Tuesday January 2nd, 2018

The exercise:

Write two haiku about: the start of a journey.

3 comments:

Greg said...

I'm attempting, at least for now, to stick to existing characters. If it doesn't work, let me know, but looking back over the blog I seem to have created a lot of posts that Marc (at least) has noted he'd like to hear more about. Staying in Sixticton for today, Jessica and Marlon first got mentioned here.

The start of a journey
Jessica and Marlon had been packing Marlon's truck for half of the morning. The sun had now burned away the soft mist that had blanketed Sixticton at dawn and was reflecting from the snow and causing snow-blindness over on Main Street. The sky was cloudless and blue, and Jessica had paused for a moment, gazing up into it as though she could see the stars and beyond, and said that it seemed like a great omen for the start of the year.
"Fresh and blue," she said. "Like a new beginning." Then she'd looked over at Marlon, and said, "Is that dynamite you're packing?"
"In case we want to go fishing," said Marlon. "I didn't complain when you packed those goats, did I?"
"Fresh milk and cheese," said Jessica quickly. "People undervalue the part that dairy plays in a healthy diet."
"They get fussy about their fish too," said Marlon. "But like I says to them, if you don't like my fish you can go up to Prada Farm and pay three times the price for their organic fish."
"They do have good food though," said Jessica, and for a moment they were both silent, thinking about the best produce that Sixticton had to offer. "Surely all fish are organic though?"
"Theirs only swim in their home-made organic wine," said Marlon. "And I hear they get fed on windfall apples and plums."
"I could be happy with that," said Jessica with a small sigh. She shook herself and looked at the truck. "Do you think we've packed too much? We are just going away for three days."
"Better safe than sorry," said Marlon. He scratched his head. "Isn't that a motto? Town museum, maybe?"
"That's better sorry than prosecuted," said Jessica. "I think it's the fitness club."
"No," said Marlon, grunting as he heaved the copper vessel from the still into the truck. "That's better shape than Sophie."
"Is she still the manager there?"
"No, she's moved on to work at WrongStart."
"Teacher?"
"Facilitator and Mediator. The parents are... a difficult bunch, according to Emma."
"Do you see her much?" Jessica's words were as light as angel cake.
"Almost never," said Marlon promptly. "Haven't even got her phone number. The only reason I know what she said is because I bumped into Simon, who works with her, and he was saying what a nag she is. Do you think we should take sleeping bags?"
"The hotel should have beds," said Jessica. "But... maybe? Better safe than... oh! it's the abattoir's motto!"
"Nope," said Marlon. "That's better steak than savoy. Though I happen to like a bit of cabbage, personally."
"Oh well," said Jessica. "How far away is the hotel?"
"Twenty minutes, if no-one's crashed on Main street," said Marlon.

Marc said...

Greg - I'm sorry, does haiku mean write a bunch of prose in Russian?

:P

Sticking to existing for now sounds good to me :)

Oh man, you took me all the way back to when I first got an iPhone. I'm impressed you were even able to locate this comment.

I love all the mottos here. Also all the little details are so great. The bit about Emma is especially glorious.

Greg said...

I've been a little tired this week... well, maybe a lot tired given that I still hadn't managed to read the word haiku in the prompt, or notice that it was a Tuesday prompt, until you specifically asked me what the word haiku meant. So, I humbly apologise and hope that taking you back to the memory of your first iPhone makes up a little for it :)
I'm glad you liked the mottos though. I think most have 6 syllables so maybe if we pile enough together they'll make haikus ;-)