Note: This poem is inspired by my fight with a couple obsessions and having acknowledged that protecting my obsessions at all costs really lets down the rest of my life :( :)

Also, if you like this poem, you may like my poem, "Once Birthed, Eternal"

Have a good day!

OfIceAndSand in Flash Fiction

The Bridge

You told me to hold the railing

But it was wet

My hands were cold

I didn't want to

So, you had us hold hands

It was firm

It was hated

I didn't want you

Then, I pushed you into

Where it is wet

Where it is cold

I am deaf to you

Challenge

Sound or Shape?

I once heard it opined that "Elbow" is The most Beautiful word in the English language, not for what it is in object reference, but for how it is perceived in quality, Linguistically. Please tell me your word preference, and why @kNoTeS

OfIceAndSand in Words

Slop-Tot

The children's book "Still More Stories From Grandma's Attic" by Arleta Richardson features the word, "Slop-tot''.

It means, a child prone to sloppiness.

And, it's an actually spirit-lifting word of self-deprecation when it hurts to call yourself stupid:

POV: you're in the kitchen doing dishes, and you knock over the soap dispenser; soap all over the kitchen towel and stained cabinets. You're so mad! Then, you say to yourself, "I'm being a slop-tot; stop being a slop-tot.'' While you're banging things around, "Slop-tot-Slop-tot-Slop-tot" rounds through your head; you're surprised to find yourself fighting not to smile. Then you smile. Slop-tot is irresistible.

(Slop-tot may nowadays have a different meaning than it did in the time period of the book, though I've not found any evidence of such in my cursory internet search :)

Challenge

What is the job of a poet?

Any format.

OfIceAndSand

Task of a Poet IS

To make

You

Say

That's my pain...

That's my joy...

That I don't understand now, but I hope/fear I will

And that's someone coping with it all

I can too

(If you like this poem, you may like my poem "Once Birthed, Eternal")

Challenge

To Whom it May Concern...

Write a letter to whom it may concern, but please begin with the line, "Dear Reader, I wish I could tell you that you're going to survive this." Interpret this as you will - maybe it's a letter telling of the horrific circumstances the reader has found themselves in that the writer has experienced before them, or maybe a somber and dramatic letter of understanding concerning one's mental health. Whatever you can come up with!

OfIceAndSand

You Incorrigible Reader

Dear Reader, I wish I could tell you that you're going to survive this.

For you, Reader, I forgo using my last wish to provide for my hungry family of Fannie and sixteen children, to get a job better than at the mines, and to prolong the life of my aging mother. Not to mention, freeing myself from...this nightmarish lamp....

This screen that you are reading is scored with the curse of the genie Bueligun, condemning all Readers to his lamp. I've disabled that curse, but my own hand writing this is none to steady...Bueligun is coming back, he says, to feast--

And now...now how do you feel about your curiosity, you incorrigible Reader you, whose inevitable sight of this screen has condemned me to die!!