The Wreck of the S.S. Wheeler #28
Daily Grind: Honey or Cheese? Pg 22
The Daily Grind Table of Contents Because it wouldn't be a Daily Grind story if we weren't redefining some word or other in a very specific way...
Popular posts from this blog
Folks Letting Me Blather
I've known Greta Boris : For more then five years now but not as many as ten years, I think, ever since she joined the OC Fictionaires, the writing group that I've been a member of for something like twenty years. She writes mostly mystery novels, some of which are pretty funny, some of which are pretty suspenseful, and some of which are pretty much both at the same time. She and another author, Megan Haskell , also run a website called The Author Wheel where they do podcasts and offer writing courses and share their experiences with the wide world of publishing. As they put, "We've made the mistakes so you don't have to!" As part of their podcast series, they wanted to talk about the value of critique groups, so Greta asked me if I'd be willing to make various noises on that topic. I agreed, and the episode they put together from our conversation, " Staying True to Your Creativity With Mike Payne ," is now available...
A Scent's Assent
He saunters, not a hint of awkwardness About his movements, flowing sweet as fire. Dolores, trying not to stare, selects A protein bar, a heated argument Among her schoolmates raising ruffled fur And growls. The guy's a feline, after all. The student body's ninety-eight percent canine. The whole school's aware. He hears them, Casey does, their yips and all Alive with bitter scents of awkwardness. Remaining smooth, he doesn't look, the fur Beneath his shirt on edge, a tickling fire He knows. It follows matching arguments From other schools his science course selects. Universities should be more universal. "Should" is the key word. In class, Dolores carefully selects A seat in back of Casey, watching all The rest digress, off-topic arguments Concerning species, full of awkwardness. The room of canines almost seems on fire With ears and whiskers folded close to fur. Students of science should be— There's that "should" again. Stupid subjunc...
Keep em coming Michael! I've not been consistently following this thread so I must ask if you are working or slave to an outline, or does the rhyming and oft absent rhythms simply lead off into unplanned and occasionally transcendent paths. Was the 'her' a tailed femme fatale, or is there, perhaps more to be told? Both I and the world wonder!
ReplyDeleteThanks, John:
DeleteThe Introduction - https://hyniof.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-wreck-of-ss-wheeler-introduction.html - talks about Traci Briery, the "her" in question, whose sudden death back in June got me writing this little slapstick elegy.
And yes, the rhymes and ryhthms often lead things off in odd directions. It's sort of like a Ouija board, I guess, but with more talking animals and fewer demonic entities. I've also had a lot of luck doing the "poem a day" thing - I'll put up a link under the last poem to the big series of 443 I did during the pandemic since that's where the badger, the frog, and the mouse make their first appearances.
Mike