Cherrypicked stories
Benny the Lout - A Craven Danger Mystery
Betty watched as Benny the Lout slouched over Craven Danger’s desk and hurled abuse at the private investigator. “Look here, powder puff!” said Benny...
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- 8 comments
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- 6873 reads
Steps
You come home late again from work. It’s dark outside, only not really dark, because the street lights out there are full of amber colour, and there’...
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- 374 reads
pondering
jelly ellipsis or small eyeballs with tiny pupils, or thought bubbles, each containing a full stop No! A full beginning a drip of ink After some...
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- 6 comments
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- 2181 reads
The mask melting at 98
updating 'Inconnu', nearly 94 [a book that’s closed, with cheerful cover …]
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- 16 comments
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- 7997 reads
Like To Remember
Those yawning summers our parents once knew, left us youngsters with easy energy that was boundless, chasing silent butterflies though diminutive, we...
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- 17 comments
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- 5791 reads
Pudding Detective - Chapter 1
Pudding yawned. It was hard work being a dog for even when she was asleep, she was working…
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- 1 comment
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- 968 reads
Larry and Mick and the Coleslaw Catastrophe pt1
To Vicky, who confessed to the author of having ‘lost the plot’ with coleslaw before. ... It was a day like any other. The coleslaw delivery van was...
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- 4 comments
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- 1935 reads
Spank the Monkey
A story about a man and his monkey set in the future. This is part 1.
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- 21 comments
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- 9876 reads
First Walk Of April
Step on a moon stone to cross the stream - Van Gogh’s Starry Night - willow flowers pollen halo’d in swirling water.dark. Sun-coin's cloud-pursed. In...
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- 6 comments
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- 1874 reads
Take Me To Your Leader
I hope aliens from space don't land in the U.K.
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- 4 comments
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- 1779 reads
Embers
Loss is a ravenous inferno And I sit surrounded, by gasoline soaked memories Each time one is exposed, it is kissed by the fire, then a piece of me...
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- 3 comments
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- 1209 reads
The Long Road Home
begins with a little boy and his dog Prince both skipping along a gravel road. Cars are few -- money is a dream and allowances unknown. Life is...
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- 4 comments
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- 1383 reads
Déjà Lu (Formerly Déjà Vu)
12 years and little has changed... The last two stanzas, which I've never been happy with, changed. Image By R-41 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, source Wikipedia Commons
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- 771 reads
The Unsent Letter
I've been going through old untitled documents on my cloud and found this unsent letter to my next door neighbour whose noisy handy man (her little pet) polluted the air space with a very loud radio each weekend, drowning out the birds and other soothing sounds.
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- 8 comments
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- 3053 reads
Blue Nun and Babycham (Recycled)
Same format, different meaning. (Image from Pixabay)
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- 14 comments
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- 4832 reads
Oblivion
I thought I had it all worked out. Oblivion. It had to be. There’s no other way. Even with the shadow that passed from hall to kitchen; the keys...
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- 5 comments
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- 1878 reads
The ends of my world
I can’t feel the presence of a god here so keenly now that I can touch the ends of my world , run a finger across a drumlin of hallowed herringbone...
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- 1 comment
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- 928 reads
Angel 52 (compromise)
‘There’s nothing as cruel as folk,’ muttered Angel, kissing the tops of the twin’s heads and hugging them tight to her breasts. They didn’t let up...
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- 5 comments
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- 2172 reads
Remembering Mum
Red roses Bought Fulfilling Love, As Morning Glow Penetrates This silence, I, slip Into Tomorrow's Reflections, For you Gave Balance In a patient...
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- 12 comments
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- 10008 reads
BOOM or BUNCO
re-think of a poem I posted 2017 (free image from pixaby)
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- 11 comments
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- 3176 reads
The Instrumentalist
You'll probably work it out... image is out of copyright, to the best of my knowledge.
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- 4 comments
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- 10324 reads
Colours for Kids 7)
Blackcurrant* squash and deep purple pansies, Teletubbies’ Tinky winky, purple ‘red*’ cabbage, the velvet of the queen’s crown, – and the mountain...
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- 8 comments
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- 3583 reads
Colours for Kids 6)
… and a parakeet …
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- 4 comments
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- 2105 reads
herring gull gallantry
If you wait till half past six there's cheap bread at the Co op or donuts for 16p. So now, after chores are done I put on my coat (it's still cold...
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- 14 comments
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- 5188 reads
Seasons of Hinksey Pool
The last swim in Hinksey Open Air Pool, south Oxford, before it closes for the winter is always a bittersweet experience. For those of us who swim...
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- 3 comments
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- 1568 reads
Golden Days By Golden Pond
Eleanor sits with husband Albert on the terrace by Golden Pond both enjoying their breakfast while bright sun shone all around, he eats golden...
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- 10 comments
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- 3293 reads
Hunting for Duck (6)
Concluding part.
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- 4 comments
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- 1558 reads
Hunting for Duck (5)
I made myself a coffee and sat down to look through my pages. I sat for almost an hour, crossing out bits with a pencil, making notes in the margins...
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- 3 comments
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- 1383 reads
Hunting for Duck (4)
Sal's sister, Marlene, has arrived for a short stay after Nate, her last boyfriend, left her. (image: mine)
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- 1 comment
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- 753 reads
Hunting for Duck (3)
Marlene lived fifty miles up the line, and Sal drove off on the Sunday morning to go pick her up. She’d wanted me to go, too, but I’d planned to get...
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- 3 comments
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- 1218 reads
Hunting for Duck (2)
So the day comes and they pull up in this big purple Olds, Nate driving. And here was a team. Bonnie and Clyde gone crazy as fuck. Marlene – skirt up...
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- 1 comment
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- 801 reads
Hunting for Duck (1)
Those lonesome city nights when it’s raging out there with the rain and the traffic, the sirens howling, the cross-block shouts of crazy drunks, and...
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- 4 comments
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- 1265 reads
Orange
Orange just doesn’t sit right with me Claiming to be both colour and fruit It can’t just choose one and it’s loud Too shouty, too few this colour...
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- 12 comments
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- 4275 reads
Putting Things Off
I’ve been Putting things off Turning inward Turning in Shrinking my absorption Starving the point Just inhaling Listening to my Blood flowing I am...
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- 4 comments
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- 1389 reads
Angel 51 (good cop, bad cop)
Angel quickly established a routine with Lisa and Adam. They quickly established their own counter-routine which included staying up all night and...
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- 4 comments
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- 1891 reads
Between the Lines
Image from Pixabay - No attribution required.
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- 4 comments
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- 1705 reads
Colours for Kids 4)
Snow newly fallen, and milk in the cup, a fresh piece of paper before …
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- 5 comments
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- 2531 reads
The Black Dog
Often seen as a portent of death it is described as a hell-hound. (Image in the Public Domain)
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- 6 comments
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- 2333 reads
Hayfever
While I love to see Mother Nature emerging from her slumber again, it's not without its problems for some of us. Read this without singing it - I dare you ;o)
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- 2 comments
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- 5298 reads