Category: writing prompts

Embrace me

Chris Hall38 Comments

Forest’s glamour calls us softly
tempts us to tread her tranquil tracks
entwines us in expired enchantments,
past promises and spent desire.

Shrouded mysteries lie before us
veiled in magic, lost in time
where dryads strolled and naiads frolicked
in crystal pools and creeks of light.

Darkness falls as we draw closer
tracing the edge of moonlight’s sight
we trespass boldly on her magic carpet
and embrace the secrets of the night.

Written in response to Sadje‘s What do You See #74 photo prompt.

Image credit: Eric Muhr @ Unsplash
The image shows a forest scene with a path going deep into the forest. The trees in the distance are shrouded in mist.

Shatter

Chris Hall45 Comments

Borne on sacred scents, my development is complete. Now, incarnated in astral form, I hover over the occidental shore of the earth’s most populous continent.

I brace myself for the coming cacophony. My throat fills, and at Gaia’s command, I throw back my head and let fly the discordant melody that holds the power to move mountains: an unstoppable force, unleashed from the fragile firmament to the barely broken azure below.

Waves of disharmony filter through the air, a hideous marriage of chords of doom and pitches of despair.

The earth’s crust shatters
sulphurous strings billow forth:
Mount Teide tumbles.

Image credit: Clive Kim on Pexels.com

Written in response to two challenges:

– Di of Pensitivity101‘s Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge – MARRIAGE, STRING, DEVELOPMENT
– Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge‘s Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt – FILTER

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 party for more Six Sentence Stories

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!