Hit the Trail – #fridayflash #amwriting

Thank you for stopping in to read my #fridayflash….. if that’s what we can call it; some may consider it more poem-like. I wrote Hit the Trail last fall after we hiked in the Great Smoky Mountains, (okay, the truth is I scribbled it as we left the mountains for home and the hubby was hitting every pothole in sight), then I tucked it away and forgot about it. I just have rediscovered it and wonder if it’s worth a diddle, or if I should’ve kept it hidden. I appreciate you taking a moment to offer me your honest opinion.  

Be sure to visit Mad Utopia  or the Friday Flash Community for more great flash fiction by outstanding authors!

Hit the Trail is rated G according to my standards.

Great Smoky Mountains – Image by Wikipedia

Hit the Trail, by Deanna Schrayer

Sky overcast, hazy, hurts your eyes to look at – strenuous! Humid day, clothing already wet when sweat drips, sliding down spine, cheeks – itchitchitch, dripping from forehead, pools up inside sunglasses, hips and legs screaming in pain as if climbing mountain is first action they’ve ever taken. Finally reach the last steep stretch and head tingles – halo of hornets circling in search of place to build home. Cicadas buzz all around in orchestra of heated song while faint hum of traffic drones in distance. Tinges of autumn appear in ground cover, mustard-colored, deepest recesses of oaks and maples dry as in months-long draught. Bright yellow salamanders – neon blue tails – skitter across roots sticking up out of ground almost crushed by heavy feet, they’re playing chicken. The climb! Rocks size of Colorado boulders jut up out of trail, on either side of trail intent on tripping you up or squeezing you in cold dark embrace.

*****

Bloggerland has lost a great man. Click here to read about the Late Great Professor B. Worm on my nonfiction site, The Life of a Working Writer Mommy.

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Recurrence: a poem – #amwriting

Most of you know that, though I am not a poet, I occasionally pen a poem because….well, that’s just the way the story comes out of my head. Here’s one I wrote after feeling inspired by the poetry of Ted Hughes, (don’t miss Ouija, which is in the book Birthday Letters  –eerie and shocking!).

I hope you all enjoy Recurrence!

Recurrence, by Deanna Schrayer

Not the savory aroma of clove-infused

Black cigarettes,

Nor the taste of over-ripe

Peaches drenched in champagne.

Not the knee-knocking sight

Of misty ghost-eyes

Brushed by blistered knuckles,

Nor even the shock

Of rum-moist tongue

Devouring my parched lips.

None of these so convincing as

His voice

Quivering the memory-spot

Of my soul

With its soft murmur

Of shouted whispering

Sweet-somethings,

Deepest of faux truths

Into my ears

Singed to crisp rustles,

As breath suspends mid-twilight

Above my eyes

Shut open to this

Over-and-over

Specter

Of twenty years —-

Shot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Click here to visit my nonfiction site, The Life of a Working Writer Mommy.

 

Desire ~ For Jim – #fridayflash

My #fridayflash this week comes in the form of a poem, something I rarely write, and even more rarely share, (I’ve never studied poetry and so do not know the many different forms, and even less of the way those forms should be used).

Desire did begin as a flash piece, called Belonging, but when I experimented with it, removing many conjunctive words, moving the remaining words around, etc, I felt it worked better as a poem.

Although the narrator of Desire is a man, a man madly in love with his woman, it was written for my husband, Jim, the greatest man on the face of the earth, who took me out for our first date on Valentine’s Day, fourteen years ago. I love you Jim!

Be sure to visit Mad Utopia for more great flash fiction by outstanding authors!

Desire  is rated PG according to my standards. 

_________________________________________

Desire, by Deanna Schrayer 

For Jim

I awake

you aren’t here.

Where have you gone?

Never have I felt so lonely!

The first time,

since we met,

I left sleep

found you…

gone.

Six lingering but remarkably swift months

you’ve been here,

beside me,

never anywhere else

just here

beside me

Always against me

for me.

So used to your warm body

next to mine

confused

without you,

freezing, lost.

You belong here,

next to me.

I need you so much!

Behind my eyes:

You, dancing on scorching beach,

just as the day

I first saw you

Your long, impossibly black hair

bouncing in rhythm

to the bongo beat

village boy pounding

Your Caribbean eyes

sparkling sapphire in champagne

Your slim, copper arms

waving in wet air

as if to fly away

any moment.

I dared step towards you,

slowly –

a hungry, skittish cat!

The ocean breeze

blew your scent

my way.

My God, the spice!

My mouth watered

in want

of your taste.

Waters now,

in want

in need

Such need!

Your pillow in my chest,

hoping the softness

of your spirit

will calm

my erratic heartbeat.

I Inhale

deep as my trembling bones allow,

close my eyes,

breathe in

sweet scent of you –

a squall of cinnamon-sprinkled sunshine 

Pray you return

I can’t face any further

aloneness.

Your warm, salty lips

on mine.

What a dream!

But no –

it isn’t a dream.

 You’re here! You’re really here!  

How could I ever think you’d leave me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jim and me. We were in NYC for the day, the day after Christmas, two days before our ninth anniversary, in 2005 – wow, where did the time go?! (I look a bit flushed because we’d just walked in the freezing cold about seventy-eight blocks, and I’m fairly certain I’m not exaggerating!)

Jim and Deanna

Today, February 10^th, begins Celebration of Love Week, so hop to it, celebrate the love in your life!

  

Calling all writers – join in the fun and build your platform!

Jim Wisneski, artist extraordinaire, hosts a contest each week on his site Writers ‘n Writers, called #alineatatime. A photo is posted on the site and Jim tweets the link. Go to the photo and write just one line about it, and send it to Jim privately, (contact details available on his site). Your line could be included in a poem and published in Soft Whispers Magazine. It’s that easy!

It’s amazing how these lines from several different writers come together to form such lyrical prose. Check it out! Just go to Twitter and search the hashtag #alineatatime, or visit Writers ‘n Writers.

Thanks very much to Jim Wisneski for this fantatstic opportunity!