Solstice Sadness
Winter sneaks in, draped
in drama, hands on
heavy hips, waiting to
cover us in dysfunction.
I know I won’t say anything
when I see her today, but I’ll
want to. And she won’t say anything–I’m the expressive
one when it comes to
“such a time as this.”
We’re feeding off of cold
energy–trying to warm our
hearts, both too afraid of
being hurt–it’s just around the
corner, yet we’re holding on.
The Emotions’ “What Do the
Lonely Do at Christmas” comes
on and tears stream down
my face.
How can you listen to this
song and not feel something?
The air outside sends a chill
to my bones that is indescribable.
I am frosty–winterfied by
jealous winds and made stoic
in the presence of God’s
season.
“You have too many periods
in that one statement for me
to feel comfortable about your
reply” she tells me as she reads
my response to her asking me
not to hate her for picking
up another shift that cuts our
time in half, and I read and
reread the statement, and the
only thing I can come up with
is, “I don’t know why you’re
uncomfortable. I place periods
where they belong. It’s
grammatically correct.”
My spectrum brain didn’t see
the coldness of it–the short-and-to-the-pointness of it, and I
have to remind her sometimes
it’s best I communicate verbally
because word of mouth
in written form can be
misconstrued.
We agree it’s our emotions
taking over . . . we care too
much not to care at all,
and this season always finds
us tugging war with ourselves
and the battles are many.
I am fighting for more than
peace and strength.
I am fighting to be understood
by a world that may never
understand me but it
hurts so much more when
she tries and she can’t, either.
Happy Winter Solstice, beautiful people! I’ll be spending this day with someone very near & dear to me. I hope all of you will get the chance to do the same.
Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?
It’s time for Shweta Suresh’s Saturday Six Word Story Prompt! This week’s theme is “Blind” and here are the prompt details:
Welcome to Week #116 of the Saturday Six Word Story Prompt. Click here to read the guidelines for the Saturday Six Word Story Prompt series. (Psst! I have changed the guidelines recently.)
Prompt for Week #116 (Dec 14, 2024 – Dec 20, 2024)
Blind
Click here for the 6WSP image.
I will do a roundup post each Saturday (or Sunday if I run out of time!). So please be sure to participate before time runs out! I can’t wait to read your stories. 😀 I hope that you’ll be back for next week’s Six Word Story Prompt. Have fun! Thank you for participating. Until next week, folks!
P.S: If you have any doubts/suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. The comments section is all yours!
P.P.S: Use the tag 6WSP and don’t forget to pingback to this post!
Another great theme from Shweta, for this week’s six word story prompt! My contribution is about someone I care for and love very much. I can feel them around me; their entire presence is so palpable and evident, I do not need to see them for them to be near. Let that marinate for a bit, you’ll get it.
Care to join in for this week’s six word story prompt, too?!
we’re living in the last
days of working together
and both of us are losing
peace, but we don’t want
to admit it.
she thinks my leaving would
cause me to gravitate toward
another or forget her or let
go of what we’ve built, and
I’m shouting from the highest
of heights that this is
false.
we are connected in a way
that cannot be damaged.
she knows this–holding on
makes her feel like she’s
letting go.
“We are so much more than
work-related. This environment
doesn’t define us.”
and she sees, then hears
those words, but fear is
still a marker I have to fight.
“I say what I mean, and I mean
what I say. We will still be us.”
I know insecurity lies
in the depths of her beating
heart and at the base of
her troubled mind, but I’m
giving her my word.
“You can’t say I haven’t kept
my word. For as long as
you’ve known me, I have
never disappointed you.”
she admits the truth of this,
yet I still have to kick through
past culprits to show her
I am who I say I am.
tomorrow is a day we don’t
want to see.
there are mixed feelings, but
an inkling of happiness
caresses my heart.
I am changing even though I’m
scared to death.
I am moving on from a place
I’ve known for years . . .
and she thinks the gravity
of the intensity of this
change will move me away
from her, too.
try as I might, I can only
do what I have been doing.
I cannot make her believe.
Séduire: Serial Tales & Flash Fiction took off quickly; first, as an E-Book, and then, much more in paperback form. Thank you! I truly did not expect the current results, but I am incredibly grateful!
What should you prepare yourself for if you choose to purchase this book of fiction? Emotional indecisiveness. Heartache. Laughter. Connection. Anger. Hopefulness. Acceptance. And so much more.
I would like to share an excerpt from four different stories in the book. And what way to do that than to reveal just a few here with this lovely community? Shall we begin?
Just as she was thinking about Zee, her phone rang. The Rolling Stones’ Miss You blared
through the device’s speaker louder than normal. She’d changed the ringtone three days
ago. It seemed fitting at the time. She blows a huff of air out of her weakened body and
answers the phone.
“Hey, Zee. Did I leave something at your place?”
“Hello, to you too, Mika. No, you did not. I called to see if you wanted to go to The Ladies of
Neo-Soul concert on Sunday. Regardless of what we are now, we still love a good time.”—Hearts of Burden, Séduire: Serial Tales & Flash Fiction, page 5
We don’t talk about that night. We don’t look into the eyes of her sons and wonder what
happened—why they lived—why she didn’t. We don’t ask for answers. We don’t wait for
answers. We stopped looking for answers. But my sister Alexandria does. She spends hours
on the phone with private investigators—works overtime to pay meaningless dollars to an
overweight, flighty man who lives at his place of business—too focused to go home—too
greedy to know home. She is submerged in the knowing—the yearning—the need to find
answers. We wish she would stop. We hope she won’t stop. We can’t get her to stop. But we
don’t talk about Daniela.—We Don’t Talk About Daniela, Séduire: Serial Tales & Flash Fiction, page 12
My name’s Toby Clemmons. I live five miles away from Mr. Bradford. My family’s his closest
neighbors. Me and my best friend, Buddy Newsom, have walked his land in secret every
other Saturday for the last three years. He’s got corn stalks, fields of wheat grain, collard
greens, cucumbers, cabbage, and squash. Oh and his oxen. No chickens. No hogs or pigs. No
horses.
My nana says he had his manhood stripped away from him when he was in his
teens—something about being a sex-addicted fiend who couldn’t keep his third leg in his
pants.—Mr. Bradford and His Ox Collection, Séduire: Serial Tales & Flash Fiction, page 15
Phara was ten when her daddy laid up with her for what seemed like the thousandth time.
He shuffled in one night, late from work, with Seagram’s Gin fresh on his breath as he
panted his way down the hall. He never knocked. He always entered without permission.
This was true for her door as well as the space between her girl-child legs. The night she
knew he had done something worse than the times before, she bled. She bled for two hours
before getting up out of the bed, removing her T-Shirt, and crawling the frailness of her
body to the bathroom. He was locked and loaded and heavy with the burdens of the world
and a job that did not pay much. Her ten-year-old self was what his thirty-two-year-old self
craved.
There was no escaping the sweaty reality attacking her fragile mind. He took what he
wanted. She had no choice but to let him. Little black girls don’t speak out of turn.—The Phara Series, Séduire: Serial Tales & Flash Fiction, page 29
Have you gotten your copy of my new book: a collection of serial tales & flash fiction, Séduire (E-Book and Paperback) yet?
The long-awaited day is finally here! Séduire: Serial Tales & Flash Fiction (E-Book Version ONLY) is available to purchase via Lulu.com. This was and still is a labor of pure love. Below is the best way to describe Séduire and what you should expect as its reader/purchaser from the stories and tales included in this book:
Séduire is a collection of serial fiction tales and flash fiction standalone stories written over a period of three years. Dive into the world of a little girl whose family uproots and moves to “The Deep South” because of a new opportunity presented to her father. Transport yourself to the life of a little girl who becomes a mother and a sister to her child at the hands of her sadistic and evil father. Walk with a grieving sister and her mother as they remember a woman who was brutally murdered by her partner. Her young boys live out her legacy as they mourn her.
Experience parenthood as you enter the world of soon-to-be young parents and their ups and downs in life change them significantly while they journey along their new path. Make a brief cameo into the hearts of a dedicated aunt and a rebellious teenage niece whose father has lost his grip on his child.
There are so many more characters with which to connect. As you thumb through each page, the author wants you to feel something; with these stories, you will.
The price for the E-Book version is $9.00, USD, and it is currently pending distribution to other retailers (i.e., Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc) but if you’re anxious and want your copy ASAP, you can buy it directly through Lulu.com, by clicking here (and by clicking on the image and the caption below).
The Specs:
As stated in the previous post about the delay for the paperback version, as soon as it has been approved to be released (after I receive my proof copy and review it), I will make an announcement about it, too.
Of course, reviews would be appreciated; any and all (good, bad, and indifferent). This is how we grow as writers in our craft. I look forward to continuing this journey and sharing it with all of you.
Are you interested in reading my previously published books? You can do so here.
A Cornered Gurl 
You must be logged in to post a comment.