held her hand last night's bright silver glow tide recedes
Tag: death
The Letter L #atozchallenge #noir #fiction
I slowly traced the letter “L” in the thick wool carpet. I left her blood stain to help me keep my edge.
“Lily I can’t let go of this. I know you would want me to help”
I felt a tug was it sleep? a drug? pulling me down, down down…
****
A scream erupted the silence
I took off in a sprint into a darkening alley
that sucked me along
Further and further I ran
There’s a wall no way up, no way around.
Then I saw it an old rusty hinged door.
Blocked
A dame screamed
blood splattered onto the backdrop of the fog
the door slowly opened
it was more like a portal to…
The bleeding woman was gone
the place seemed familiar
precariously
I hung on a ladder
no top and no bottom
just endless rungs.
I could taste the sepia tinged air
the haze burned my eyes
another scream reverberated in the ladder’s metal.
I knew this was not Newcago
it seemed wherever I go
someone needs help
I looked down,
considering.
I pulled my makeshift mask
taught against my face
“Climb I must”
***
Happy Tuesday. If you are visiting from the A to Z Challenge, I took the easy way out and took one of my two posts for Tuesday. I’m writing about elderly issues for most of the challenge.
NewCago is a noir, metropolitan area that is plagued with a string of bad guys and a deadly disease without a cure. (these stories written in 2013.) Sam (a private detective) seems to be the only one who can stay alive long enough to protect the citizens. How long can his luck last???
Someone Needs to Survive #covid #newcago #flashfiction
“Find Broken Nose” the guy gasped.
“Never heard of him.”
The guy grabbed my collar and pulled me close to his lips. “Get my kid brother outta this cesspool. His real name is Gregory. He looks like me just younger.” The mic said as his number came up.
“Do I really need to pull this mask off to see what your brother is gonna look like?” I snapped on my stretched out latex gloves and pulled my cloth mask on.
“Lily, how do I get myself in these situations?”A breeze nudged past me; on it was her fragrance. “Lil, for you I’ll find the kid.”
I went to Buzz for info. That guy was as old as the boarded up hardware store.
“Sure at least I think it’s him. Only one I’ve ever met with that name.” I kept trying to put distance from the guy as Buzz leaned forward. “He’s not a little kid. He’s more like a sassy know it all.”
“Ok, ok just point me in the right direction.”
He was easy to find. Good thing cuz the mask did a good job of concealing his broken nose.
“It’s your brother’s.” I held up the watch as proof.
“Correction that was dad’s.” he snatched it out of my hand.
“I got a message for ya from your brother who died in my arms. Get out before its too late.”
“Too late already happened.” The kid hung his head “Ma died this morning. For some reason I’m immune.” I could hear the tears catch in his throat.
“I pulled out my wallet and gave him everything I had but a buck for coffee. There’s a bus at 3 be on it. Someone in your family needs to survive this…”
***
I’m revamping a noir crime series I wrote in 2013. The story centered around crime in a metropolis called NewCago but the main antagonist was a deadly disease lurking in dark corners. If you like Noir and you have time to read come back for more in the days to come. The stories do stand alone so they can be read in any order.
Whats the worst that can happen
I Want To Die… #devotion #prayer #Covid19
A wave pushes me under
look in eyes of anathema
there’s never been love’s glow
my spirit is weak
I tremble alone
you hand me the knife
“Do it. “
die- get it over with
there is one
heard my cry in the wilderness
***
The words pour out. One woman echos the words of thousands of other women as the hour is sounded.
“I WANT TO DIE…”
She is weary from hope. Desperation claims her breath, anguish has consumed her life force.
The will that remains is for an end – death.
I cannot reach a hand of hope to hers. I cannot touch her heart with my tears, but there is one who can.
His name is Jesus.
Two thousand years ago this humble servant walked dusty roads to love the lost, heal the lepers, free those in bondage, die for the sins of the world.
“As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy and dark day.”
Ezekiel 34:12
Jesus came not to be served or elevated to a kingly throne “but to seek and save the lost.”
A woman lonely, distressed with a disease is emptied of hope. She hears about Jesus and believes that his love will save her. As she barely touches the hem of his tunic, she is healed and saved..
This nameless women cry in the night. He holds bottles filled with their tears. “Lord heal me, Lord save me, Lord forgive me, Lord LOVE ME.”
This day as you look at Corona Virus death tolls look to the shepherd who knows your name. He hears your cry, knows your fear, and with grace and mercy longs to rescue you!!!!
What’s the Worst that can happen in Newcago? #newcago #noir #fiction #virus
It’s a messed up place full of crumpled and empty lives. Yeah there are some nice ones, but they are cowering cuz they’re afraid. They should be we’re in NewCago. She was the metropolis of the ages until something went wrong.
Now people know better than to go out after 6 at night, even the cops.
As the clock chimes the hour in city hall, you can hear the clang of metal clad doors being closed and quadruple locked.
The fancy folks have doors that close without them even touching a thing. Lead bars drop into feet of metal lined concrete. Our windows rattle from the collective thud.
I was getting antsy from being inside. I teased my girl, ” It’s like living in a coffin for half of our lives. Let’s go have some fun while everyone is inhaling the last of the day’s stagnant air behind bars. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Sure Sammy, let’s go on the town for a change.” She put on her favorite shade of lipstick. It’s not like she needed anything to make her look pretty. She was a knock out without it.
So there we were linked arm and arm like kids.
“Having a good time?” She smiled as she wiped mustard off the corner of my mouth. I loved the way her eyes looked when she took a deep sip of soda from her straw and her laugh always made my heart skip.
“It’s always good with you, Sam.” I noticed the catch in her voice; she sensed the motion first.
I felt her body tense and instinctively pulled her down against the wall.
I heard a shot. “We got lucky with that one.”
I looked at her usual steady gaze. The red wasn’t from her lipstick. She silently whispered sweet goodbyes but they were short. Too short.
“Lily, why this? Why now? You are…You were days away from a cure…
I SHOULD BE DEAD NOT YOU!!!”
It’s a messed up place full of crumpled, empty lives and I’m thrown into the cement mixer of black, white, and red.
I’m revamping a noir crime series I wrote in 2013. The story centered around crime but the main antagonist was a deadly disease lurking in dark corners. If you like Noir and you have time to read come back for more in the days to come.
This will take you back to the first installment “Life In New Cago Where Crime Never Sleeps“
An Old Dilemma, New Crime #Newcago1 #fiction #disease
I inhale it every night before 6 – Courage (my dead lover’s not mine)
I looked at my watch.”5 pm time for the cops to crawl into hiding.” I chuckle. ” I don’t have the luxury of steel bars.”
A long banshee like scream bites into the last flicker of day and the night begins.
Decency’s doors are closed and it’s just me and the bad guys.
I threw the paper down. “Ramping up early?”
“I’ll try to stay decent baby.”
“I know you will Sam.” I heard her voice echo in my head as I inhaled her lily.
***
Another long night banging around in the trashcans of Newcago, I needed a drink.
“A tall soda and a cheese steak at Tony’s sounds like the way to end a night.” I was the only company I kept these days.
I noticed the dame – she was a looker. I couldn’t get a read on the guy beneath the brim.
“Yeah, the regular,” I nodded. Sally and I go back to days when drinks came from the hose in the horse’s mouth.
I couldn’t help but hear dollface coughing then breathing hard. Her face turned blue in the matter of a minute.
Too late to call 911; her beautiful lips were pinched and her brown eyes glazed over.
“The disease squad will be here soon,” I said under my breath.
When I looked back over, I noticed something was missing. The lout she was with had sprinted off. The sparkler around her wrist was no longer sparkling.
“Baby, Newcago is not like life on the farm…” I said to no one. “Playing is for keeps.”
***
I pulled this series up from my 2013 archives. If you enjoy noir (more sepia) crime stories you might enjoy these as I breathe a bit of life through my Covid-19 protection gear into them.
Charlotte #wordsoflove #death #poetry
The words in bold I pulled from a gravestone poem written by a grieving husband to his wife who had passed so young.
Charlotte
I spoke your name in harmony with the lark
now the marble holds memories cold
I caressed your hand through the bitterest of fights
now I seek your shadow as you slumber at night
*
silvery clouds trace your smile’s mark
I hear your sweet whispered tone
rustle through the breeze
as you say my name, I freeze
*
a shiver runneth over me
soft hands reach for embrace
we never ever do quite touch
I look toward heaven far too much
*
longing to catch your loving trace
tears wet my brow, cheeks, face
that once held hot, warm kiss
can only mouth the things I miss
*
I struggle not to throw myself away
I am yet buoyant on life’s ebbing waves
“May I be faithful to your name my dear
nothing in life seems very clear
*
I’ll not forget kindness from above
delivered treasure from the one I love
Next to you darling reserve for me a place
eternal destiny full of grace”
This is from a previous poem written in 2014. I work with elderly and see so much love in the last unspoken words. This poem reflects the love from both sises of the grave.
~Thanks for reading
Kelly Smile #Uganda #loss #children
I saw your smile yesterday
broad was your Kelly smile
reminded me of memories
long as a Gulu mile
small fingers intertwined in mine
dark ash upon your cheek
fought fire with the older boys
bravest child Id ever meet
I saw your smile yesterday
broad was your Kelly smile
reminded me of memories
long as a Gulu mile
bands all sizes on the floor
we’d make them for our wrists
love you knotted one for me
in colorful sweeps and twists
I saw your smile yesterday
broad was your Kelly smile
three short years of memories
but long as a Gulu mile
in such a little caravan
your body we conveyed
grandmother held you in her arms
wept o’er her precious babe
I saw your smile yesterday
broad was your Kelly smile
reminded of our memories
long as a Gulu mile
as your teacher I then shared
the picture in my heart
a tightly woven little place
it never will depart
I saw your smile yesterday
broad was your Kelly smile
knot of precious memories
they’re long as a Gulu mile
Listen in Sorrow #birds #poetry #loss
happy you tend to the garden
waking me daily with song
bringing cheer never sorrow
I find myself singing along
*
more work is there in the morrow
gather and fashion a nest
complaints never are filed
rarely do you stop for a rest
*
little one out in the wet storm
no jacket to fend off the rain
grateful for your reminder
sun always follows the pain
*
I take my pen sadly to paper
to write about someone I love
gone toward braodened horizons
taken gently to heaven above
*
spring raindrops
birds joyful refrain
tears fall freely
Today at Poet’s United the prompt is Birds.
This haibun is lovingly written for my father-in-law Robert who left us today.
Too Late #tanrenga #poetry
This month at Chevrefeuille’s Haiku Kai we are challenged by the Tan Renga that short chained poem written by two poets. Here is the haiku by Buson for your inspiration to create the second stanza of this Tan Renga.
the willow leaves fallen,
the spring gone dry,
rocks here and there
© Yosa Buson (1716-1784)
tears blot candle lit message
death comes too quick for my love
~mdw
t
Art by Yosa Buson and Georges de la Tour
penned in moon dust 