calmgrove

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Threshold

WordPress Free Photo Library. They drew a line in the sand to mark the point of no return. They said, “Thus far and no further,” for this was our Rubicon, our tipping point, our event horizon. Once we’ve crossed that threshold, the door will be slammed shut. And after we’ve burnt our bridges  the world will go up in flames. We can’t say they didn’t warn us.

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Consolation

WordPress Free Photo Library. Maybe  until common  sense infects our mazed minds,  in melodies might we all be consoled. Text to image © C A Lovegrove. The cinquain, devised early in the twentieth century by American poet, Adelaide Crapsey, is distinguished by the number of syllables in each of the five lines: two, four, six, eight, two. Interestingly, the following counting rhyme almost fits…

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Cussing

Text to image art © C A Lovegrove. They say swearing is a sign of intelligence, but I don’t know about that. Also that profuse swearing relates to creativity – the more swear words you know the greater your vocabulary – but I only regularly use a handful of expletives. Does swearing affect the ability to tolerate pain? I’ll test that by stubbing my—— An exercise in Flash Fiction Fifty Five…

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Magician

Still image from Sylvain Chomet’s ‘L’Illusionniste’. Félix was excited. He’d seen a cartoon of a magician, a man who pulled rabbits out of a big hat, tapped a wand on a pack of cards to make a picture card appear, pulled strings of flags from his mouth, even cut a woman in a box in half with a saw! And now his maman said he was going to watch some real magicians! They went into a really big…

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Present day

It’s then. Her face lit up. “It’s my birthday!” she smiled. “Double digits!” her mum said. “Present day!” she cried. “Happy birthday!” That was her dad. Her younger brother stares. There is a pile of wrapped packages waiting on the table. It’s now, the present day. Her mouth sits in a straight line as if to underscore her life. She sits, disregarded, on a squeaky chair. The room smells of…

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What is it?

What is it that leads down into a leporine labyrinth, where one can lose oneself in diversions and digressions while following the bearer of a pocket watch in a waistcoat? What is it that designates the vermicular vortex that transcends both time and space, the interstellar intertemporal tube that joins a pair of distant points thus shortening the distance travelled? What is it which forms an…

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Interrogation

Family meals are a time for polite conversation. No, I don’t want to talk. I want to eat in silence. What did you do at school today? I don’t want to think about it. I certainly don’t want to talk about it. Your mother and I want to know what you really think. We want to know what you’re planning to do. I don’t know what I want to do. I don’t know what I really think. Except I know I don’t…

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Pawned freedom

WordPress Free Photo Library. A fragile peace was planned by pawning your precious freedom – despite our warning. You wake with eyes blurred, tired, yawning,and find that now, from early morning through every day and next day’s dawning you will regret your foolish pawning. WordPress Free Photo Library.

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Hope

© C A Lovegrove. Just when despair at where the world is poisedat brink of doom for people and the world,when ranting demagoguery is noisedabroad, and insults, lies and slander hurledat innocents, along with bullets, bombs and worse; when thirst, starvation, exile vie with pogroms, flies, disease and no  shaloms; then what is left? To suffer? Then to die?Pandora’s box now gapes and lies ajar;…

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WT(A)F

Image found on social media. A cautionary villanelle on the gratuitous (that is, “uncalled for”) use of magic to effect a separation of body and soul for nefarious purposes.“I sing the soul rumbustious, from body discombulateby action most gratuitous.” The Magus was so curious:his epitaph describes him “late”(and, further on, “rumbustious”)but he was really furious. The knowledge still would on…

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Ways and memes

© C A Lovegrove. “Where there’s a will there’s a way”; for every cliché a meme. Does every dog have his day? Aren’t they just what we all say,hoping they’re not what they seem? “Where there’s a will there’s a way” turns black-and-white what is grey – tries to solidify dream – gives every dog his due day. Proverbs are simply wordplay,earlier versions of meme.“Where there’s a will there’s a…

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Loyal and dependable

© C A Lovegrove Loyal and dependable, they are. Sitting there patiently, waiting for my attention for whenever our interests coincide. Some, because newly befriended, wear shiny new coats; others are shabbier, age catching up with them. A few have shifted position; andI’ve to ramble up and down rows to find their new addresses, their new neighbours. Old friends, recent friends, asking little,…

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Tough choice

An eatery in Hay-on-Wye © C A Lovegrove. In the world of social media I found toxic news, toxic views and blatant lies. In the town of books I found food for the mind, food for the spirit and nourishment for the body. Toxin, or balm? Balm or toxin? In a world overladen with options it’s a tough choice.

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Newsworthy

WordPress Free Photo Library. To the non-domiciled multimedia magnates and the ethics-free editorial staff who work for them. How do you balance the lives and deaths of many in a distant disaster zone with the vacuous pronouncements of a C-list celebrity? How do you decide whether to focus on the life of maybe just one missing child (one you’ve likely never known, and may very soon forget)with…

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Biscuits

WordPress Free Photo Library They’re only junked when they’ve gone stale; And if they’re dunked? An epic fail! Savoury – sweet – they must have crunch; for when I eat I need to munch! Ain’t it cute we call it “bisskit” and not “bee-skwee”?(It’s French, just risk it!)Does every cookie –“twice-cooked” you see –  appeal to you as well as me?

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Green

© C A Lovegrove Sun-drenched summer swathes of green fields now parched pale brown; so come, welcome rain. First posted 24th June 2014.

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counterpane

crystal counterpane quilts the quiet countryside clothes the fields in white