He slams the cash on the counter. “I need a bouquet with a hidden meaning.” He’s not the first to ask.

“What meaning, sir?”

“Murder.”

“Murder again!?” the shopkeeper exclaimed.

She puttered around the room and talked:

“Well, my heavens, sometimes I wish I didn’t keep promises, like when I promised to keep this shop open after my grandmother died. She passed the magic along to me, though. Don’t worry, dear. I’ll solve your problem.”

She presented him a bouquet of the deepest red roses, and he watched her spray them with something.

“Don’t sniff – only her.”

“Who?”

“Your … Read the rest

It’s not right that you’ve done this to me, that you’ve strung me along for years, that you will continue to do this as long as I let you. Maybe I’m the dim-witted one here, for staying when maybe I should go, for settling for less than I want because I’m afraid I won’t find more. Yellow like a coward and the dandelions that fly away in the slightest breeze, like you and me. 

Today’s poetry prompt words were: it’s not right, dim-witted, and yellow.

_{Photo by Kate Cullen on Unsplash}

I am Atlas with the world on my back.
I am the poor soul with the albatross on my neck.
I am pushing this rock up and up and up
this hill like Sisyphus with not
even a hope let alone a promise
of relief.

There’s only so much I
can hurt in my heart before
I decide to set down the weight
of the things holding me back,
and things you’re piling
on top of me to carry.

One day I’ll either lose
my strength or my will,
but either way, that is when
I will lose you, finally.… Read the rest

We’re not out of the woods yet
but I feel like we’re getting closer
to the edge of reality, to the place
where we can be together without
any one else’s bad juju. 

And if we can’t just be
left alone, on our own, 
maybe we’ll steal a pickup truck
and maps from a gas station
(if they even still have maps)
and I’d get in and look 
at you and I would say:
Go west, babe. Go west.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: out of the woods, pickup, and maps. 

_{Image made by me with Gemini and I’ll explain}

“We need to talk.”

“What is it?”

“It’s the alien you’re hiding in the attic.”

“You want it gone?”

“No, I just think if you’re going to hide an alien it shouldn’t be in the attic. We have a basement, that’s more dungeon-y.”

“But I want her to feel welcome.”

“Oh, it’s a her now, is it?”

“It’s always been.”

“What are you doing with her up there?”

“Experiments…”

“Are you probing her, Carl? Are you playing doctor with the alien?”

“No, Maude, I’d never! Maude, no, don’t go up there!”

“I’m going!”

“No! Uh, I can explain the lingerie!”… Read the rest