75 WORD CHALLENGE -- June 2011 -- MOSAIX VICTORIOUS!!

[chrispenycate]

RULES:


Write a story inspired by the chosen theme in no more than 75 words, not including the title

One entry per person

All stories Copyright 2011 by their respective authors, who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here.

The complete rules can be found at Rules for the Writing Challenges .
Contest ends at 11:59 pm GMT, June 23 2011
Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, June 28 2011

You do not have to submit a story in order to vote -- in fact, we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing a winner.


The Magnificent Prize:

The Dignified Congratulations/Groveling Admiration of Your Peers
and the privilege of choosing next month's theme or genre.

The subject is the first thing any life form has to insure, before shelter, before reproduction:-

Nourishment


I'm not even insisting it be SFF (although anyone posting a description of baby daughter using puréed carrots as cosmetics is unlikely to gather many votes from this crowd) Nice and easy, no?
But one small detail to make it more challenging
(and insure that I don't know if I can do it, either)

I would like it written in the style of Rudyard Kipling.

Or at least one of his styles. I chose him partly because he had enough different ones, prosaic and poetic, that most of us can be accommodated, and partly because his work is widely available on the Web, so anyone who has not read any (poor soul) doesn't need to lay out money to enter the fray.​

 

[alchemist]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Breakfast elegy

Toasted soda, bangers, bacon,
And fried egg. I'm salivatin'.
Now some ketchup an' it's ready. My oh my!
No, Fido! You mongrel, leave it!
On the floor, I can't believe it!
My dog's knocked it down an' eaten 'arf my fry.

In the bin, bin, bin,
It all goes. Gawd, it's a sin.
Cornflakes now the compensation
For my lapse in concentration.
There's a better breakfast lyin' in my bin.

 

[paranoid marvin]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

The Hungry General

'E readies us for battle
'E's made us fit and lean
So we can raise the standard high
For Country, God and Queen

'E marches us to battle
('E says we're like 'is sons)
But when the shells begin to fly
'E's nowhere near the guns

'E sends us into battle
('E's yet to 'ave 'is fill)
So we must go on fighting 'til
We've paid 'is butcher's bill

 

[Chaoticheart]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Ishtar's Deceit


Ishtar, so fickle, scorned by the great king;
Her wrath could ne’er be bound.
A vow–a lie–gains the heaven bull’s ring,
Cast upon mortal ground.

Abysses torn open; crops thus consumed,
Husks for Uruk, once proud.
A child–a man–her deceit has entombed
All starve ‘neath her dark shroud.

Primordial source; thought lost, forsaken,
She stole, but ne’er redeemed.
The gift–sustainer–madness has taken;
Without, life is but dreamed.

 

[High Eight]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

The Dead House

They talked late into the night.

“Something wrong with the bungalow in Allahbad?” asked the older man.

“It's...... haunted” replied the younger. “For want of a better word. The natives are terrified of it”

A pause.

“I saw her – it. Briefly. I ran. I'm ashamed to say I left my bearer behind. He died.”

“What of?”

“Exsanguination. The place should be demolished and the land ploughed with salt.”

 

[slack]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Sociotrophism

"... when you remember her now, it is her love that fills you up. You were terrified of ever letting her down, and tried hard to be the best husband, and you were, Sam. You were the best."

Andrew switched off the microphone and reclined in his chair, smiling vaguely at the patient on screen. He watched quietly until Anne appeared in his office doorway, lovely as ever.

"Busy? How about lunch?"

"Sure. I just finished."

 

[psychotick]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

A Nourishing Tale.​

​

“Ah,” said Tabaqui the Hyena, gnawing on a bone. “I never said to wee Mowgli that e’ had to be friendly wi' all the animals. I just told him that e’ had to obey the law.”

“And?” The serpent hissed at him, disbelieving.

“Now e’ is.”

“Eh? What law?”

“The first law of the jungle. Eat or be et!” The bone cracked under the hyena’s powerful jaws, and he licked out the marrow, laughing merrily.

​

 

[HareBrain]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

The Emetic Danger of Official Health Advice (or: Cookery Columns)


Five-eight-three-twelve-thirty-five or more a day
Sautéed, puréed, any way to fit em in
(Roots, roots, fruits, fruits, countin' portions up again)
They say it’s better if they’re raw!

Mangoes, guava halves, turnips swedes and radishes
Pounds of fibrous mush, all churned up with carrot juice
(Roots, roots, fruits, fruits, heavin' up and up again)
Discharged all over the floor!

 

[Perpetual Man]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Requiem for Little Frog

As a young cub on plains I stayed,
Fearless - with friends sustained,
Young and spry,
Now old and dry,
And wonder where those friends did go.
My pack murdered for their hides,
Shere Khan, Bagheera - foes hung side by side,
Baloo for peanuts performs
Trapped within zoological walls,
The Elephants parade cannot be saved,
Toomai's bones in their pachyderm grave,
Here I stand ancient, bent,
These words my last lament,
A soul bereft of nourishment.

 

[scalem X]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

The Soul of the City

Bread so stale it could not be eat'
Nor torn to shreds to give as feed
Though sold it could in Marrakech

The locals' pots and cloths
With a separate price for lice
Brings in the foreign riches

The small bazaars flourish
Taking travelers’ coin and wealth
Whose telling tales they nourish

 

[The Spurring Platty]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Song of the Hungry


There was the milk he spilled and the silt he tilled
…. And wild grains he learned to thresh,
But he soon came to desire
Savoring roast meat by the fire
…. And fish caught in the mesh.

Still hunger existed, ‘yond empty bowl
…. (And so he knelt to pray!)
Reasons and knowledge outside his control
(Doubts and fears took sad toll),
Belly filled, but craving in his soul
…. (And so he knelt to pray!)

...

 

[Colbey Frost]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

ROAD HOG

​

Master was being especially cruel today as he drove me through the concrete jungle. I hadn’t felt much like being “ragged” as he would put it, but here I was taking up two lanes.

“Road hog!” Someone shouted from their window and I sighed... or was it a spluttered?

The horses started screaming and yet he didn’t care. Diesel all I could think about, but as my engine cut out, so did the pain... revenge.

 

[Aun Doorback]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

From the well of humanity to the pinnacles of heaven
　
　
　
Alone I stood upon the deck - In fortitude and fame
Amidst the humdrum pulse of the dreadnought’s aft
Gunga Din - the vessel’s name.
　
　
I spiralled through the serpent’s hole - With thunderclap and flame.
Jove’s power, bound fast by the architect’s craft
Einstein-Rosen bridge - traversed and tamed.
　
　
I stepped outside of cosmic time - Succour for my mind.
And walked with God like a newborn calf
For the nourishment of mankind.

 

[Bob Senior]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

WE DO WHAT WE CAN

The Parson, Priest and Preacher
Provide nourishment for the soul
The women at the homeless shelter
Provide nourishment by the bowl

The signs at the church and shelter
Beg please help us out we pray
A rich man gives a penny
And goes merrily on his way
For he knows he'll deduct a million
IF--he pays his tax someday
So nourish those that 'ave none
But do not expect them to repay !

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

To Draw A Leaf​

“We must have a sacrifice!” the people cry out.
“Hold a moment longer. We must choose who first. To draw a leaf of the Bungai tree is what must be done,” says the chief. “The one with the black mark is to be the one given to Tekal Sahn!”
Four days and nights each of the people choose a leaf, until the black mark is chosen.
By a boy the age of three.

 

[RJM Corbet]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

IF

If you can fill your belly you are lucky
For many others have no food at all
So don't complain about the cost of living
When you reach for your wallet at the till

If your refrigerator's looking empty
Because you don't get paid until next week
Zoom Google Earth to Rio or Calcutta
-- the dying human debris on the streets
Where, but for fortune, there go you and me

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Best Served Cold


Standing there aghast.
At the slugs, greedy repast.
O’ mi brassicas, an’ bean.
I was grateful for the chance.
As I looked at ‘em askance.
To take my vengeance hard and fast and mean.

So I gave hearty cheer.
For the jars o’ foamin’ beer.
That killed them lousy slugs, it wern’t no sin.
As the time was gettin’ late.
I thought nothin’ of their fate,
An' grabbed myself a spade, and dug ‘em in.

 

[nixie]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Why the crocodile left the basement.

Work, work, work in this place full of drool.
Night and day, Checking coats, keeping control.
None may touch the master's books.
Never varying,paid in meat.

The pixie came to rescue our guest.
In her hand I spied a shiny red ball.
Taste it she said an apple it is.
Sweet and crunchy,
Is there more?
She nods her head, I follow her out.
​

 

[Boneman]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

If Only...
​

If you can write with style and keep your sanity
‘Or haunt the chrons – nor lose your rational mind
If neither critiques nor caring advice can cause profanity
If all this gels with you, but you’re not blind
If you can speak of nourishment’s filling
Without once talking of exceedingly good cakes
Yours is the Challenge and you’ll get top billing
And – what is more – you’ll show you’ve got just what it takes.

​

 

[Gary Compton]

re: June 2011 SEVENTY-FIVE WORD CHALLENGE -- Mosaix Victorious!

Crumble in the Jungle…

Mowgli waited for his Bramley’s and cream,
Kipling raced to meet his boyhood dream.

Police stopped him for driving exceedingly fast,
He protested innocence, his face was aghast.

Bagheera, dressed as a cop, ate his crumble,
Kipling’s face turned red and started to rumble.

Never mind - Mowgli’s party needed cakes,
Kipling accelerated and kept off the brakes.

Baloo waited for the bear necessities and a tart,
Hathi teased him for being so damn smart.