A very hot plate; one I was warned not to #touch. I burned my lesson. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky

Lo! In the beginning, my herbal shampoo was invigorating—marvelously, triumphantly invigorating. Yet, as the moons waxed and waned, it was no longer invigorating. Is there some arcane rite, some foamy alchemy, by which I might #reinvigorate my shampoo, that it may once more invigorate me? #vss365

And it came to pass, the Lord of Winter gathered the snows of the mountains. With mighty arm He formed them, round and terrible, and cast them into the firmament. And lo, it became a sign in heaven: a fiery star, trailing frost. Thus was born the wandering flame mortals call a #comet. #whistpr

The #moth fluttered into the haberdashery, its wings dusted with threads. "Mr. Moth!" said the tailor. "Back so soon?" "I'm afraid the splendid suit you made me is already in tatters," Mr. Moth confessed. "And worse yet—I must admit, I am the hapless one responsible for its tattering." #vssdaily

We #anchor ourselves to reality to prove reality exists, but the anchor itself requires proof of its own reality. The anchor anchors nothing if nothing needs anchoring. Yet without the anchor, we drift in the very nothingness we sought to anchor ourselves against. #blueskyrelay

A #somber hombre sombrero shades searing sun brim shelters his glare - You can shade the body from the sun, but not the mind from its shadows. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky

Has the path of human society already been determined? #Perhaps— though only if it isn’t, now. Can we draw any conclusions from the past? Perhaps— though only if it wasn’t, and so it is, or might be. What about the future? Is it predictable? Perhaps— though only if it never is. #vss365 #poetry

The trip to #Panacea was delayed due to a stevedore's strike. Actually, it was several stevedores—a whole dock of them, in fact. All the stevedores, except for one, who was at home with a sick child. Little girl I think. Slight fever, some chills; they’re worried about pneumonia. #blueskyrelay

Beethoven plays on the speakers in the background—Für Elise, surely. I'm certain—it was I who put it on my playlist—right after Baby Shark. I raise my fingers above my keyboard, like Beethoven before a baby grand, and start typing. After a moment I lower my hands so my fingers reach the keys. #vss

#Cascades #eternal, Aeons like stars crowd my mind— Yet still I recall. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

#Eternal barrow, #Infinite graves about me— Yet none claim my name. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

This woman I know was born on the island of Montserrat—before the catastrophic eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano. Now this grand-lady would never tell anyone her age, and since her birth records were swallowed up in fire, ash, and a rather rude river of lava, she can never prove it. #vss365

"Pardon the #extrusion," spouted the Flex Hose. "I’ve got a hot rinse cycle on the line in twenty minutes. You understand." The brass fitting almost said, "Screw you," to the hoser. "Have a thread of decency! I’ve been waiting patiently since the plumber went on his third smoke break." #vss365

I was invited to Lucille and Desi's pool for a swim. She was floating on a pink flamingo. Well, of course it was pink. "Oh, I know I'm no Marilyn, but these lips haven't clocked out yet," she croaked, hoarse but grinning at her own joke —the very one I had written for her. 1/2 #writing #vss

I’ll #write a second piece about a #prompt. I might even write that second prompt twice. I might even—and in stronger words, ever even, and again, once more, with still better grammar—quote-post that prompt, then use that very prompt again in that post, making it both a new post and a repost.

Ernest permitted his most intimate circle of friends to call him Ernie. By "circle," he meant a ring of chalk on the parlour floor—just wide enough for himself and his Rhymers’ Club chair. The chair, he was fond of hinting, he would gladly share with anyone—provided they remained outside the circle.

Frightfully inconsiderate, really—an ancient shrubbery endowed with speech catches fire in the wilderness and suddenly everyone's forming queues to hear its pronouncements. Yet not one soul possessed sufficient presence of mind to simply douse the flaming bush with a goatskin. #writing

Ernie Rhys earned his earnest name By earnest work at #earnest game; Earnestly earning earnest praise For earnest songs in earnest lays. "Poetry," said he—earnestly, too— "Should lift the minds of humble crews; But not too high, lest we descend, And poets prove the fools they tend." #poem #emoetry

Civilization was meant to be progress: smartphones, democracy, oat milk. Yet every vote is a quarrel—what counts as fire, what counts as smoke, and why fight at all when the flames are rebranded as eco-friendly sparks and artisanal ash? The #myth is that we ever stopped burning. #whistpr #vss

Be curt, or #belong, presume thyself Donkey Kong, let loose yon barrels! #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

The Lotus Esprit S1 in The Spy Who Loved Me was actually six Lotuses—Lotus’s? Loti?—and only one went underwater, though I remain convinced all six could. Officially, only one #Lotus bore submarinal expectations, while three were mere models and the rest, presumably, amphibious at heart. #vssdaily

The 8:35 into Paddington drew in at 8:38, its #arrival held back at Slough by a porter chasing a runaway luggage trolley. The great clock agreed with me: my Waltham Riverside 1890, which I’d feared was fast, was in fact unerring—a precision not shared by the porter. #blueskyrelay #writing

I #conspired to write about conspiracy theories, but the words plotted against me—planting coded commas, weaponizing semicolons, and redacting dashes. It wasn’t a story about conspiracy theories at all, but the conspiracy theory itself—disguised as a microstory about conspiracy theories. #vss365

The man at my door holding a clipboard (the man, not the door) was asking far too many questions—his census #overwhelming my #senses. So I reached for my clipboard, which I keep hanging on the inside of the door, and began asking him questions. The first was: "Can you please leave?" #blueskyrelay

If you want to succeed in business, strap in: take the bull by the horns, strap reins to those horns, and rein in the reined-up bull with those very reins—while keeping a tighter #rein on reining itself than on the bull. And that’s how you succeed in the bull-horn-reining business. #vss365

The drapes are pulled back— A vampire tastes sunshine’s #kiss… I was that vampire. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

They noshed my hostas— then they grazed on my daisies. They're still #deer to me. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

Boring, boresome people—they #bore so easily. Only the onset of boredom is of any interest to them. I’ve seen boredom from a distance, on the ocean, steering a two-hulled catamaran called the SS Borefest across a stretch of dull water as unremarkable as lukewarm tea. It looked like fun. #whistpr

Rain all morning. Rain all day. Reign on my parade— there's simply too much rain today. If no sunshine's forecast, if it's showers all the way, we'll #rein in the parade planner and ask, "What the hell, man? I spent three days blowing up balloons for the school float!" #vss365

The Cardinal's chamber was thick with incense and rolling papers. He regarded me from a throne-like chair, all solemn robes and suspicion. I produced a shining brass #compass, flipped it open, and pointed solemnly. "These are the cardinal points," I said. "They're named after you!" #vssdaily

I was visiting the Fipple-Flute family for Sunday tea. Mrs. Fipple-Flute offered me a lime rickey to wet my #whistle, while Mr. Fipple-Flute—"Please, call me Ricky"—suggested we play a little music and laid out a selection of woodwinds to blow, finger, and fondle. 1/2 #blueskyrelay

Puss in Boots fled before the Ogre, springing in leaps and bounds. Yet, by rare mischance, Le Maître Chat stumbled—an accident most unbecoming so dexterous a cat. Pausing in great vexation, Puss took stock of his provisions, and there discovered, to his dismay, that he was #boundless. #vssdaily

#Mums for me dear mum, She'll pop 'em in a jam jar, Set 'em on t'sill. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

#Traveling by coach, setting the stage for bruised cheeks— don't miss that carriage. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

Flint was disqualified from the international #Flinch tournament—not for flinching (he hadn’t)—but for failing a doping test that detected an anti-flinching agent banned by the IFF. Flint denied taking anything knowingly—and did so with an impressively straight face. #vss365

And those pantaloons were expensive, #styled after the royal trousers of Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony. A rather fashion-forward cut, the sort one might wear if torn between attending a picnic or a duel or two duels and a brunch. I paid 5 pantaloons for those slightly-torn pants. #vss365

I once tried my hand at painting, but the result sucked. So I switched to my dominant hand and managed to stay inside the lines. The outcome was what critics might call abstract realism—though my art teacher preferred "decadently grotesque kitsch," a #style I thought sounded pretty cool. #vss365

Denim on denim was once considered fashionable. Rugged made sense when life itself was rugged. But denim stacked upon denim soon lost its logic—especially for those who rarely bore calluses. The double denim #style makes little sense to writers who experience enough chafing from critics. #vss365

#Craving Kraft Dinner (it's macaroni and cheese) Do add more cheese, please. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words

I consider myself a man of fashion—not current fashion, mind you, but fashionable once. "In style" has never really been my #style. I've never been able to tell if someone’s wearing an official uniform, a bold new trend, or a very committed costume. These pantaloons are not cosplay. #vss365

I wanted to shake the hand of the individual who created the Shepherd's Pie yorkie, a Shepherd's Pudding filled with meat and potatoes and gravy and such. No, not 'such' as a literal ingredient, good heavens! We're not barbarians, spooning abstract concepts into our batter! ...and maybe onions. #vss

I remember #writing, hearing, telling, or stealing a #joke about the Enterprise’s dilithium crystals being swapped out for Folgers Crystals. I wrote some Star Trek in my day, back on Earth, during the day, when people ached for Star Trek like no one has ached before. 1/2 #StarTrek #vss365

Cicero said he preferred #wine to Caesars, but I don’t recall ever seeing him drink, or hearing him say he loved wine. Cicero, not #Caesar. Words in place of wine, wine in place of #words, wine for Caesar, then a Caesar for Caesar, and a toothpick for stabbing—the olive, not Caesar.

Once you’ve heard everything said, and heard it said by everyone, you’re never surprised when someone says something. You’re less likely to react, because you’ve probably already reacted that way the first time that something was said. #writing #philosophy #humour

Hate can be so casual. Just a part of a rambling conversation that stands out like a spike. The thought inside me, 'Did they really say that?". Disbelief that they built up such an informal intense hate just by listening to radio all the time.

I might’ve picked up a #writing habit or two—perhaps more than one, maybe even more than two—from a mnemonic master and his masterful work. The master being Walter J. Ong, and the work of the master being Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, the work of words at work. #booksky

"Blast it!" I cried, furious we were out of blasting caps. Our tunnel was doomed—until Billy unearthed a cap beneath the powder keg. "Blast it, Billy!" I roared, when Billy didn't tamp the damn charge. Then Billy really blew it. Good #glory, you should've seen the size of that hole. #vssdaily

There’s a new #hate in town. Ain't any different from the old hate. Weren't too far off from the hate afore that, nor the hate afore the hate that came after the time before. Ain't never been a time without hate. Ain't never will. An' you can't shoot hate in the foot—'cause then yer hated yerself.

I attempted to summon a hyper-cosmic concept for Science Fiction Friday, but instead a hollow transmission echoed: "Are you finished with your soup?" Moments later, the frequency shifted, metallic and urgent—"Dale, are you even listening to me?"—as if the cosmos itself were cross. #scififri

Troy's weight weighed in #stones ounce for ounce, lighter than pounds, Penny weighed way less. #HaikuFeels #DailyHaikuPrompt #Senryu #Haiku #HaikuSky #HaikuChallenge #Poetry #MicroPoetry #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WriteSky #SkyPoets #writing #poem #words