Yearly Archives: 2024

Read more about the article A Rabbit No More, I Show the Demon Wolf the Door
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A Rabbit No More, I Show the Demon Wolf the Door

I wrote this for a dear friend when she called in need of inspiration. She believed her father’s wolfish lies— So outrageous I didn’t think to counter them. Truth—I was a rabbit, afraid. The wolf bit me anyway, And blazed me with his burning breath. Except— His lies kicked up the soil, Uncovered a new truth— I’m stronger than I knew. Even a rabbit with scorched skin, Can feel her mother-way to words That if spoken Turn embers into flames,…

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April 22, 2024
Read more about the article You Won’t Want to Miss
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You Won’t Want to Miss

If you haven’t yet checked them out. . .you might enjoy “Real-life Writing’s” free monthly newsletters.      March’s newsletter, https://bit.ly/3PP68e3, offers the original first chapter to Lies, replaced when I started Lies in a less blood-thirsty manner: “It would almost be worth going to prison. Just for a moment, I let myself picture the look of surprise on Mike’s face when I plunged the knife into his belly. To be acquitted, I’d have to have a jury made up of divorced…

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April 8, 2024
Read more about the article He Was Different, Better
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He Was Different, Better

            I slammed the phone down. Mom called me lonely, but she’d never liked any of my guys.             When I moved toward him, Bob shot me an understanding look. Good thing he hadn’t heard her part of the conversation. If Mom had ever taken the time to get to know Bob, she’d know he gave me respect and support. Bob rolled his eyes. I was so lucky to have him.  He didn’t have to open his mouth all the…

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April 4, 2024
Read more about the article Where Did I Put My Spirit?
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Where Did I Put My Spirit?

Where did I put my spirit? It was here the other day. Must be somewhere close. Unless it wilted when I caved. Ran when I cratered. Spirit, I need you— Why should I come back? Well, without you— You took me for granted. No. I never. Yeah, right. Well.... Maybe. Here’s the deal. I’m not coming back. Unless You put up a fight. But without you— No, we’ve played it that way— For too long. This time, you go first.…

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March 25, 2024
Read more about the article Dragon’s Breath
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Dragon’s Breath

Her heart hitches when she sees the fortress of three fallen spruce trees and thick alder branches half-buried by windblown snow. Wintry air turns the tears on her cheeks into ice drops. She breathes in the frozen shards of January air. Words come, ones she’s repeated for two years. “I haven’t stopped loving you.” In her dreams, her fiancé answers back. Now, cold, empty silence greets her, the only heat a flame of anger that pushes forward. “Did you not…

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February 21, 2024
Read more about the article I Never
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I Never

I’ve never harmed a living creature. I’ve never tied thread to a butterfly’s wings or pulled a daddy longlegs’ center from his wriggling legs. Thirty years ago, Ma gave birth to me on a rotting cloth cot strung up in a leaking tar paper shack in the Tennessee hill country. They say a storm rains down babies. Two were born on our hill that night under a thunderstorm that bent trees to the ground as it rolled west from Mt.…

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January 17, 2024