Re-born

‘We grew up together, From the cradle to the grave, We died and were reborn, And then mysteriously saved.’ -  Bob Dylan ‘Oh, Sister’. It was Charles who first noticed it. We were sitting in the back room of the abandoned offices that were our temporary home when he said ‘You know, we could be brothers.’ I …

‘Tell Me the Story, Daddy.’ by Chel Owens

I'm pleased to reblog this superb piece by Chel Owens. Tell Me the Story, Daddy. | Chel Owens

Occasional ravings – The mysteries of submission

Like many of you, I occasionally submit to story and poetry sites and enter writing competitions. Like many of you, I find that success is rare. This is fully understandable, given the volume of submissions and entries that many of these calls receive and that most, if not all, rely on volunteer and/or low-paid judges. …

The dingo and the moon

Content warning for the sensitive. Strong language and images. I wrote this piece at some time during the 1970's, when I was clearly an angry young man, and only recently re-discovered a hand-written version. At about the same time I discovered the Ship Street Poetry site, which encourages freedom of expression using whatever language you …

Grumblebum’s Balls of Fate

This piece was written for Fractured Lit , with the challenge to submit 'stories of ghosts, fables, allegory, and fractured fairy tales in 1,000 words or less ... that investigate the mysteries of being human, the sorrow, and the joy of connecting to the diverse population around us.' With his clumpy red hair, his face …

War and pizza

Written for the 42 word poetry challenge . with the prompt ward of War. The world is simply divided, armistice we are unlikely to see. There’s no-one who is undecided White flags there never will be. Pineapple is an abomination Say the denizens of the purist army, whereas pineapple proponents say pizza without it is …

The Palace of the Silver Screen

Welcome to the Grand Opening of my new cinema, The Palace of the Silver Screen! New in the sense of technology and fit-out but decidedly retro in bringing back the movie theatre experience of the Golden Days of Hollywood. Thrill to the experience of luxurious electrically heated seats, which double as non-lethal electric chairs. Laugh …

Short-listed at last !

Please excuse the minor piece of self-promotion but I've just made the short-list of 30 for the Better Read Than Dead annual short story competition in Australia, which had 200 entries. There could even be a cash prize if I make the top 3. Like many writers, I fling my work into the literary universe …

Snarky snickersnackery

This preposterous piece of poetic puerility was written for the divine Ms. Owen's 'A Mused Poetry' prompt for this week: 'Snarky Rant. That's right: a jaded, sarcastic, fed up, perhaps even nihilistic poem in an "I stick it to you, sucky events!" manner.' I'll thank Charles Dodgson for the inspiration when next I see him. The …

Blog Battle – Bush Rescue

The good folk at Blog Battle have now increased their upper word limit to 2,000, so I am shamelessly re-posting this piece with some slight amendment. In the waning evening light, Jack saw the highlighted crowns of the gumtrees first. He slowed his tray-back to a crawl until he spotted the crumpled vehicle half-way down …