He sits in the #corner and plugs a ratty #cord into an old guitar. Strums tuneless chords as a pale sun wanders across the floor. The day gone with numb fingertips, like his life. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He opened the fridge. One #precious #can of beer and nothing else. Sure there was a half-bottle of mayo, but what good was that without any sandwich fodder? He thought perhaps he should get his life in order. He decided to drink the beer. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Far off hillside painted a #bonny gold in the morning as the sun breaks the horizon. A misty verdant sight only a few days back, now don't go too close, or the reality will ruin spectacle. For rampant flowering #weeds hath conquered that lush hill. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

They ate a #soup of rainwater and crackers, warmed to tepid by a scorching sun as the ocean played a #harmony lapping against the side of the #lifeboat. Only two survivors, yet they found a shipwreck love story. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Getting fresh air under the #awning of my favorite dive, protected against a demonstrative rain. #Lightning flashes, painting the night clouds a dark blue like the soft moan of a tenor sax in a smoky bar back in the day. Sometimes you can't escape the blues. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

I beheld a mighty king, perhaps the most remarkable of all time. I witnessed his #magnanimous #court, where he listened to the needs of the folks most in need, for the wealthy had no seat. He held these every Tuesday, after which everyone had free tacos. What a dream. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Ruins perch in a foggy hollow. Once a #bountiful land, despotism and greed sowed the seeds of downfall. Nature #claimed its right, tall trees and rough brush warding off the creeping evil wrought by humankind. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Still life in black and white when reality is all grey. As we age, the #lethargy of the #shutter blurs, no matter how hard we try to keep focus. The cruel limit of time's aperture. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Their sense of security crumbled in an instant, like being protected by some perpetual sentinel who steadfastedly yanks the cannon's #lanyard to #fire upon an enemy he cannot see, as #cataracts have settled in during his years of loyalty. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Stateside it's #splendor. Across the pond it's #splendour. Either way, the word is precise in its usage describing the magnificence of #curly fries. Or is it #curly chips? #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Workin' on a mystery like Tom Petty, though whiskey distracts the following of leads. Hard to stay dogged when the #velocity of justice would befuddle Sisyphus. Easy to hide in the dark confines of a dive bar. #vss365 #amwriting

"He's a bad dude." "How bad can he be? I mean, a #criminal is a criminal, right?" "I would call him #orbital. Everything around him is sucked into his delinquent gravitational pull." "We should eclipse him." "Your mixed metaphor is also criminal." #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

#Stellar dreams crashed to Earth like so many toy rockets. His optimism converted to #contempt in a linear trek as his plans failed, though he'd dever admit his complicity. Fate made a convenient scapegoat. I pitied him each time he shook his fist at me from his porch. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He #knowingly chose to be #heartless. Wrapped himself in a cocoon of whiskey and apathy. That way, no one could break his heart. Until one day, that #cat swaggered into his life and rescued him. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Cats #crazed reliably each morning until their bowl I fill. Cacophony of havoc until the tinkle of kibble fills their bowl. They still think me #unfit in feeding responsibilities. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

I characterized him as an unserious dude with a tenuous grasp on veracity. He once said, "Like writing a check, speaking the truth is #bouncy. Maybe there's something there, maybe not. Who's to tell?" #vss365 #amwriting

I hike deep into the #mountainous peaks, #lawless from humankind's rule, nature's will supreme. Crisp pine air fills my lungs. It's thinner up here, but that makes it more precious. It is good civilization can't perch this high. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He fled each day to the #enchanted #kettle as the crushing nonsense of the world closed in. Those last moments of steeping always seemed the longest, but at last he had the tea which helped him #evade his troubles. Of course, the kettle wasn't magic at all. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

#Miniscule steps to unwrap the #cover-up, like plucking off pieces of an ancient sticker. Patience is the weapon of the dogged detective. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Curious, those "men" of power. Mostly fools whose character growth stunted at about twelve when some #locunae went unfilled. Love, friendship, compassion. Like spinning the cylinder of a six-gun. Where will it land? What will it #destroy? Hopefully not all of us. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He sat alone in his study, an untended fire dying in smoldering embers. He had long forgotten how to #pardon himself of #dark thoughts in unhappy times. So he spiraled into staring into the abyss, which had grown tired of him and no longer bothered staring back. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

The missiles launched on a Wednesday. "Hump day," as we mere mortals longed for a weekend which would never come again, only nuclear winter. What better angles we should have had, rather than those weaned on the #touch of #hatred. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

The sun hid below treetops opposite the lake, still water waiting in anticipation. A mourning dove's soft song floated like fog, taking its shift as the loons retired. Then dual sunrises exploded in sky and water, so #beautiful I #ached. #vss365 #BookishTues #amwriting

They died alone. No one mourned, for they might as well not even been a memory. Into a database they went, so many Jane and John Does. Those poor souls now resting in the #Bone #Files. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Self-inflicted #wounds, those deep in the confines of a #cult, #wound tight 'round the finger of a fraudulent yet sanctimonious leader. One thing they have in common, the followers and their leader: all they care about is the leader. Never has a cult had a happy ending. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Each night he retreated into the bookshelf-lined redoubts of his study and crafted a fire within a small hearth. Then, slumped into a battle-weary chair, the flames' light dancing #lambent upon watchful book spines, he drifted off, #drunk from memories. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

What #ghosts are these, who linger past memory's expiration and haunt the subliminal? Roaming the forgotten halls of the mind in #unqualified doubt, never to be exorcised by the self. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

What #pains we endure each day. The #inept are only outmatched by the vain, and often they are one in the same, conspiring to make the day insufferable. I also stubbed my little toe. Decidedly, then, I made #pasta for dinner. After all, I'd earned it. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Most folk were good people and didn't deserve their fate, but some had #corrupt #souls and managed to avoid him. As a reaper, he didn't make the list, he just followed it. But what if he made his own list? He smiled within the darkness of his hood. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

With groceries in hand, he escaped the market though his paycheck didn't. Fretting #impeached promises of a better tomorrow, he turned on the radio. Music soothes the most worried mind but speakers droned corporate algorithms. The #thrum of constant disappointment. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Hard work at the #gym followed by wondrous pizza #obfuscates results. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He #quivered at the thought of a deep-muscle #massage, aching after days of hard work for little pay. Then again, he hated people, so found himself content at a dim booth in a dimmer bar, a whiskey working its magic. Solitary in plain sight. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

As the year #wanes to #autumn, and the trees give their annual gift like slow fireworks of foliage, still he cannot help but dread the oncoming doom of winter, whose #scope of loss is unknowable. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Too much time spent indoors, idle on the couch. Too much food, which to him was exactly the right amount. Now he stared in the mirror, #bloated to the #cusp of bursting. He figured he did the holidays right, then. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Other praised the resilience of his optimism. It became a defining feature but destined for failure. When each day, a morning #drizzle of misfortune ended in an evening #hurricane, eventually he punched walls and said words which would make a dirty politician blush. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

An old man once told me to beware the coming storm. "Take heed," he said. "For there is no wrath like #nature #unmoored." I'm not sure what he meant, but I've been terrified ever since. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Hold fast, for just around the #bend there is light. Wait, beyond that corner is a new day. Watch, as this doom is sure to dissipate, and when it happens, #exhale at last. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

The #puppy #looms over the bone of some poor, #extinct creature. If I take a step, the dog will pounce in some instinctual and inevitable game. One thing is for certain, the pup really wants me to take that step. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

We sit in the #raft, drifting at sea, #searing under a relentless sun. We lost our oars overboard fighting over the last beer at the mouth of the river, pitching us to our doom. Two idiots roasting like tater tots forgotten in an air fryer. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

"What's your sign?" he asked, like it mattered. "Is that the best you can do?" she replied. "They mean something. The signs." "Oh yeah?" "Trust me. From the heart." "If the #zodiac is as #heartfelt as you get," she said, "next, please." #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

He came across as quite #wonky. He wore #goggles instead of glasses, his clothes disheveled beyond the hope of an iron, and hair like he'd stuck a finger in a socket. Like a young Doc Brown without the time-travel genius, though he did once try to steal plutonium. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

One summer day, our mom made us root beer #floats. We ate them while sitting on the front #stoop, racing against the sun as it melted thick scoops of vanilla into the sweet, tingly soda. For that moment, at least, we felt like kings of the #neighborhood. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

Two #finches perch upon the wreath on my front door. They hurry and hassle, flit and fidget, chirp and chatter. Now a #slapdash nest is nestled within the wreath, and I cannot use my front door this spring. The songs are nice, though. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

We huddle 'round the conveyor belt, a dingy, rubber river with scuffed stainless banks. The belt is like a lottery, spewing out #luggage in the chaos of people catching up or coughing. I hope my #delivery comes soon and is not lost in Des Moines. $50 for this pleasure. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Thumbtacked posters #adorn faux-wood panelled walls. Shag carpet the color of a sun-bleached lion rests below a few couches whose upholstery is busier than O'Hare during the holidays. Descend #downstairs into a musty time capsule. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

A dark room on a day with no responsibilities is filled with the sparce taps of rain upon the roof. After a welcoming introductory sonata, the shower soon swells into a full #symphony, nature's #passport to relaxation. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

On a Tuesday, he had #embarked on a plan to commit a bit of light #treason. However, when the car wouldn't start, he got a bit #spooked. What else could go wrong? In the end, he went back inside and had a nice bowl of popcorn. #vss365 #vssdaily #BookishTues #amwriting

What an #oddball. He ate cereal without milk, faced the wrong way in an #elevator, and gave honest, detailed answers whenever someone asked, "How are you?" #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

Sodium vapor street lights hum in the night, painting city streets yellow as footsteps tap in #regret. An old friend called fog comes along to dabble in the mood. Atmospheric noir on a weeknight always seems so #bleak. #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting

"You're always so pessimistic. Try focusing on happy memories or something." "Like what?" "What about a pleasant meal you had as a kid?" "I #recall finding a #beak in my fried chicken once." "I said happy memories." "Best I can do." #vss365 #vssdaily #amwriting