Insertponceyfrenchnamehere's blog

I'm going to take you to two very different places for this week's picks. Story of the Week goes to TJW's Point Blank Period which charts his trip fleeing a hurricane in Florida, and our Poem of the Week is Tail-end, where you can join Parson Thru in a summer evening's thunderstorm in Madrid. Both great pieces which I hope you will enjoy as much as I did! https://www.abctales.com/story/tjw/point-blank-period https://www.abctales.com/story/parson...

Our Story and Poem for the Month of June, very kindly chosen by Simon Whitworth/Fatboy74: For the story, London Calling's DUP letter is brilliant and I found the Hello Walls by Leroy Mockbee novel opening to be technically great. The story I have gone for is by Ice Rivers called Daddio and Beyond, the part where the toy soldiers are not afraid of death, because they understand they are not alive, but are afraid of being buried and then not found...

Poetry Monthly, July Hello all and thanks for your contributions this time to Poetry Monthly! Two interesting poems to go back to: catherine poarch’s Biss or Bissn’t - https://www.abctales.com/story/catherine-poarch/biss-or-bissnt Jennifer Skinner’s Brief Moment to Dream https://www.abctales.com/story/skinnerjennifer/brief-moment-dream The focus for this coming month is – Where I Write. Take this literally – do you write in a garden shed, a...

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 30 Jun 2017 Two very contrasting Picks for this week! Our Poem of the Week is Rosa Cruz's 'Bluebottle Triptych'. It manages to be beautiful, truly poetic, and almost forensically descriptive, all at the same time. One to be read again and again: https://www.abctales.com/story/rosa-cruz/bluebottle-triptych Story of the Week is MJG's funny, warm-hearted and optimistic 'Condoms for Cornwall'. It will strike a chord with...

I am a huge fan of well-wisher's excellent children's poems and stories, and I didn't realise he'd published some of them until I read this very funny book plug today: https://www.abctales.com/story/well-wisher/sad-poetry-book .. so I thought it deserved a place on the front page for a while. If you have children I can thoroughly recommend the poems!

Story of the Week goes to 'Very Beret', a fascinating and exceptionally glittery piece of life writing by Noo, with two honourable mentions for well-wisher's 'Pareidolia', and skinner_jennifer's 'United in an Ancient Wood'. Poem of the Week is camilla's outstanding 'The Reproachful Muse' which has stayed with me. Please read all of the above if you haven't already: https://www.abctales.com/story/noo/very-beret https://www.abctales.com/story/...

Posted by airyfairy on Fri, 16 Jun 2017 Even though there's been some brilliant writing on the site this week, london_calling79's 'A Letter To My New Tory MP' stood out immediately. We're not a political site and members have all sorts of different views, but the humanity, compassion and reason of this piece shine a light in times that seem to get darker and grimmer ever day: https://www.abctales.com/story/londoncalling79/letter-my-new-tory-mp...

Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 09 Jun 2017 It's been wonderful to see so many new writers and such a range of writing this week. I've chosen pieces that take an unusual perspective on the natural world. Markle's beautifully described, 'The Gardens', takes us somewhere slightly unsettling, I dare you to take the garden walk: https://www.abctales.com/story/markle/gardens Rosa Cruz's, 'Today birdsong is turned up loud', is full of verve, a gift to...

Picks for the month of May very kindly chosen by Sean McNulty: Story: The Green and White Dress by rosaliekempthorne https://www.abctales.com/ story/rosaliekempthorne/green- and-white-dress The Green and White Dress is a wonderful piece of writing. It feels like a timeless, classic satire – the characters and the setting could exist at any time in history. It feels so real, yet plays out like images twinkling in some fantastic magic lantern...

What a lot of great pieces this week - it's been very hard to choose just two! Big congratulations to Lille Dante for his poem ' my spectre hits the shopping mall of time' which makes me laugh each time I read it, and to love_writing for 'My Mother and I aren't Talking and Other Tales' - a finely drawn picture of a disordered childhood. If you haven't read them yet, please do! https://www.abctales.com/story/lille-dante/my-spectre-haunts-shopping...