I see my mother's hands

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Rise of the Past

(excerpt)
I SEE MY MOTHER’S HANDS
I see my mother’s hands
in the dark
in my hands. The purple bulging
veins and brown splotches
like some lone planet drifting
through the Oort Cloud
looking back at the Sun
what have you done with your time, she weeps.
What have you done with your time.

December 2014, Week Four Part 1

plus
December 2014, Week Four Part 1

Louise from Flat Bread, Sask.

December 2014, Week Three Part 3

and now
December 2014, Week Three Part 3
https://churchstreetisburning.wordpress.com/2018/10/31/575/

December 2014, Week Three Part 2

and now...
December 2014, Week Three Part 2

Glenda from Smiling Falls, ON

December 2014 Week Three Part 1

also
December 2014 Week Three Part 1

Berlin in Rhyme

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Rise of the Past

(excerpt)
BERLIN IN RHYME
i remember when the berlin wall came down
the west berlin poets and the east berlin poets
began chewing on the cement from opposite sides
like rats on a bone. what a useless thing this wall was.
strung along through the streets and alleys, apartments and conversations,
like a rumour of death. for all.
like a robert frost nightmare.
good neighbours my ass.
just put a pillow over my face
and let me suck in the feathers.
…
i finish my poem. my wife
wishes i were better at house work.

December 2014, Week Two Part 3

and now
December 2014, Week Two Part 3

1936, Saltzburg

December 2014 Week Two Part 2

et tu
December 2014 Week Two Part 2

December 2014, Week Two Part 1

yowsers
December 2014, Week Two Part 1

the marriage of Joy and Spite

December 2014 Week One Part 2

and
December 2014 Week One Part 2

December 2014 Week One Part 1

et cum spiritu tu o
December 2014 Week One Part 1

Somewhere #2

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Somewhere
(excerpt)

Chapter 8: Frank Kelly

Frank Kelly steps into his own room, a suite attached to his wife’s. The door between the two suites is closed. Frank takes a wallet out of one of his pockets and puts it on bedside table. Then he takes out a gun that he is carrying and places it in the dresser drawer by his bed. Taking off his jacket he throws it across the bed and rubs his back. He grimaces then bends over and picks up the phone.
Frank Kelly: “I need a massage… Because my back is killing me. Do I really have to go into details… Don’t worry about that. I’ll pay extra… Look, I’m tired of fighting everyone here. Tell her to get off her ass and get up here… What kind of place are you running?”
Helen Paolo, the hotel masseuse, puts down the phone and looks across the bar at George.
Helen: “They want me upstairs.”
George: “No more ponies.”
Helen: “Don’t worry about it.”
George: “I worry.”

Helen: “Put twenty down. Put it one my tab.”

George: “You’re not good at this.”

Helen laughs: “You are so serious. I can feel my luck changing.”

November 2014 Week Five Part 4

and then there were three
November 2014 Week Five Part 4

one too many

mild, isn't it...

November 2014 Week Five Part 2

and now
November 2014 Week Five Part 2

Somewhere #1

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Somewhere
(excerpt)

Chapter 4: On The Line

There are various people around the lobby on cell phones. A strange cacophony of laughter, pleading and vocal exercises.
Mrs. Eunice Kelly mother of the bride and wearing a stunning black and white poke-a-dot dress in a call with her therapist, a doctor who is in the midst of a consultation with a fellow physician over where they should have dinner that evening.
Mrs. Kelly: “It’s too much. I need my medication… You don’t understand, doctor. If you don’t call the pharmacist and okay my medication I’ll…”
Quinn, our groom, is on the phone with his best friend, a high school friend who owns his own mortuary and is on the look for more fertile opportunities.
Quinn: “What was I supposed to do? She’s a moron. I can hardly stand to have her touch me. She gets all little girlish. Like a twelve year. I feel like a pedophile. But her old man is my boss. I gotta think of my…”

Michael Subloski, an elderly gentleman with some serious medical issues. His eyes are wide open, almost dancing, from the glass of sherry he had that morning. He is talking with his doctor, a small town physician who has known Subloski for decades.
Michael Subloski: “Taking it easy. I’ve done that all my life doc… You should see this place. And my suite. Like a prince’s… I’ve got my meds. Don’t worry, doc. And there are famous people here. Remember Mel Blanc. He won the Lady Byng Trophy… for sportsmanship… Scored the winning goal in the finals… And Terri Brennan. She had three big hits… maybe it was four… When that man is dead and gone…”
Cassie Kelly, the bride, is calling her bestie, Nancy. Nancy is having her toes manicured, and her nails painted. Cassie can hear the music in the background of her friends, Strange Fruit. The music filters through Cassie’s phone and fills the lobbies waiting ears.
Cassie: “You wouldn’t believe this place, Nancy. Everything is like Daddy promised. Oh, I wish you could be here. It’s like a dream come true…”
George the hotel bartender is in an old phone booth. He is whispering.
George: “Look, she’ll pay up… You’ve got to give her some time… She’s good for the money… No, of course not… I put my ass on the line for no one.”

November 2014 Week Five Part 2

and what else
November 2014 Week Five Part 2

Madame LaForge

November 2014 Week Five Part 1

and yet
November 2014 Week Five Part 1

November 2014 Week Four Part 4

and there's more
November 2014 Week Four Part 4

Life had been cruel to the Andersons

November 2014 Week Four Part 3

and also
November 2014 Week Four Part 3

November 2014 Week Four Part 2

and
November 2014 Week Four Part 2

November 2014 Week Four Part 1

see the rest
November 2014 Week Four Part 1

have you considered the possibility...

November 2014 Week Three Part 2

and more
November 2014 Week Three Part 2

November 2014 Week Three Part 1

more
November 2014 Week Three Part 1

three kids from the next block

Assassins by David Halliday #4

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Assassins by David Halliday
(excerpt)

Chapter Twenty Three: Drunk Soldiers

Back on the barge going down the river. The two soldiers are passed out on the barge. Two empty bottles of whiskey are laying beside them. Rousseau and Kelly are sitting on some boxes enjoying a smoke.
Rousseau, gesturing to the drunk soldiers: “You think they drank themselves clear through the war?”
Kelly staring out into the bush off the shore.
Rousseau: “You see something?”
Kelly: “Thought I did.”
Rousseau: “You think we should…”
Kelly points to a place along the shore: “There.”
Two Indians have come to the shore carrying a canoe. They settle the canoe into the water. Noticing the barge approaching them they wave. One of the two soldiers wakes up. He spots the Indians. Taking his rifle from its place not far away, he points it at the Indians and shoots. And misses. The soldier curses.
Rousseau: “What the hell are you doing?”

First soldier: “Sorry. I’ll get the next one for sure.”

November 2014 Week Two Part 2

more
November 2014 Week Two Part 2

November 2014 Week Two Part 1

open
November 2014 Week Two Part 1

the whisperers

Look at you...

November 2014 Week One Part 2

and yes there is more
November 2014 Week One Part 2

November 2014 Week One Part 1

plus
November 2014 Week One Part 1

delightful surprises

Assassins by David Halliday #3

download the complete book
Assassins by David Halliday #3
(excerpt)

The Waiting Room

see it now
The Waiting Room

October 2014 Week Four Part 3

yes, there is more
October 2014 Week Four Part 3

October 2014 Week Four Part 2

plus
October 2014 Week Four Part 2

Assassins by David Halliday #2

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Assassins by David Halliday
(excerpt)

Chapter Five: The Middle of the Atlantic Ocean

A large ocean liner of the day is moving through thick fog. Two passengers are standing on deck looking over the railing. They are dressed in suits. One is shorter and older, clean shaven, a long thin face with a small scar below the left eye. He is smoking a pipe. Detective Leonard Kelly. The other man is younger and more athletic. He is sporting a handlebar moustache and smoking a cigarette. His name is Detective Robert Rousseau.
Rousseau: “I told the captain, but he says nothing can be done.”
Kelly: “Nothing?”
Rousseau: “Icebergs. He will go no faster. You know the Dutch. Scared of their own shadows.”
Kelly: “I fear that we will be too late.”
Rousseau: “You think that Peeter’s plan is already in play?”
Kelly: “I do, sir. If only we’d stopped them in Liverpool when we had the chance.”
Rousseau: “We had no evidence. And if you are right, the British Crown would certainly have protected Peeters.”
Kelly: “I wasn’t going to arrest him, Bobby. I would have shot him on the spot.”
Rousseau: “But… that is murder, sir.”

Kelly: “Yes. Murder.”

October 2014 Week Four Part 1

and yes there's more
October 2014 Week Four Part 1

Archytas of Tarentum

Assassins by David Halliday #1

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Assassins by David Halliday
(excerpt)

Chapter Three: Inside the Ford Theatre

The Lincolns stepped into their booth. They were accompanied by Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone. Everyone in the theatre stood up and applauded. The orchestra began to play ‘Hail to the Chief’. Mr. Lincoln nodded to the crowd before taking a seat beside his wife.
Mrs. Lincoln: “Where is General Grant?”
Mr. Lincoln: “He couldn’t come dear.”
Mrs. Lincoln: “I do love to talk to that gentleman. A poet. A philosopher. And very amusing. I hope he isn’t ill.”
Mr. Lincoln: “Illness from the bottle, I suspect.”
Henry Rathbone checked behind to find the Secret Service. He could see one gentleman standing in the shadows. Where were the others? Clara Harris padded his hand. Henry smiled. He had to stop worrying.

Chapter Four: Act Two Scene Three

In the darkness of the booth Henry Rathbone strikes up a match and lights a cigar. Lincoln looks over. Rathbone offers him a cigar. Lincoln shakes his head. Lincoln removes a blanket from his lap. Behind him a door opens. A figure slips out of the light into the dark. A moment later the newcomer raises a derringer and shoots Lincoln in the back of the head. Lincoln slumps forward.
The assassin screams, “Sic Semper Tyrannis”
Mrs. Lincoln screams. Clara Harris falls to the ground looking for shelter. Henry Rathbone tries to tackle the killer. The assassin pulls a knife and stabs Rathbone who falls to the floor. The assassin jumps up on the railing of the booth and leaps onto the stage where he breaks his leg. The actors stand around perplexed still shocked by the proceedings. Women in the theatre start screaming. Some men rush for the exit doors. Some men pull out guns and start aimlessly shooting. The assassin limps off the stage and out a side exit of the theatre. A carriage awaits him. He climbs in and the carriage takes off.

I can't make sense of any of it...