airyfairy's blog

It's been a brilliant week for some hard-hitting pieces. After much thought and re-reading, Story of the Week goes to well-wisher for 'A Typical Friday Night'. The quality of the writing makes every word of this story break your heart: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/typical-friday-night In complete contrast, Poem of the Week is Penny4athought's 'Sounds From The Heart'. Though not specifically about Christmas, this lovely piece sums...

Our Story of the Week is Richard Dobbs's 'The Stacks of Llandarcy', which combines social commentary with a moving account of a father and son relationship: https://www.abctales.com/story/richard-dobbs/stacks-llandarcy Poem of the Week is Well-Wisher's 'School', a piece of automatic poetry that has stayed with me since the first moment I read it: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/school%C2%A0-automatic-poem This week's Inspiration Point...

A really exciting new opportunity for ABC poets, being run by one of our most long-standing and talented contributors! Posted by Cerasus Poetry on Wed, 22 Nov 2017 Cerasus Poetry is a joint venture in association with ABCtales to assist selected members to collate, edit and publish their poetry collections as quality paperbacks and e-books, which will be available to buy from major online retailers as well as directly from Cerasus. Successful...

Poem of the Week goes to what one commenter rightly called a tour de force - Ralph's wonderful 'If I Could Take A Day'. Heartbreaking, uplifting and defiant, it really is a fantastic piece of writing: https://www.abctales.com/story/ralph/if-i-could-take-day Story of the Week is Jane Hyphen's 'Silva in Lisbon'. Part travel writing, part memoir, part meditation, it's a masterclass on how to weave a story together: https://www.abctales.com/story/...

Two very different pieces for this week's picks. Poem of the Week is PoetonaHill's 'In Cardiff Jail'. Undoubtedly bleak, it's brilliantly written and makes the reader go on to think about all sorts of things other than the original subject: https://www.abctales.com/story/poetonahill/cardiff-jail Story of the Week is 'The St Trinian's Problem', by The Other Terrence Oblong. Those already acquainted with Happy Island will know that its residents...

Another amazing week on ABC Tales, with some brilliant pieces. Our Story of the Week is jolono's just about perfect 'Swimming In The Rain'. A wonderful evocation of time and place, with a story that will catch your heartstrings: https://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/swimming-rain Poem of the Week goes to Philip Sidney's 'DIY', another just about perfect piece. The mundane experience of redecorating transformed into something magical: https://www...

There is so much good stuff on ABC Tales at the moment that it becomes increasingly difficult to make the week's Picks, which this week have involved much deliberation and pleasurable re-reading. Story of the Week is Celticman's 'relapse prevention therapy'. It's a stunning piece of work, haunting and disturbing, but with an inner strength that makes you want to weep: https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/relapse-prevention-therapy Poem of...

This week's Story of the Week grabbed me right from the start. TJW's 'This Is My Rifle...This Is My Gun' will stay with you for a long time. Owing to space restrictions on the site it's in two parts: https://www.abctales.com/story/tjw/my-rifle-my-gun https://www.abctales.com/story/tjw/my-rifle-my-gun-end Poem of the Week is Ewan's lyrical, hypnotic 'Counting'. This lodges in your mind like the most pleasant of earworms, and you may find yourself...

It's been a wonderful week on the site for life writing and I struggled to choose the Picks for this week. Among others, Jolono's beautiful 'Dad was Old School' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/jolono/dad-was-old-school ) and Elsie Katz's uncompromising 'Memories of Working In A Hostel...' ( https://www.abctales.com/story/elsie-katz/2002-05-my-memories-working-ho... ) will stay in my mind for a long time. In the end though, Story of the Week...

A plethora of riches to choose from this week! Our Poem of the Week is Rosa Cruz's 'Seals in the Currents', a wonderful combination of intricate detail and poetic vision: https://www.abctales.com/story/rosa-cruz/seals-currents Story of the Week goes to Cooper King's 'What Happens Near Rome'. I laughed, my toes curled in painful recognition - and from the reactions, I wasn't the only one: https://www.abctales.com/story/cooper-king/what-happens-...