Trifecta Writing Challenge #67: Rat Race

RAT RACE… A Nursery Rhyme in 33 words

Life becomes struggle,
To juggle these days.
How did it happen,
I’ve entered a maze.

They say pills have helped,
Ones that they gave.
I’m really not sure,
If I will be saved.

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Trifecta: Week Sixty-Seven

JUGGLE (transitive verb)  Always the third definition… 3: to handle or deal with usually several things (as obligations) at one time so as to satisfy often competing requirements

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I wanted to write something in 33 words, since I missed the recent Trifextra.  I decided to try a poem.  After I wrote it, I didn’t know what form it was, so I consulted the Noted Scandinavian Poet,  Björn Rudberg (who nosed out ‘you know who’, to claim first post this time).  He said it reminded him of a nursery rhyme format, and that was good enough for me… I liked it.  Björn also gave me a few other tips.  If you liked it… Thank you.  If you didn’t… Blame Björn.

Plague Rat Illustration by Emily Veinglory

Trifextra #58: HER HEARTS

HER HEARTS… A 33 word story

I got a call. “I need your help making something.” “Okay, what?”

“A stone heart for Sammie.” “Sammie’s a dog.”

“I know, I want to honor him.” “Okay, then let’s do Buddy too.”

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A dear friend in Sacramento had two miniature poodles.  They were brothers, and had been show dogs… Sammy had died.  She wanted to make memorial stones to place in her garden.  She had studied how to make stepping-stones, so we went to the hardware store and got a bag of cement.  Buddy was still with her, so we got him to ‘autograph’ his stone… he was not pleased about that.  Susan was so happy with them (and we had a lot of cement left over), that we ended up making some more for past and present dogs.  Later, a friend who saw them, asked us to make one for her sister who had loved Betty Boop.  It’s a nice idea, I think… Garden Art with a Meaning.

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Here is the prompt for this weekend’s Triextra Challenge… “We want you to give us a thirty-three word response using the word stone as one of your thirty-three words.  You can use any definition of the word that you’d like, but we are specifically looking for serious, well-conceived entries. “

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p.s.  My friend Betty made a lovely comment below… I thought I would add it to my post…

  “If you are a dog or other animal owner you know that when they are gone they always leave their footprints on your heart.”

Friday Fictioneers: AT THE ART MUSEUM

           AT THE ART MUSEUM… The story of one woman’s obsession in 100 words…

She had reached her Holy Grail. The Baby Rollie trembled in her fingers as she readied to lie on the marble floor.

“Jamie,” Kevin hissed “this is the Guggenheim for Christ’s sake! You can’t just lie down on the floor.”

Entering the art museum, they had worked their way to the exact center of the lobby to get her perfect shot. She had big plans for this picture, and she had to take it with her Rolleiflex. But the viewfinder is on top of the camera, and her photo is straight up.

“Oh the hell with it, I’m doing it!”

GUGGENHEIM
by Jamie Powell Sheppard

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This story is purely fictional, of course, intended to fulfill a photo prompt for Friday Fictioneers.  Any resemblance to anyone named Jamie Powell Sheppard is purely coincidental.  One of my favored possessions is that photograph printed on aluminum… it is spectacular.  Come by my house and I’ll show it to you.  Better yet, visit her website and see all her photographs.

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This week’s FRIDAY FICTIONEERS prompt comes to us from that Canadian Mother, Writer, and Lawyer (so watch out) Jennifer Pendergast.  I could have hugged her when I saw it.

To read other stories by my friends go here… 

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Trifecta Writing Challenge #63: SIR WALTER

“Oh what a tangled path we weave.”

“My, aren’t you the dramatic one! But you’ve got the quote wrong, I don’t think it’s path.”

“What are you talking about, of course it is.  It’s by Shakespeare.”

“Not! I’m gonna look it up.”

“Go right ahead Miss Google-Pants.”

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“Web, Ethel. It’s ‘web’, not ‘path’. I think it was by Sir Walter Scott, not Shakespeare.”

“Think!  Don’t you give me ‘think’, Cheryl, you know damn well who it is, you just looked it up for Christ’s sake!”

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It seems Ethel’s Trifecta woes continue.  This week’s challenge was the third definition of Path..

3a : course, route
b : a way of life, conduct, or though

Here is what Cheryl found at Wikipedia…

Friday Fictioneers: BIG DAY

”Coffee, Tea or Me?”

Oh God, Renee’s in her stewardess mode again.  She should know by now I don’t like to play “Fly Me to the Moon”.

“Come on, let’s get you undressed Mr. Grumpy-face”.

Ooh… watch it with the arm, bitch.  Why can’t Jan do this?  I hate Renee’s baths, she gets the water too cold, and leaves me sitting too long.  

“Big day today, sweetheart.  Do you want to wear the blue shirt or the tan one.”

Why does she always ask me?  I don’t even remember what blue looks like.

“Okay then, the blue one.”


“Hello Grandpa!!!”

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Big thanks to Rich Voza for taking this week’s Photo Prompt for the Friday Fictioneers 100 Word Flash Fiction.
If you want to join in with your some of own writing, see Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Read my friends stories here…

Friday Fictioneers: THE PART’S THE THING

The familiar faces adorning the entrance to the Globe Theatre emerged from the fog, reminding Mr. James Teach how much in demand his services were. With his lithe frame and lyric voice he always got the part. Problem was, he was tired of playing maidens.

The Drury Lane manager had put in a good word to the playwright of a new work about a prince in Denmark. James was confident of landing the part of Laertes, he had been practicing sword-fighting for days now.

There was the familiar bald pate.

“Ah, Mr. Teach, how would you like to play Ophelia?”

Laertes and Ophelia by William Gorman Wills

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My 100 Word Flash Fiction based on the photo by sculptor and writer Claire Fuller of one of her works.  Thanks once again to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers.  To read all the stories inspired by Claire’s piece, go here…

Trifextra Wrighting Challenge #53: “DIALOGUE”

“Dialog?  What the hell kind of prompt is that?”
“For cryin’ out loud, Ethyl, it’s simple.  Write 33 words of a conversation.”
“But I want a picture, a definition.”
“You’re not getting one.”

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The Trifextra Writing Challenge…  “For the weekend prompt we’re asking for exactly 33 words of dialogue.”