Sunday March 14th, 2010

The exercise:

I just filed my tax return and thankfully it looks like I'll be getting a nice refund to help pay for the car :)

So today's prompt is: death and taxes.

Mine:

"I've done everything I could but you still owe a little over two hundred dollars." The accountant swallowed noisily and wiped the sweat from his brow. He tried, for the tenth time in the last hour, to make eye contact with his client but swerved his gaze to the wall over his shoulder at the last second.

"I am not pleased."

The accountant shivered like he was standing in an arctic windstorm. Oh how he hated dealing with this client. The most powerful were always the most demanding. And terrifying.

"I appreciate that, I really do,"  the man said as he tidied his combover, "but in order to get you a refund I'd have to break at least a dozen tax laws!"

"Are you really more petrified of the pathetic pawns that enforce the law than you are of me?"

"Well that's not really the problem here..."

"I will back in one hour," Death said as he rose from his seat like a puff of smoke from a cigar. "By then you will have my taxes in order or you shall face the consequences."

The accountant was found that night by the building's janitor. The note, taped to his lifeless body, simply said:

It was inevitable.

Saturday October 31st, 2009

The exercise:

Your four line poem prompt this week: death goes trick-or-treating.

I think a lot can be done with this one, so if you come up with something longer than four lines just go with it. I promise not to yell at you :)

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. Let's do this!

Mine:

I'm not here for the candy,
So please put away your bowl;
Don't compliment my costume,
I'm only here for your soul.

Sunday June 28th, 2009

The exercise:

Write an epitaph for either one of your own characters or a character in a book you're reading at the moment.

This prompt was inspired, in a roundabout way, by something Archi suggested as a prompt. I'll use her actual suggestion sometime soon :)

Mine:

Red Five from Tagged

Here lies our dear Red,
I can't believe he's dead.
So quick with a can,
He could tag your left hand
While kindly shaking your right.

He will be most missed
For his strength to resist
The evil powers;
In those dark hours,
He was my daring red knight.

So long and rest well,
My street artist rebel.
Know the war is won;
What we'd begun is done.
I'll tag one for you tonight.

Thursday June 25th, 2009

The exercise:

The starter for today is: in passing.

Mine:

Wow, it's been quite the week in the world of celebrity deaths. Ed McMahon. Farrah Fawcett. Michael Jackson.

I have no real attachment or emotional investment in any of them but those are three iconic figures of my childhood right there. Gone.

I'm not one to get caught up in celebrity news or gossip or whatever. I know that thousands of people die every day, all over the world. But it feels strange, especially in the case of Jackson, knowing that someone that grew up on television in front of the whole world has passed away. At the age of fifty, no less.

I'm feeling old today.