STORY AND POEM OF THE MONTH

Posted by Insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Mon, 05 Feb 2018

Story and Poem of the Month for January chosen by Airyfairy:
 
A brilliant start to the year for ABC Tales, with lots of really interesting, thought provoking pieces on the site.  It's also been great to see so many people responding to the Inspiration Points and the Poetry Monthly prompts.  
 
It's therefore been really hard to select the Picks of the Month.  I've gone for pieces that stayed in my mind long after I read them and that conjured questions and emotions.  
 
Story of the Month is Part One of Stephen Thom's 'Hydrotherapy Est 1894':
 
 
It's the opener to a surreal two-parter.  It's beautifully written, scary and very human, all at once.
 
Honourable mentions go to Noo's mysterious, heart-wrenching 'Spell', https://www.abctales.com/story/noo/spell , and to the tenth part of Jane Hyphens's perceptive, warm and funny 'Jack Mutant - Which Way Is Down', https://www.abctales.com/story/jane-hyphen/jack-mutant-which-way-down-part-ten
 
Poem of the Month is london_calling79's 'Traffic': https://www.abctales.com/story/londoncalling79/traffic  It's simple and sparse, but conveys the full horror of its subject.
 
Honourable mentions to fatboy74's spooky, funny 'Raising The Dead', https://www.abctales.com/story/fatboy74/raising-dead , and to ralph's sensuous and evocative 'Buttershaw, South Bradford', https://www.abctales.com/story/ralph/buttershaw-south-bradford
 
Thanks, everyone, for a great month of reading!