Author: Tina Stewart Brakebill

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

defying destiny (a tanka)

Tina Stewart Brakebill

seeking to avoid

an unchosen destiny

she slips through the gap

like a whisper in the night

a bounded servant no more

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Author’s Photo 

I love cemeteries. A recent visit to the historic Oaklawn Cemetery in Tampa inspired thoughts about escaping an unwanted destiny; whether that fate is death or something else is up to the reader to decide.

But, here’s hoping that 2021 offers some respite from 2020.

Thanks also to Linda’s JusJoJan Challenge word (servant) and to Fandango’s FOWC word (avoid) for giving me added fuel for my vague thoughts.

Flash Fiction, tutto e niente

a better day

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Some days were better than others. He’d leave the house. Buy groceries. Walk in the park. Feed the squirrels. Try to go on without her.

But most days were bad. On those days he’d stay in bed. Thinking only of her. Hurting as badly as he had that first day without her.

And then there was today. The anniversary of that terrible day. 365 days of pain. And planning. Now it was time.

He imagined them. Walking hand-in-hand on the boardwalk. Oblivious to his pain.

Reaching into his bag, he smiled. Today was going to be a better day.

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Photo Prompt © Roger Bultot

I swear this started out as a sweet story but at about word 63, it turned … well, I’ll let y’all be the judge and end it for yourselves. What’s he reaching for?

Thanks, as always, to Rochelle’s Friday Fictioners Challenge for providing inspiration.

Flash Fiction, Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

quixotic musings

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Am I a dreamer?

Still full of hope as I yearn.      

Or am I a clown?

Yes, says the face in the glass

with your destiny foretold.  

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Image courtesy of Forgottenx at DeviantArt

I’m not sure that this piece fits perfectly into any of the challenges that inspired me today. So apologies if I’ve miscategorized things!

All I can say, is that the combination of Fandango’s FOWC (body, which I loosely subbed in “face in the mirror”),  Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge photo, and Sammi’s Challenge (to use the word quixotic, which I took as the entire theme) DID inspire me and, thus, this 26-word call and response story / tanka was born. (Side note: I love to throw in a good THUS or THEREFORE or NEVERTHELESS ….)