The Batch of Micro-fiction #31

[Logan the Lobotomizer]

Can we send more than one submission?

[Miguel S.]

1 per person :)

[Reginald Clay]

You've done a great job organizing these batches.

[Jeannine]

Another amazing batch! Thank you for posting it and thank you for including one of my efforts. I'm impressed by Mr. Franklin's achievement! A story every day since April - he sets a great example for all of us. ☺️

[olivia s]

Thank you for another great batch and the mention!

[Bill Ferguson 🇨🇦]

Thank you for the shout out and including my writing as a part of the Batch of Micro-fiction #31. It is much appreciated. I am honoured to be in the company of so many fine authors.

I look forward to writing something for the Contest For The Holidays.

[Gloria Horton-Young]

For Chris~

Small Fictions, Large Years

_______

There's something holy about the first cup of coffee,

and something holier still about the first word written.

Chris Franklin knows this—has known it since April

when he started dealing out stories like playing cards,

one face-up tale after another.

.

Some days the words must come easy,

spilling onto the page like honey from a jar.

Other days they probably hide behind the furniture,

peek out from under throw pillows,

dare him to catch them before midnight strikes.

.

But that's the thing about promises to yourself:

they don't care if you're tired, if the dog needs walking,

if the refrigerator starts making that weird sound again.

They just sit there, patient as monastery bells,

waiting for you to show up.

.

And show up he does, with his daily microdoses

of wonder, of wisdom, of whatever walks through

the door of his imagination that day—

whether it's wearing galoshes or glass slippers,

whether it brings thunder or butterflies.

.

I like to think each story is a key

to a door we didn't know was there,

or maybe they're all doors themselves,

lined up like dominos through the months,

each one just large enough to step through sideways.

.

April, May, June, July...

The calendar sheds pages like a tree sheds leaves,

but unlike leaves, these stories don't decay.

They stack up, build their own kind of season:

a perpetual spring of small beginnings.

[Miguel S.]

You’re the best Gloria 🫶

[Gloria Horton-Young]

Thank you 🙏

[Jeannine]

Wow! This is awesome! You rock! 😎

[Gloria Horton-Young]

Thanks!!!

[Gloria Horton-Young]

One entry per writer or more?

[Miguel S.]

One per writer. Good thinking should’ve put that in

[Gloria Horton-Young]

❤️

[Arnaly Arriaga Blanco]

Thanks again and always for including my microdosing story in your batch! It has been the height of my Substack Sunday! 🥰

[Lia]

Thanks for including me!

[Chris J. Franklin]

Thanks for the Special Shout Out! That is much appreciated. The new Christmas graphics look great. The little racoon with the Santa hat is particularly fun! Haha! The Contest for the Holidays is a brilliant idea, too. Good luck to all who are planning to enter. And this was a wonderful, bumper batch of stories. Well done everyone... 😎

[Jeannine]

Well done, you! ☺️

[Chris J. Franklin]

Thanks! Have a great week... 😎

[Jeannine]

You're very welcome! You have a great week, too.

[Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen]

Amazing!!! Go Chris!!!!

[Chris J. Franklin]

Thanks! Have a great week... 😎

[Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen]

You as well mate

[Miguel S.]

It’s well deserved Chris!

[Chris J. Franklin]

Thanks, Miguel! This is such a wonderful community, and the prompts are always so inspiring and fun to play around with. Have a great week... 😎