MAY 2024 -- 75 WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- VICTORY TO JOHNNYJET!

[Bowler1]

Angry Ancestors

Pandra hated this, her wedding to an ignorant Warrior who took what he wanted by the sword – including her.

She stood; the rowdy crowd fell silent: ‘I give thanks to my ancestors for the delicate fruits we’re about to eat.’

She uttered a silent prayer and took a bite….

Reassured by her actions, even the most suspicious savages gorged on the delicate fruits.

Fruit of the Ancestor trees, and lethal… if you don’t give thanks.

 

[Parson]

Freedom and the Green-Troopers

The day the herbalist went missing magical Kudzu vines attacked making life miserable for everyone.

Our whole army could not cut them down fast enough to save us from this scourge. Then the herbalist reappeared promising freedom from her “Green-Troopers” if we crowned her.

But sadly, our freedom was freedom to join with the Green-Troopers, not freedom from Kudzu.

Even after joining the Green-Troopers our life remained miserable because “It’s not easy being green.”

 

[Phyrebrat]

Sea Oats

The branchéd chain mellifluous calls
‘Neath turquoise skies, a carillon entrancing:
Where sea oats sing his love for me, and kelp
So smooth his love advancing.

Rare breezes tease willows ‘long brackish rivers,
Their clandestine titters enjoining:
His bladed trident pierces cupid’s realm, forever,
His fins my lungs enwrapping.

Let trumpet loud the sea oats sing,
Whilst seagulls scratch in sand, cuneiform things.
Where once, the bladed roses grow,
I’ll splash and love no more.

 

[reiver33]

Ascension

“Those lost to the pestilence, you say some part of them survives?”

Brother Thorn grimaced. “Well, ‘survives’ is perhaps a tad, ah, hopeful, Abbot. If not purified by fire, the rotting body sprouts more spores.”

I shrugged. “Divine retribution for living an ungodly life.”

Thorn tore aside the sanctified tapestry. “Listen!”

Daylight, and a light breeze, played upon my unwitting face.

A drift of spores glittered in the shaft of light - and I heard...

Angels.

 

[Drone Zone]

Mutuality​

There were many different wonderful plants in the garden that I had never seen before. She slowly approached one of the plants, as if afraid to frighten it. Looking at the flower with a reverent gaze, the girl brought a silver cup to it. A large bud, slowly bending, opened and filled the cup with clean rainwater, and the surroundings with a fresh wonderful aroma. The plant seemed to do this willingly and naturally...

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Over at Grandma's House

"Double, double toil and trouble;
Blade awhirr and blender bubble."

"Hi grandma, what're you concocting?" asked Sally.

Grandma cackled and continued casting ingredients into the bowl.

"Beggar’s buttons, tooth of lion,
Fox’s clote and snout of swine,
Happy major, and priest's crown.
Chop them up and drink it down."

Sally wrinkled her nose. "Urg! Sounds disgusting. I'm not drinking that!"

"Oh really?" smiled grandma, "but you usually like my old-fashioned dandelion and burdock smoothies."

 

[Christine Wheelwright]

Black Green Magic

When it became clear that governments couldn’t save the World from climate disaster, Zelda decided that witchcraft was the solution.

A crowd gathered before the White House as she hovered above on her broomstick.

“Life as trees won’t be so bad for humanity,” she said reassuringly, waving her wand and changing the Press Secretary into a magnificent oak.

Seeing this on NBC, I walked to my favorite spot in the garden to wait my turn.

 

[Lacedaemonian]

I am I, and yew are yew

Have you ever heard a yew tree sing?
Always the same <floral expletive> thing
The shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hymn
“What do the two legged monkey bring?”

From out o’ their piled up stones comes their fallen
A stumbling, a bumbling, a limping and a dawdling
A hairless shrewdness of chimps all bawling
What strange creatures these, apes of the shorling

Oh to the Yews! - for tonight until the morning
We supping on the magic of their maudlin.

 

[smellincoffee]

Among the Lilies

She stood at the water’s edge, shivering slightly in the cold, growing light of the dawn. Treading slowly into the water, her eyes searching for the slippery path before her. Across shallow shoals she carefully approached. Growing close, she looked up and gasped. Morning had arrived, and there before her were the white lilies of the Cahaba, shining brightly in the sun. As the mist drifted over her, she transformed into that which she admired.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The Oddity


The cyclops sat down for his tea
And laid before him did see
Green things adorning his plate
And turning to his missus raged
"Man-flesh is what my tummy needs
Not broccoli and lettuce leaves!"

Then through the window, lo he spied
Odysseus and his crew stroll by
He rushed outside and dragged them in
His empty stomach rumbling
But rued the day, make no mistake
For in the end he got his stake

 

[The Judge]

The Floral Ballad of Columbine and Harlequin​

​

​

Columbine loved a man,​

Harlequin was he.​

Of lovesome lad’s love, sing.​

​

Their flowers approved, as flowers can,​

And wished them happy be.​

True lover’s knot, we sing.​

​

Whistling Jack, no gardening man,​

Filled with jealousy…​

Of smothering love vine, sing.​

​

… butchery was his plan.​

Harlequin stabbed he.​

Of love-lies-bleeding, sing.​

​

But flowers have power.​

They killed cruel Jack.​

To Harlequin,​

They gave life back.​

​

So lovers can,​

Eternally,​

Of joyful heartsease, sing!​

 

[Bren G]

Happily Never After

“Intruder!”

Through every root and rhizome, the message rang like a clarion call, arousing every thorny bush in the thicket. The message clear. Something had decapitated a single bloom of a friendly red rose! Its cluster comrades rallied, summoning their magic to produce a most pernicious pollen. Honeybees harvested the poisonous powder and scrambled. A single sortie was all it took.

Snow White coldly regarded Prince Charming. Asleep! A single rose in hand. Some lover!

 

[Ursa major]

​

Seeds of Discontent​

The Blessers come every year, spouting their lies. No one challenges them, not when the Wizard can strike us down where we stand while never leaving his fortress. Until…​

​

“Your costly ‘blessings’ are worthless,” Seirian shouted bravely. “Our crops grow without them.”​

​

We stood stunned, waiting for… what? A thunderbolt?​

​

Nothing. The Blessers simply left, taking their magic powders with them.​

​

“See!” Seirian said in triumph.​

​

And we did. We saw shrivelled crops. And starvation.​

​

​

​

 

[Ursa major]

​

This Challenge is now closed.

The poll is now open at the link below:

POLL -- May 2024 75-Word Challenge -- READ FIRST POST!​

​