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Memory/ Remembrance/ If Only

My eyes close in rest
Much like the moon at the dawn
My mind stays awake

I stand in the cemetery where my grandmother lays. Beside her are two soldiers, one on each side. Her husbands. Military service, the ultimate sacrifice. Military servitude to a military life. Happy wife, happy life. There are medals you can only receive when you lay down to rest, for the last time. Rest in peace. Peace; the reward given to those who sent you to war … if you win.

Upstairs neighbour sleeps
The same grave different day
We fought in your wars

“It must be weird to be here on Memorial Day,” said Donald.

“Huh? Why?” asked Justin.

“Well my family takes Memorial Day pretty seriously but don’t worry there is still going to be a cookout. Just after … this,” he said, waving his hands around.

“We have Remembrance Day in Canada. It’s just like Memorial Day.”

“So you have cookouts?”

“Umm no.”

“Fireworks?”

“Not really.”

“Does your dad get up and tell war stories about when he was in the war and how your grandfather fought and how your forefathers fought in the Revolutionary War to bring freedom to this country and how everyone should be grateful that your family is here?”

“Uh not exactly,” said Justin.

“So, it must be weird to be here on Memorial Day,” said Donald.

“Yeah eh.”

Memories fade quickly
Grey clouds pass by overhead
The clocktower chimes

If only they had remembered. I shake my head for what must be the millionth time. I look up scanning the skies for drones, for what must be the millionth time. All clear so far. Ever since they figured out that by splitting up any group into single person “units” warfare had become a lot lonelier. Though better alive and alone then dead with a million others. And as long as you believed that you were fit for active duty. When you stopped believing it you were as good as dead. When you stopped questioning it one way or the other that was the time to get off the battlefield.

If only they had remembered. Remembered the futility of fighting, the fallibility of human intelligence especially those that relied on artificial intelligence. If they had remembered the beauty of love and not money. If only. I shake my head again. The Hallucination War was an apt name. Started by who knows who, fought by unmanned drones and vehicles, amplified by AI. Until the only way to shut it down. … Send in the fleshies. Human beings. Us. Me. Flesh and blood against metal, plastic and circuitry. An unfair fight but the only fight left. If only they had remembered.

This is for a dVerse prompt: This Memorial Day, let us honor what we want to remember. Let our haibun sing our remembrance! Write a haibun that alludes to remembrance. I chose to do 3 though they can all tie together or be separate. I tried to keep it short as I usually do a haiku and then a story after I wanted to keep it to a much smaller piece after the haiku. I hope you enjoy! 😊

Wanted

I want to hurt you
Because you asked me to
To make your jaw ache
And have your soul break upon the hardness
Of my discipline

I want your bottom pink
As you begged me to do
Sharp pains that made you no longer think
Of the right or wrongs, the outside world and 
It’s goings on

I want you a mess, your eyes red, mascara smeared 
As you look in the mirror and smile
Understanding that you were a good girl 
Deserving of praise and punishment
So fucking proud

I want you
As you want yourself
Kneeling, ready, obedient, brat
Here because you want to be
Here because you need to be
Mine and wanted

Woman laying on a bed semi-clothed with open books around her

A Taste of Stew Erotic Stories Collection

A collection of short erotic stories including all 3 of the pandemic stories; previously released separately. 7 stories in all! Get a taste of spicy stories to cuddle up with. Something that will satisfy your erotic taste.

You’ll find a wide variety of fun well written stories to enjoy with high spice content.

A Bride Dressed in White / The Painter’s Vision

**Marc Chagall, *Bride with a Fan* (1911), oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY**

A Bride Dressed in White

She wasn’t innocent this wife to be
Though she was dressed in white
Pale as a moonlit night
She said her silent prayers
To whom one can only guess
This woman whom the veil hides 
Hides more than just pretty eyes
A past ruby red and dark as obsidian 
No fan can brush away
Here comes the bride
An organ plays
Of an organ played 
She was a virtuoso
Practice makes perfect some might say
No my bride to be is not innocent
But then again, neither am I

The Painter's Vision

The sky is not grey
Upon this wedding day
A man waits for whom the picture paints
Not a dark line drawn
She holds within her hand
Not a bouquet but something else 
To brush the heat away
What is there to hide her beauty?
Pulled back she is in full display
Pale as ice, no color touches 
Her hiding curtain, nor the arraignment her cover
Her cheeks hold no blush
Are her eyes cast down
In devotion
In dread
In sweet resignation?
The sky is not grey
Upon this wedding day

The strokes of the brush
Were not light upon the canvas.
Of the painter’s hand, the lines were not thin.
Warmth was not what his vision sought.
What did he see within the bride
As his paint lay on the canvas?
A splash of color encroaches not from the west
Perhaps an intrusion of his own.
I will tell you not what she holds,
Though it blows its own gale
Cooling on an already icy vision.

This is for a dVerse prompt: For your Poetics prompt today, if you haven’t already guessed, I’d like to write ekphrastic poetry about Chagall’s art. Choose one of the paintings in this post, and compose a poem about it. For an added challenge, use descriptors in your poem to describe the details in the artwork and tell us about what they are, by telling us what they are not.

I did two poems. The second was a more literal reply to the added challenge while the first, my initial poem, is more subtle in the way it addresses the added challenge, saying more of what the bride is not verses describing the painting by telling what it is not. I hope you enjoy! 😊

She Wants Another Dog

She wants another dog.
I don’t think so
She wants a puppy.
We don’t need another
She wants another dog.
I said no
A cute little dog.
The puppy needs no brother
She wants another dog.
It’s a no go
We have another dog.

This is for a dVerse prompt: Sit! Stay! Now: pen us a poem of precisely 44 words (not counting the title), including some form of the word dog. I hope you enjoy! 😊

Questions of the Heart

Two question marks with different colored hearts inside combined to make a heart shape — Question mark Image by John Hain from Pixabay; edited by me

When you think of the warmth of love
Can you picture me?
I want to be the one you think of
Does the feeling of love
Come when you’re in my arms?
I want to hug you and make you feel warm
Is it love
When we’re together?
I don’t want to be apart
Can I call you 
My forever love?
It’s a question of the heart.

A Taste of Stew

A collection of poems from seductive and spicy to thoughtful and observant. The best poems from the AuthorStew blog and across the Internet are gathered in this collection.

There’s something just for you. Get a taste of AuthorStew’s poetry! A sample of my safe for work & not safe for work poetry.

3 Haikus / $100

Penny for your thoughts
Nickle and dime for free
Quarter past the hour

Fifty scents I smell 
For half a dollar to sneeze
A dollar a day

Five alive, ten dead
Twenty soldiers in a row
Fifty is a Grant

3 haikus for $100. Get ‘em cheap!

This is for a dVerse prompt: The use of lists in poetry can be a very powerful tool. Not just as poems themselves but maybe even more as a tool to start when your creativity is low. … The whole poem may be a list, but you may also use it in a section as above.

Essentially write a poem with a list in it. I chose to do denominations of US currency. I hope you enjoy. 😊

Plastic Perspective

A mountain of trash blocks out the sky.
The clouds gather, I hope it doesn’t rain
Plastic waste piled high, one upon the other.
I can’t tell if that is my motherboard within the mix
Will it all tumble down upon me?
There are plastic wires and covers, cut, loose and free
Perspective changes everything.

This is for a dVerse prompt: I would like you to draw inspiration from the following artworks by Indian artists and write a poem inspired by any one.

I chose the artwork above. I hope you enjoy. 😊

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A Drop of Wetness

Background picture by sebastiano iervolino from Pixabay

“Would you like some wine?” asked Alexander.

“That would be lovely,” replied Rebeca. “Your usual?”

“Of course,” replied Alexander, pouring a healthy serving into the chalice before Rebecca.

Rebecca took the chalice within both her hands, letting the fragrance of the wine wash over her. And the faint perfume from its chalice steals her worries and cares before a drop of wetness touches her lips. She takes a sip and feels her muscles relax, her shoulders fall into a more natural position, all the tension from endless meetings and rushed decisions melt away to the floor.

“Better?”

“Much.”

“Then we can settle the matter of payment.”

“Of course,” she said.

And just like that, business intruded into her life again. Such was to be expected when you were the CEO of one the country’s largest energy corporations and dabbled in espionage on the side.

This is for a dVerse prompt: Write a 144 piece of prose including the given line.

The Line
I’ve chosen this line from “Sympathy” for you to use creatively in your fictional composition:

And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—

Your challenge? Write a piece of prose (not poetry) of no more than 144 words that includes the above given line. You may change it with breaks or punctuation, without altering the order of the words.

I hope you enjoy. 😊

A Rose by Every Other Name

Restless I dream. Memory fades, just the scent of you remains.
Origami petals on paper flowers, yet your perfume runs through my veins.
Sacred heart beats within a pious chest. My thoughts unholy as I gaze upon that picture.
Enchanting smile, enthralling eyes, lips I long to caress with my own,
Scentimental sentiments play upon my senses, remembering your garden petal incense,

Apricot nectar drips on my tongue like honey upon a scone.
Red cascade of ringlet curls.
Eyes for you and you alone.

Remember me, in your bed tonight, or in your tower locked away,
Earth goddess looking down, queen or prisoner;
Dark desire rules your night so in the daytime you pray.

Violets are blue
I remember the perfume of us together
I know you do too

This is for a dVerse prompt: Please choose at least FIVE rose names from the list below. Or choose your own FIVE words or more from this huge list.

If the rose name is more than one word, you must use both words. There is one stipulation, you can NOT use the word, “rose” in your poem! You may write any sort of poem—form or not.

For my poem each of the first word(s) of the line are types of roses, they are in italics, as per the “huge list” except from the last stanza (obviously I think). I hope you enjoy! 😊

Bloom

Bloom
Open petals to morning light,
Rosebud’s spreading,
Peaches before the fruit.
Show me all your pretty.
Smile big, all attraction;
Bring the buzzers to your center.
Blooming garden
Full of fragrance
Floating on the springtime breeze.
The scent lingers
Just a while.
Bloom

This is for a dVerse prompt: Write a quadrille (a poem of EXACTLY 44 words, not including the title) AND include the word “bloom” or a form of the word within the body of the poem. I hope you enjoy! 😊