A beautiful villa

August 31, 2026 Chris Hall35 Comments

What a wonderful villa, as she smiled to herself. Is it all for me, for a week and a half? But no, just a couple of rooms at the top. Still, that’s fine, as she climbed up the outside steps, while lugging her big bag and her rucksack.

She opened the door, and dumped her stuff on the bed, then flung one of the windows out and looked. Wow and wow… what a vista! This was absolutely perfect. She grinned a lot, but just to herself.

she is a writer
and sometimes she’s a poet
so what will she do?

~~~

Image credit: Ryan Spencer @ Pexels

This image shows a small villa in a Mediterranean island. There is a light blue gate and we can see stairs going up on the side of the house. Flowering vines can be seen on one side of the gate.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What Do You See #356 photo prompt.

What do you see # 356- 31 August, 2026

A little red car up there

August 29, 2026 Chris Hall28 Comments

those trees and bushes
are elegant in different hues,
so many green shades
in the great colour wheel,
very blissful and calming.

Colour, like features, follow the changes of the emotions.

but what is up there?
gosh, it’s a little red car!
vibrant, isn’t it,
but how did it get to there?
no clue, but fun, we’re grinning!

– Pablo Picasso

~~~

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #101

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 79, Color as a Metaphor, 8/25/26

A hornets resolution

August 28, 2026 Chris Hall58 Comments

Photo Prompt © Dale Rogerson

A hornets resolution

“Why have we got such a bad press? I mean, we are not deliberately cross.”
“No indeed. We live in our group, like aunties and uncles, and we are busy and productive.”
“We always do many things each day, although fun is not our normal state.”
“No, sadly not.”
“However, we can be helpful, and actually pleasant as well. Believe me.”

“So, what can we do, we are wondering?”
“A challenge?”
“Well, we can say that.”

“So let’s make a statement.”
“We’re pretty nice, and most of the time.”
“You know, we could have a party?”
“What a splendid idea!”

~~~

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

28 August 2026

A dithering day? (Tales from the SSC&B)

August 26, 2026August 27, 2026 Chris Hall49 Comments

William Bereza on Unsplash

The red-headed writer (aka la Raconteuse) was grinning to herself – my word, this place is buzzing, really buzzing, as she entered the Six-Sentence-Café-and-Bistro, – there are so many people I know, this is going to be fabulous.

But earlier she’d had such a dithering afternoon, almost a calamity in fact; it started with what she would wear at the Café-and-Bistro later.

She’d opened her wardrobe, and messy it was, as she threw out various things, but what to choose, not that there was much choice, and of course, she didn’t often vary her colours of clothes, her motto being: just black and black, but this was a proper event, so nothing ventured nothing gained, she will wear a flowy and pretty dress, long too.

So that was sorted, as she went to her laptop, opening it up to look at her poetry section, rather vast now, she would have to memorize a couple of those, and that could be a problem.

She wrote three of her most recent poems which she hadn’t yet released, and copied them on some small cards, then she looked to decide which would be best, then the second one for reserve, and finally the last one if required, although she felt it was rather unlikely, still all she needed to do was… practice, practice, practice, and out loud.

La Raconteuse was meeting and greeting, smiling and waving, but the sad news was this, as she held this up – I’ve lost my voice completely, more than hoarse!

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

Di of Pensitivity 101 – Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge: VARY, VENTURE, VAST

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt: WORD

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A new museum

August 24, 2026 Chris Hall51 Comments

a new museum,
this is more than interesting,
radical, I’d say.

tiny, tiny things,
very valuable, I’m sure,
fantastic, aren’t they.

I really want it,
is it possible to buy?
only a punt though.

so, not to worry,
let’s look at the next display.

~~~

Image credit: Amaury Michaux @ Pexels

This is a black and white image of five people standing by the railing in a museum looking down at something or someone. There are 2 women and 3 men.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What Do You See #355 photo prompt.

What do you see # 355- 24 August, 2026 – Up or down!

Tread with trepidation…

August 22, 2026 Chris Hall31 Comments

Tread with trepidation

It’s so, so dry. Look at the grass, it’s brown. It’s dying or dead. Ridiculous! Actually it’s not just ridiculous, it’s rather worrying. I have never known a summer as scorching as this. Although 1976 was pretty similar. Gosh, that was a long time ago.

The worrying thing now though is this. It’s El Niño effect. And that is going to be brutal. It’s already beginning. There is drought, wildfires and heat waves too. Then on the other side there will be torrential rain with floods.

Now we need to think. Crops, livestock and infrastructure will reduce food production and disrupt markets. As supply falls, prices rise and food becomes less affordable. When combined with existing pressures such as conflict these climate shocks can quickly increase hunger.

so brace, brace and brace
many things will be required
let us keep alert

~~~~~~~~
145 words

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #100

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 78, Tread with Trepidation! 8/18/26

The lobby

August 21, 2026 Chris Hall52 Comments

Photo Prompt © Lori Wilson

The Lobby

“Shall we try that place,” said she.
“We could,” said he.
So the two of them moved up those rather grand steps. But then they stopped before opening the front door.

“It looks very nice,” she smiled.
“It seems pretty posh,” he grinned.
They looked at each other for a moment. Then between them they went through the door.

“Gorgeous,” said she.
“Perfect,” said he.
They both winked together… twice.

“I’ll go this way…”
“And I’ll go that way…”
They were busy for a little while.

“Okay, that’s enough.”
“Indubitably.”
So off they went, and quickly. And almost nobody noticed.

~~~

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

21 August 2026

A poet party? (Tales from the SSC&B)

August 19, 2026 Chris Hall41 Comments

William Bereza on Unsplash

The red-headed writer (aka la Raconteuse) dashed down from her apartment (all six floors), then trotted across a couple of roads to get to the Six-Sentence-Café-and-Bistro; she was about to enter the establishment, and she was sure she could smell the particular aroma of a cigar… she smiled… a lot.

La Raconteuse scanned around the place; it was quite early, so few people were around, but Mimi and Denise, aka the Bartender, were talking about making lunch.

“A lovely selection of tomatoes, courgettes, carrots and lots of spuds,” grinned Mimi, “and all organic food of course,” – “perfect,’ smiled the Bartender, “you’ll use the carrots to make carrot cake?” – “oh, naturally,” as Mimi went back to the kitchen to organize everything.

La Raconteuse sat on a stool opposite the Bartender and said, “what’s happening just now,” as the Bartender slid a flyer, “look at this.”

“See, it’s going to be a function, right here,” said the Bartender, “where there will be music and lights, and then everything will go dark and then the spot light will come up… it will be a slam poets party… see, look it says here.”

“And I will be the overseer,” said the tall, thin man, as he suddenly appeared from the hallway, “you’ll enjoy this a great deal, won’t you,” as he grinned, “we’re starting a list, all those poetry people, either actually here, or on line… it’ll be next week, oh, and don’t worry, our excellent friend, the Gatekeeper, will be looking after the door.”

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

Di of Pensitivity 101 – Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge: OVERSEE, ORGAN, ORGANIZE

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt: FUNCTION

More #SixSentenceStories

My first flat!

August 17, 2026 Chris Hall76 Comments

Memories

Ah yes, my first flat,
well, it was almost it.
A tiny bedsit,
what a find!

It was old even then,
a little table,
a chair, and behind
that tatty bed.

Eish! I would say
now.

Just a couple of things,
some books and records,
but my pride of place…
that little black and white TV.

Ah, memories…
I’ll just take
that useful
suitcase.

~~~

Image credit: Tolga Ahmetler @ Unsplash

This image shows a scene inside a room. There is an old-fashioned TV sitting on a small table. There is a big white kettle on the TV. There is a yellow bag in front of the TV. There is a wooden chair on the right of the TV. On the back wall, there are windows with metal grills over them.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What Do You See #354 photo prompt.