Category: Stories, poems and other short pieces

Stalker

Chris Hall66 Comments

I know you’re there
watching, silently
out there, always out there
monitoring my movements

the click of a camera
the slam of a car door
behind me
a flash of movement
reflected in a window
will I ever be rid of you?

monitoring my movements
out there, always out there
watching, silently
I know you’re there.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #73 photo prompt.

Image credit: Sonny Mauricio @ Unsplash
The image shows a bald eagle sitting in the bare branches of a tree. It is looking down at the camera.

Power Within

Chris Hall55 Comments

Here, at the centre of the stone circle, looking towards the rising sun and channelling the power of the converging ley lines through my naked feet, I inhale the scents of selene and artemesia. The spirit of Gaia is within me; my journey begins.

Flying like a great winged eagle, I am guided by her sacred compass. I feel the strength of surging ocean currents and the might of spitting, smouldering volcanoes; she shows me the signs, the patterns I should follow. Now I know what must be done.

Teeming hominids
Gaia has shown me the way:
penance will begin.

Image credit: Marc Szeglat, Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – DONE, LOOKING, PENANCE
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – JOURNEY

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Visit the SSS Link Up for more Six Sentence Stories

Reflection

Chris Hall42 Comments

Rewinding past skirmishes
Regret like a tidal wave
Rocks on resentful oceans
Roils in seas of broken dreams
Restitution overlooked
Renders her bereft of hope
Redemption lost forever.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #72 photo prompt.

Image credit: Jayson Hinrichsen @ Unsplash
The image shows a young woman in a pensive mood standing outside a storefront. The glass behind her is reflecting a neon sign.

The Initiate

Chris Hall42 Comments

I cringe. Images of the carnage wrought on Gaia’s beautiful planet crowd my thoughts: animals fleeing from a from a flaming forest, a child staring into the dusty desert that once was her home; chain reactions of a human population run rampant and out of control.

I shut them out; there is work to be done. I, the Initiate, have been given the tools and absorbed the theory; I am capable of harnessing volcanoes and tsunamis. Through astral projection and words of suggestion: famine, war and plague, I’ll bring them all!

Casting qualms aside
I take up Gaia’s mantle
she whispers to me.

Image credit: Lukasz Szmigiel, Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – CAPABLE, CRINGE, REACTION
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – THEORY

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

How she shines!

Chris Hall57 Comments

golden sun’s fluid glow flows
over your curves, filling your crannies
opulence wrapped in creamy pearlescence
your soft skin shines in the pale pink dawn

now dazzling white in high noon light
towers thrust skywards to pierce
softly yielding cornflower skies
your marble-clad radiance blisters bright

now descending, the great bronze orb
drapes his saffron cloak over your opal shoulders
while beneath the aquamarine firmament
your gleaming countenance smoulders

silver stars prick the velvet twilight
sapphire serenity pervades
everlasting yet ever changing
your beauty pleads devotion

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #71 photo prompt.

Image credit; Sanin Sn @ Unsplash
The image shows a front view of Taj Mahal, Agra. The sun is either rising or setting in the background.

Gaia’s New Messenger

Chris Hall37 Comments

My uncle warned me of the hallucinatory effect of smouldering henbane, but it is the essence of my initiation. Surrounded by the maze of megaliths, my body floats. I round up the shrill cacophony of chanting voices, which buck around my head like wild horses at a rodeo, and corral them in a corner of my mind.

My head is clear and I am ready; the only sound I hear is the sweet voice of a nightingale singing.

The message is within me and I am the message.

To this modern world
which ransacks Gaia’s riches
I bring her revenge.

Image credit: Joshua Hicks, Unsplash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – MODERN, SING, SURROUNDED
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – RODEO

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, in the haibun form. Just for fun!

Topsy Turvy World

Chris Hall46 Comments

humankind turned upside-down
keeping safe’s what matters
all around the world
economies in tatters
scientists in overdrive
to keep one step ahead
corruption, disruption
stop now, keep your head
mixed message, fake news
sops to the masses
governments in disarray
staying put’s what matters

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #70 photo prompt.

Image credit; Lance Anderson @ Unsplash
The image shows tall skyscrapers lit in the evening light. In the front there is a small pale-coloured house resting at an angle on the ground, one side of it raised from the ground.

The Initiation Begins

Chris Hall45 Comments

We assemble at sunset. Goose-bumps cover the bared skin on my back, still tender from the previous pricking of the needle, which has marked me indelibly and for eternity.

Henbane and yarrow scent the air; charms and enchantments encircle the glittering granite standing stones, in a kaleidoscope of crashing consonants, while my uncle, a comfortable presence in the growing darkness, heralds the start of the ceremony with a single beat of an unseen gong.

Blindfolded, I am led to the centre of the circle. The ceremony begins.

In moonlight’s sphere
runes on ancient stones ignite;
the Mark of Gaia tingles.

Image credit: unsplash.com/@artifactflash

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – COMFORTABLE, SKIN, TENDER
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – KALEIDOSCOPE

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, (loosely) in the haibun form. Just for fun!

We’ll Always Have Paris

Chris Hall68 Comments

In the new bloom of passion
and the early flush of spring
we first walked the boulevards
of the city of lovers
entwining ourselves
in darkening alleyways
indulging in delights
behind closed doors.

In long, lazy, late summer’s days
we roamed gardens and parks
and wandered through galleries
spent evenings in Montmartre
listening to a solitary pianist
playing our tune.

In the midst of winter now
we travel no more
but like Bergman and Bogart
we’ll always have Paris.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #69 photo prompt.

Image credit: Lucas Albuquerque
The title image shows a view of the Eiffel Tower at night when it is illuminated in golden light. In the foreground you can see the Seine river reflecting the lights.

Passing the Baton

Chris Hall57 Comments

My uncle is ebullient this morning, remarkably so. He is a man transformed; overjoyed outpourings spill from his lips as he beams at me across the breakfast table.

I, however, having  ploughed through piles of obscure texts and ancient tenets from the towering oaken shelves of my uncle’s library (previously off-limits to me), am less so. The taste of the delicious food on my plate is spoiled by the knowledge I have swallowed down over the weeks since my discovery.

I am to prepare for my initiation, he declares.

Passing the baton
gladdens the master’s heart; yet
the burden remains.

Image credit: unsplash.com/@romankraft

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Three Things Challenge – DELICIOUS, OVERJOYED, SPOIL
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – PLOUGH (PLOW)

I have also set myself the additional challenges of confining my piece to 100 words exactly and writing this, now ongoing story, (loosely) in the haibun form. Just for fun!