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A Grim Fairy Tale When I was a child my mother told me that Never Never Land Is where the lost children go, those who can’t find their way home. My mother told me that they stay children for ever and can play all day long. It sounds like a fairy tale and perhaps that’s where these children have gone, stepped into a fairy tale or perhaps they’ve been taken into one by a monster straight out of Grimm. And now they wait. And there’ll be others waiting. Waiting, for someone to find them. Perhaps they’ll put up a sign hoping someone will see. And they’ll sit by the sign waiting for rescue, waiting for the fairy tale ending that can never come. http://www.newversenews.org/
Button Box I loved playing with the buttons in ‘Grandma’ Kirk’s button box. She wasn’t my real grandma but mum’s friend who used to have a Chip Shop nearby. When she died ‘Auntie’ Stacey, (who wasn’t my real aunt either), took the money that Grandma Kirk had hidden under the floorboards, even though it had been left to mum. She was a bad ‘un, my mum said. The £200 that was in the bank was all that was left. She showed the bank manager the hole in the floor. He looked amazed my mum said. He said to leave it with him and she heard no more. I inherited the button box. https://ephemeralelegies.com/2023/01/27/button-box-by-lynn-white/
Ravens Can’t Read “That’s quite a raven,” thought Poe looking down. But of course it needed to be large to collect up all the pages all the words he had written. And then, what then, what will happen next when all those words are collected up and made ready to be consumed for Evermore. Ravens can’t read after all. https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-challenges/stef-rocknak-ekphrastic-writing-responses
A Familiar Story It’s a familiar story well told and many of us can identify with some part of him - Odysseus the escapee, Odysseus the wanderer, the adventurer, the explorer, the leaver of a past life and embracer of the new. We’ve all desired to sail away in boats that fly as quick as thoughts and at some point, we’ve all ate the sun god’s cattle and paid the price. We’ve all described our relationships as “complicated,” or wanted to. It’s a familiar story well told. Each landing was a new challenge in a newly discovered land inhabited by Other people, Other creatures monstrous beings to be vanquished by superior swords or stolen to serve as housekeepers or herders, to be made into fish food if they resist. It’s a familiar story well told. Then there’s the women the temptresses with their beautiful voices weaving with shuttles made of gold. Beautiful voices but dangerous mouths enticing us with their cupid lips. And there’...
Odyssey In The Afternoon I remember that day of the voyage from the moment the dawn rose out of the golden globe and stretched out pink fingered roses into the blue of the morning, without knowing what was to come after, in the afternoon when the wind took us to a strange land. But I embraced its strangeness and its indolent contented people who showed me the lotus and smiled as I bit into the delight of its flowers and fruits, savoured it’s dreamy sensations with no need to wonder what would to come after, there were only afternoons, forever afternoons. But the moment when I woke, shook myself awake, I dragged us all away out of fear of forgetting, forgetting where I’d come from, forgetting where I should go and before I forgot to leave that place with it’s soporific days of perpetual afternoon. And in the evening as night fell to envelop me stretching out its grey blank...
Crossing The Line As the ship drew closer to the line of the equator, the sea king began to lick his lips in anticipation of the celebration which would mark the occasion and of the fat fresh tadpoles which Big O and his waiters would serve when he returned from the ceremony. Of course, tadpoles that could swim in the ocean were unknown, but Big O knew that the frogs on board would have given birth long before the line was crossed. Tadpoles were the king’s favourite party food and he had already a collection of shells to serve them in. He had been training the waiters for some time. He always did when they heard that a ship was approaching the line. His octopuses were in great demand. With eight arms they were the king’s waiters of choice and he had more standing by ready to become wine waiters. They would serve the rum that would be gifted when the king went on board and r...
The Power Of Gods He would have had an easier journey if he hadn’t harmed Neptune’s son. He should have beat a hasty retreat from the sailor-eating giant leaving him unharmed by anybody or nobody. And Aeolus’s gift of winds to speed them homewards was not a blessing when Neptune heard about it. So unsurprising that he magicked the sailors into letting the winds out of their bag with a chorus of “all together now”. What did he expect! Gods are powerful, some more than others. The blinding his son was a fairly big offence in Neptune’s eyes and having control of the seas is a pretty impressive power. So, Odysseus paid the price. And then there was Circe. Not only the goddess daughter of Titan, Circe was also a witch, of course she was, she was female so it went with the territory, but her magic skills were more renowned than most and thus more feared by men and rightly so. I wonder if he ate pork in his year long stay. I wonder if he counted...