It only took a blink for Toby to pour himself like liquid through the crack in the front door, run across the street and crash the neighbor’s backyard barbecue. I ran after him barefoot, imitating the hot coal dance as I crossed the asphalt and lolloped past my neighbors, grinning stupidly, as they enjoyed their burgers and brats. After two rotations around the house, I saw my chase was futile. Remembering some dog owner advice, I dropped prostrate into the grass. Neighbors lurched out of chairs, hovering over me. “Call 911!” Toby stopped, turned running, and I nabbed him.
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This was written for the “unleashed” theme flash fiction challenge, using 99 words only, for the Carrot Ranch Literary Community. I did read that if your dog runs away from you like this, you should drop, and the dog, out of curiosity and concern, should come to you. A very similar scenario did happen to me with a little dog I was watching but without quite this level of drama and awkwardness. 🙂
I want to be home,
Sweet solace of home,
To kick up my feet
In repose complete,
To sip from a cup
That will warm me up.
I want to be home.
I want to be home,
The refuge of home,
To sit with a book,
In some quiet nook,
And shut out the noise
That no one enjoys,
I want to be home.
I want to be home,
My own cozy home,
Covered in a wrap,
A dog in my lap,
Play classical airs,
Resting in my chair,
Please, can I go home?
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This poem is for a dVerse poetry challenge, to write a poem with epiphora or epistrophe. According to dictionary.com, epistrophe is, “the repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.”
Rain splashes on my hat,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
And soaks up the door mat,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
Going splish and then splat,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
With rhythm like jazz scat,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
It rains both dogs and cats,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
It soaks up my socks. Drat!
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
I look like a drowned rat,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
I’ll go back to the flat,
Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,
And that’s it, and that’s that!
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
Here is another silly poem/light verse. It was partly inspired by the new dVerse challenge for a poem using repetition, but this doesn’t quite use the technique requested. I thought I’d post it anyway and perhaps enter a different poem for that challenge. Americans don’t usually call an apartment a “flat,” but, well, apartment didn’t fit. “‘Apartment’ didn’t fit. Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, I’ll pretend I’m a Brit, Rat-a-tat, Rat-a-tat.” 🙂
I had to do a bit of manipulating with different sets of words to get this one, selecting words that appealed to me the most. I thought it might end up being a tribute to ice cream (maybe coffee ice cream,) but I could not get any dairy words. Sigh. It was only a matter of time before I wrote an “ode” to coffee.