Across
long years I mourn
her loss –
yearn for
her laugh with each
downpour,
descry
her smile in each
short high.
Ryan Stone
The first splash,
a drum crash
on hardpan.
Tin roof hiss,
a slow kiss
that grows
into rushing
percussion.
New voices rise,
warbles and sighs,
from beneath the shelter
of tree ferns–
a chorus begins,
magpie trills
and woodwind,
as sound
to the outback
returns.
Ryan Stone
Another bite at dVerse quadrille #33 – Sound Off!
It starts with a single languid drop,
beating a hardpan drum.
Cicadas warble a scorched-earth vibrato,
rushing skyward, the long-dry undone.
Rusty tears trickle their bullnose percussion
on verandah iron and brass. While the red dusts
of torment yawn and drink deeply,
thirsty as fire-kissed grass.
My hard-bitten mongrels, in Waratah shade,
flick ears laid unseasonably low.
Drought threatens to claim what Tigers have not.
Limp tails tell tales of woe.
Resembling slender men, brown withered stems
raise limp hands, tattered and burned.
A chorus begins, Magpie trills and woodwind;
life to the outback returned.
Movement staccatos; even dragonflies pause
from their wild tumbles and dips.
A long-absent lover, in the final refrain,
bestows a moist kiss on parched lips.
by Ryan Stone
* Tigers -> the venomous Australian Tiger Snake
Click here for audio
First published in Of Words and Water 2014
Home to the world's finest flash fiction
An Old Plumber, An Ex-Carer, An Amateur Poet, Words From The Heart
a quarterly journal of short prose
literary journal
Every Life Story Begins with a Mum
A site to water everyone’s gardens
A place where words come alive
Writer/Editor/Teacher/Advocate
Where writers gather
Looking ahead, without looking back (too often)
Dive into a collection of memories, musings and emotions delicately concocted into stories and introspective articles
Short stories online
Dog Training Guidance
Tammy's Reading Writing Life
Join us here for a wide-ranging and impressive array of writing
An ongoing collection of stories told in short form
beautiful thinking
Published quarterly on the last day of January, March, June and September
Writer, Performer, Professor
Incomplete Thots...
Poetry from a heart on fire
and the occasional camera
A trip through life with fingers crossed and eternal optimism.
Ink and Quill
Blurring the lines between poetry and prose
Books, Editing, Coaching, and Other Twists and Turns
21st Century Poetry
Writer and photographer
Lin Marshall Brummels - Poetry, Prose, Prairies and Pollinators
A PROJECTILE FOR INCENDIARY FLASH FICTION
Short, sharp flash fiction
Poetry Publisher
A bit of this and that
a hyper-local microblog
too much coffee, too little sleep, a love of words...
by Sam Allen
by Hudson Biko
welcome to my insanity.
Writer. Reader. Equestrian. Explorer.
And so it goes...