Our Fair City IV This week we’ve got a bit of everything. From a teenager-attacking robot to a matriarch and her lighter fluid; from a phantom restoration to a collision of commerce and choir music, many threads of Our Fair City are woven together. Stories here: http://www.commercialappeal.com/photos/2010/nov/19/196976/ http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/nov/27/good-to-be-home/ http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/nov/20/the-place-to-be/ http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/nov/23/broad-smiles/ http://www.commercialappeal.com/photos/2010/nov/19/196975/

Title: Devil on My Side Word: Hunkered 200 words about the seductive power of feeling: The room was quiet. They looked to him. He rolled a half-finished cigar between his index finger and thumb, feeling the tobacco crackle under the pressure of his digits. After a moment he looked up at them, cleared his throat [...]

Early Dark Song (Revision) Aching jaw. How to ache, the belly knows. Plant the rosemary. Dark just grows. Oh aching night – a cauldron of thought, a mouth full of snakes.

There are too many stories to be told in Our Fair City. Here are a few I’ve walked through lately for the newspaper. Comment if you’d like to know more about any of these fine folks. In-depth stories can be found on the website: www.commercialappeal.com

So, LT‘s posted this interesting writer’s prompt challenge called “Opening Lines“. She gives you an opening line, and then you run with it. The lines are all nice and loose things that can lead you in every possible direction. With my FastFiction reserves running dangerously low, this is a great way to keep my writing short, [...]

Early Dark Song Jaw is aching, the writing slow. How to ache, the belly knows. The jaw can’t find a way. In habit unsure. Dark just grows. Oh aching, come and make me a cauldron of thoughts (a mouthful of snakes). Shantih shantih, come and find me, I am lost. Inhabit the missing light.

There are too many stories to be told in Our Fair City. Here are a few I’ve been privy to through working at the newspaper. Comment if you’d like to know more about any of these fine folks. In-depth stories are available on the website.

Title: Into The Wilds Word: Acidic 200 words about the taste of freedom: The arcology loomed, casting a long shadow across the veldt, the edges dithering over the lush, waving vegetation. The bottom of the setting sun is obscured by that impossibly large weave of glass, steel and concrete. Most of his group stared up at [...]

The boy woke with the dawn sun bright eyed and excited.  He checked over the bag he had packed the night before for any forgotten essentials.  Convinced he had packed everything he would need, he slipped the bag back into its hidey hole beneath the bed.  He took a final look around his bedroom, then [...]

This is another older poem. At the time, I felt like this was really close to Poetry. Now it reminds me of my tiny one bedroom apartment in Hattiesburg. The Weight Control is a ventriloquist. Kitten, hush this mittened mouth. Better To bend the morning back. Monday, you do yourself too well. The weight is an open [...]

I photographed the 18th annual Susan G. Komen Memphis/Midsouth race for the cure this weekend. A record-breaking 19,000+ participants raised over one million dollars to help win the fight against breast cancer. You can read the article about the race here: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/oct/30/nearly-20000-race-cure-breast-cancer-germantown/ I also photographed the founder of the Memphis race, Molly Webb Meisenheimer, who [...]

1.  Margarita Monday 2. Tipsy Tuesday 3. Wasted Wednesday 4. Thirsty Thursday 5. Freakin’ Drunk Friday 6. Sloshed Saturday 7. Slightly Sober Sunday

Title: White Sister of the Alleyway Word: Immaculate 200 words about the new religion for the sinners on the street: The wicked, the lost, the suffering. They all come to me. Those that God has turned His back on, who make their wage dealing in sins. These are my children, clutching at my robes, looking [...]