Jesterly Challenge Month – November 25th

How will your bird be cooked?  Barbecued?  Broiled?  Deep fried?
Will it be a butterball, or made from tofu, and what size?
And then plated with which delicious sides?
Thinking about all of it has made my smile go wide.

Will you stay home?  Travel local?  Travel around the mountain?
To grandmother’s house, or a siblings, and with children?
Or, is it your turn to host the party again?
Thoughts of time with family gets my heart bouncing.

Do you have traditions?  Shopping?  Decorating?  Playing games?
Do you set a fine table, or eat at the TV, and know everyone’s names?
Do you stay up late chatting or is getting home your aim?
I’m excited for conversations that are never the same.

However you spend your tomorrow, get there and home again safely.
If your relatives, like mine, are a little bit, or more, crazy,
Go boldly and face your time with them bravely,
Then come back on here and tell us all the story of your family?

Jesterly Challenge Month – November 24th

My Cousin Cathy sent me a second picture prompt challenge.  What do you see when you look at this picture?  Let me know and tell me what you thought of my story in the comments.

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I sat on my haunches, using my right hand to steady my balance, and my left to push aside some of the thick leaves of the busy in front of me so I could see the castle beyond.  Nothing stirred.  At least, nothing seemed to stir.  At first I caught myself thinking that nature had reclaimed the castle and so it must have been abandoned long ago.  However, I instantly knew that was wrong.  Nature hadn’t reclaimed the castle.  The castle had reclaimed nature.

Whoever, or whatever, resided within its stone walls had lovingly invited the surrounding forest back inside to thrive.  While it would to most, I presumed, as I gazed upon the beautiful structure it did not seem odd to me.  Animals with supposed intelligence had spent too many eons fighting nature.  It seemed right that finally one had learned to live in harmony with it instead.

I was intrigued by the whole situation.  The castle.  Its inhabitants.  The manner in which it had come to be and then continued to exist when so much of the world had crumbled around it.  These were all curiosities I could find answers to if I truly desired.  I had only to stand up and announce my presence and I had no doubt that all my questions would be resolved.

Alas, my better judgment overruled the more childlike, innocent, naïve, parts of my conscience and I stayed hidden from sight.  I was intrigued, yes, perhaps even captivated by the castle rising from the forest floor in an intimate dance with the wilds of this part of the world.  More so, however, I had a will to live.  And to interact with strangers in strange dwellings in the current age was to likely forfeit ones life.  Dark times had come to Earth, and only those who had accepted that and adapted early on had survived.  Only those who stayed skeptical and wary continued to live.

I stayed, though, hidden as I was for longer than was smart.  It was comforting and nostalgic to see something so beautiful in an otherwise ugly world.  It gave me a burning sense of fire in my heart, one I recognized from my youth as hope, that I was hard pressed to ignore.

When night fell and I silently slunk away from the castle, I pondered if that was the trap of the place.  It lured you in with its beauty while its caretakers were anything but?  I would never know.  And, I was okay with that.  I took the mental image of the place with me, though.  I carried it at all times, and I let the flame in my heart, the burning torch of hope, rage on.  I could be careful and carry that flame at the same time.

Jesterly Challenge Month – November 23rd

Dani challenged me (again) to write a spooky rhyming poem.  I quoted her a bit of The Raven, and she said “exactly.”  Well, she said something like that; I didn’t write it down.  Anyway, give the following a read and let me know how I did in the comments.

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Lightning flashes and catches my eye,
As thousands of sparkling devils try,
In every rain drop gathered on the pane,
To shatter and batter my frayed nerves again.

Then the thunder strolls and rolls through,
The bones of my house shiver anew,
My teeth rattle in incessant prattle,
And fear grips and rips my heart on the mantle.

It’s there, biding and hiding, now,
Since she pulled it out, don’t ask me how,
And set it on high on a plate, like pie,
For me to stare and glare and enviously sigh.

The gaping and seeping chest wound,
Shall never heal despite time’s find tune,
And the resultant wage shall stay savage,
All the long and gone days until I’m ashes.

Be mindful and careful with trust,
Don’t give it away cheaply with lust,
Or one day it may be your heart removed,
And placed beating and dripping, your love refused.

Lightning flashes and catches my eye,
This storm will never fully pass by.
Forever I’ll quake, as my house shakes,
Forlornly and stubbornly watch my heart ache.

Jesterly Challenge Month – November 22nd

My Cousin Cathy challenged me with a picture prompt.  Tell me what you think of my story and tell me what you would have written instead in the comments.

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The proof was there.  I pointed it out but nobody would believe me.  They claimed I’d made the footprints and I was just trying to rile them.  I am many things, but I’ve never been a prankster like that, and at the time I wasn’t sure what hurt worst: that they didn’t believe me or that they didn’t know me as well as I had thought.

I’d seen the creature walking in long strides through the forest.  The movement and the brown colored fur caught my attention immediately and froze my forward steps.  When I focused in, I caught the features of a distinct face rather than snout and my jaw dropped.  I’d wanted to call out then but had been so filled with awe and terror that I couldn’t find the air to push from my lungs.  Perhaps that is how it has gone hidden for so long – those who see it are struck dumb by its size, power, and beauty and that allows it to escape before it can be witnessed by others as well.

It smirked at me.  It was a definite twist of the lips upward in a rueful smile, and that’s what finally broke my trance.  My feet stumbled backward first, caught off guard by the emotional expression, hinting at playful intelligence and humor, and that terrified me more than its presence.  So, my steps falteringly lurched backward until I ran against a tree.  Luckily, I didn’t hard enough to do any damage, but, unfortunately, it was a loud enough knock that the beast decided to vacate the area more quickly.

Bounding forward in giant strides, longer than before, it disappeared quickly.  Unsure why or how, but knowing, I guess, that I didn’t want the experience to end, I gave chase.  As I dashed forward, slapping away long hanging branches, I called out to the others, “Bigfoot!  Bigfoot!  You guys!  Hey, you guys!  Bigfoot!”  I didn’t wait for any responses.

It moved so quietly I couldn’t follow it by sound.  It moved so quickly it was well beyond my ability to keep up with its pace.  I managed to catch glimpses of its fur as it moved further and further away, and then I saw it duck into the small ravine and I lost sight of it altogether.  When I got to there, the wet footprints where it had first entered the water glistened on the stone steps lining the middle of the creek.  I wanted to follow, but by then I could hear the crashing behind me of my friends getting close.

Grunting and panting from the excursion, they all hunched down and peered around me to see where I was frantically pointing.  Then with scoffs and shakes of their heads they turned around and made their way back to our camp.  Not a single one of them believed me.  Perhaps that isn’t fair.  Perhaps, it is more that they were afraid to believe me.  I’m not sure.  Not that it matters anymore.

It was the stones, arranged so aesthetically down the middle, which made me linger long after the others had left.  Who had placed them there?  Where did they lead?  Thinking back over the trail map, I didn’t remember seeing the small stream anywhere near our camp.  Perhaps it was too small for the makers of the map to want to include, but that didn’t ring true in my heart.

I carefully lowered myself down to the first stone I could reach and stepped from stone to stone until I came to this archway.  If you’ve found this note, that means I haven’t come back through yet.  I don’t know what to tell you.  I don’t know what I will have found on the other side or if you should follow me in or not.  But, I suspect if you are here, then you are like me and will need to know what’s on the other side, where the creature went, and what comes next.

I wish you safe travel and good luck wherever your path leads you, and perhaps I’ll see you on the other side.

Jesterly Challenge Month – November 21st

Sreejit challenged me to share the secrets from the story I wrote for the challenge on November 1st, the secrets that drove the teller insane.  Read on, if you dare, and let me know what you think of the secrets in the comments.

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The true power behind the five secrets isn’t necessarily in the knowledge of them, but in the manner in which they are imparted from person to person.  So, you should be fine to read them below…  But, be careful in how you spread them, if you choose to do so at all, and I take no responsibility for anything that happens as result of you reading on.  You have been warned.  The secrets of the universe are truths that do not appreciate disrespect and they will take on lives of their own if they feel they aren’t getting the proper deference.

The first secret is not much of a secret at all.  The universe is so large that none of us can truly grasp the vastness of it.  It’s in our best interest, of course, because were we to understand truly how insignificant and meaningless we are in the grand scheme of things, we would be hard pressed to keep our sanity.  However, with the telling of this secret if done correctly, the universe will share a glimpse of the spinning universes and multi-verses branching off from every point of time throughout history and forward to the infinite future.  The glimpse isn’t enough to drive you insane, but it will stop you in your tracks.

The second secret is also not much of a secret.  The emotions we experience are manufactured synaptic firings and chemical releases we have been trained to perform.  Can you hear that bell?  Did you just start to drool?  We are all salivating dogs in our own ways.  When this secret is shared correctly, however, not only can the recipient accept the truth but they can also learn to manipulate even the most hard-wired emotional responses.  This can come in very handy, but is dangerous in that it is easy to forget how to fit into societal expectations.

The third secret is where things start veer closer to the unknown.  Everything in all the universes is cyclical.  You’ve probably heard that in some fashion before: music, fashion, politics, etc…  But, the cycles affect all things across all of the universes.  When this secret is told correctly, the universe will show you a glimpse of all you’ve ever been and all you will ever be.  You experience the historical context of your past lives and see all the failings and successes of your future selves.  The knowledge is crippling to most.  Our minds are not designed to handle that type of information and will be driven insane, eventually, trying to reconcile every action taken in the current “life” against all that came before, and how it all could impact who you become.

The fourth secret takes the third to a deeper level, while simultaneously taking a step back to play on a topic you are all probably familiar with.  Everything in the world is connected.  Call it the circle of life.  Call it karma.  Call it ashes to ashes.  It doesn’t matter how you try to rationalize it, this truth will hurt.  Every ant you ever stepped on was part of you.  Every spider you ever squished was part of you.  Every fly you ever swatted.  You’ve been killing yourself for years.  Bullying.  Greed.  Fighting.  Every action you’ve taken against another person has also been against yourself.  When this secret is told correctly, the universe floods your mind with the pain you have caused throughout your current life.

The fifth secret is that the world is structured in such a way that you can ignore the previous four secrets if you want, but before the universe lets you take that option, it shows you your life as it would be if you embraced them instead.  Surprisingly, if you are one of the few who can hang on to your sanity, you do not become an empty shell just seeing out the days.  Not surprisingly, you will choose to ignore the truths anyway, because a simpler life is a better life.  Either way, the secrets can never be forgotten whether you choose to embrace them or ignore them.

So, now that you know, what are you going to do with these truths?