : )
 * The title means Roma, or Gypsy, Love. And here is Sara Baras: 

            

Journal Entry

Forget trying to worm that adolescent code out of me. You do not want to release the hurricane sequestered in these pages. Braver souls have succumbed; stronger egos have wilted. Just walk away.

33 words for , including WORM (transitive verb) 3 :  to obtain or extract by artful or insidious questioning or by pleading, asking, or persuading —usually used with out of: wormed the truth out of him 

Tyrants Are Not To Be Dissuaded

  So, Pussy Riot, gorgeous girls. Whenever I saw them, poor things, I would yell: “Fuck Putin!” Always, this Russian thug would appear, try to hop into my bed. Wouldn’t listen when I said that wasn’t what I meant.

33 words for , to precede the phrase "That wasn't what I meant".

The Name of the Game Is Resilience

This story was awarded bronze for Trifecta 112, so I decided to tart up the post a bit with the editors' glowing review here : ) Thanks again, Tri!

"Rounding out our top three is the ever fabulous Kymm in Barcelona who gave us The Name of the Game is Resilience.  In the comments, someone likened the piece to a Tarantino film, and that seems a pretty appropriate fit.  When a writer has such command of the language that she can take risks such as these, you tend to get a really good read."

Jeanine and her makeover walked into a bar. The door shushed behind her, propelled her across the entryway. Via the doorjamb, standing speaker, barstool and pillar, she felt her way to the first empty table, grabbed the back of a chair with both hands and held on. ‘Get your bearings, Jeanine,’ she heard Chrissie’s voice admonish, and Chrissie was right, of course. The chair Jeanine clutched was facing the wall. The wall would never delight in her low-cut blouse and expensive haircut. Jeanine sidled over to the next chair, using the backs as a safety rope. When she heard a chorus of laughter break out at the far end of the bar, she made sure to place her rump squarely in the seat before satisfying her curiosity. College kids. Oh! Callooh! Callay! In her direct line of vision, she now noticed the couple - clipped from a spread in a fashion magazine - who were utterly absorbed in chewing each others’ tongues off. Jeanine tried to look away, but there was that wall again.

‘Get up and go sit at the bar,’ Chrissie’s voice hollered.

‘I will not get up now that I’ve sat down,’ Jeanine thought petulantly. ‘Barkeep!’ she thought emphatically. She tried raising her finger, but the barista was directly behind the tongueboarding couple Jeanine found impossible to avoid. She knew, she just knew, at some point they would turn to stare at her with slack-jawed expressions and one of them would drawl: ‘You’re pathetic, Jeanine.’

Jeanine shook her head. She cut Chrissie off: ‘I know, I know, I’m projecting. If I’m ever to vanquish this funk, that attitude has got to go.’

The door opened and in walked a cowboy, a doctor and a millionaire. Jeanine straightened her necklace. He was surely none of those, yet his shaggy brown hair and bomber jacket were aiming directly for Jeanine’s table. Jeanine’s makeover smiled. Jeanine held her breath as he stopped, grasped one of the chairs and asked: ‘Is this seat taken?’

333 words for , including FUNK (noun) 3 :  SLUMP  an economic funk;  the team went into a funk