On gratitude — At the flagging end of the year, here I am Beholden to all the gifts showered on me Crown on my head, love in my heart Dearly holding me close, warming my soul Every time I slipped, every time I swayed Finding my path anew, doorways opened up Gratitude follows…

4th Friday Prompt: instruments of direction — Directions are critical; you need a compass to know where you’re going So when you wake in muddy water you will know which way is up and which way is down Directions are critical — north, south, up, down, right, left, a map, compass, or gps Anything will do when…

2nd Friday Prompt: let it go — Loosen the grip of those tight fingers, let it go Stop fighting the good fight, let it go Your north star blurs and even douses a-time, let it go The candle flickers and burns out, let it go The fledgling you saved will not make it, let it go The child…

A break from prompt week to celebrate James — Goodbye, my friend. A few days back, some of us that are connected on social media learned that our dear friend and co-writer on several publications, James Brennan, passed away. I will take a break from the prompt series this week, to both create a space where we can speak…

2nd Friday Prompt: retell a known tale — Thousands of years, marinating in anger. Thousands of years of purifying the red-hot tip of anger’s spear, through the white-hot oxy-acetylene torch of concentrated time. Thousands of years of that heat encapsulated in the cold nitrogen ice of anger hardened by the passage of eternity. The first thousand years there…

4th Friday Prompt: something in between — Tucked away, out of sight. Somewhere in the folds of the in-between places, I lie. Not quite dead, not quite alive. Not quite asleep, not quite awake. Creature of the twilight, I open my eyes at dawn, and once more at dusk. In those in-between endless hours, I lie waiting…

4th Friday Prompt: recall a dream — I am certain I will be seen. And if I am seen, it will all be over. I hear the rushing in of the moonlit ocean, and wonder if the tide will soften the sand underneath the house we are in. And I pause at the “we” my mind has…

2nd Friday Prompt: what does this city mean to you? — Forty-three missed calls. My breath catching my throat, I rushed to the elevators, dialing with one hand. Minutes later, the noise of the hotel had receded. Replaced with the loud pounding of my heart, the only sound I could hear now. I walked to the window, the absurdity of Vegas…

4th Friday Prompt: borrow from this quote — Lightning never travels in a straight line. Until that day, the day we met for the first time. I was subliminally aware of a kind of danger, some sort of underlying pulse that was unknown, and potentially combustible. So, I ran away. For days after, I could feel the texture…