RETREAT

TUESDAY 6th APRIL 2021

This is a response to a Flash Fiction prompt from ‘The Last Post on WordPress’  

Prompt…. Head to your favourite Blog, scroll down to the third post on the list. Take the third sentence on the post, and work it into a new post of your own.

‘Since soon out there into the wide unknown world’

With thanks to gunroswell and her ‘Rantings of a third kind’ blog.

RETREAT

by John Yeo

We live in our personal space in England,

The lawn slopes to the edge of some trees,

Our house sits in front of our woody garden

With shrubs in floral borders sure to please.

There is a secret path within those trees

Leading to a comfortable place of total seclusion.

Since soon out there into the wide unknown world

A wave of death and disease is approaching.

~

Thick bushes and shrubs screen this secret place

Shielding a hidden glade with a secure, secret studio,

A rustic gate opens into a walled garden space.

A sheltered arbor within, has a comfortable seat

In front of a pond with water lilies a tinkling fountain.

A place where safety and good health can be had.

Since soon out there into the wide unknown world

A wave of death and disease is approaching.

~

A peaceful electronic haven where we can retreat

To think private thoughts and muse now and again.

Numerous birds make their homes here in Spring

Sharing our privacy with their woodland melody.

Life’s mountainous problems are suddenly clear.

Bad news of an approaching viral pandemic

Soon out there into the wide unknown world

A wave of death and disease is approaching.

~

A peace seeps into every pore of our being.

We share our lockdown life freely on social media

Through posts that reveal many random Tweets.

Or adorning the face of any smart-media

From that exclusive, secluded, private retreat.

We lock ourselves away in complete seclusion 

Since soon out there into the wide unknown world

A wave of death and disease is approaching.

~

©  Written by John Yeo. All rights reserved.

ESCAPE

SATURDAY 3rd APRIL 2021

This is a response to a Flash Fiction prompt from ‘The Daily Post on WordPress’  

Prompt ~ ESCAPE

Describe your ultimate escape plan (and tell us what you’re escaping from.)

ESCAPE

by John Yeo

Life in lockdown has become a pleasant routine

Wear a mask, respect distance, stay safe at home.

Escape to the beaches of Australia is a distant dream.

~

Another update with frightening statistics between 

Dreaming of a future far beyond the present unknown 

Life in lockdown has become a pleasant routine.

~

Memories of past travels fill our days as we scheme

To visit distant shores flying above the ocean foam

Escape to the beaches of Thailand is a far distant dream.

~

Hope springs eternal with a successful jab of vaccine 

Fake news and rumour cloud the post-Covid syndrome

Life in lockdown has become a pleasant routine.

~

Sunshine, sandy beaches, rest, relaxation intervene 

We enjoy the present but look forward again to roam

A visit to the family in Australia is a distant dream.

~

The future begins to look clearer on the crystal screen 

Covid statistics show a pandemic in monochrome 

Escape to the beaches of Australia is a distant dream.

Life in lockdown has become a familiar routine.

~

 © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

Unsurprisingly this was always going to be an incredibly easy prompt to respond to, as everyone is currently embroiled in a worldwide pandemic. It is impossible to plan an escape from an ongoing, ever-changing situation. However the poem certainly answers the prompt.

WAVING WINTER WHEAT

WEDNESDAY 10th FEBRUARY 2021

This is a response to a Flash Fiction prompt from ‘Putting My Feet In the Dirt’, Writing Prompts hosted by ‘M’.
Which can be found by following the link below..

Prompt ~WAVING WINTER WHEAT

February 2021 Writing Prompts

WAVING WINTER WHEAT

by John Yeo

   Restivo was an urban rat; the leader of a large rat pack that inhabited the maze of London sewers. Life had been comfortable for everyone in the pack, with the families enjoying gourmet meals, scavenged from numerous restaurant bins and the discarded remains of takeaway meals carelessly dumped on the city streets. 

  Things began to get strangely difficult when their food supply suddenly dried up. Restivo made enquiries among all the senior members. 

 It was Bertram, an aggressive fearless brown rat who provided the first clue.

   ‘The two-legged giants seem to have disappeared overnight and there’s been no food scraps available. Our food-sources are dark and locked up, with nothing to eat anywhere.’

   Lady Belle, a handsome brown rat said, ‘How am I going to feed the family? Without the giants we will starve. It’s bad enough losing my friends to vicious poisoning.’ 

   ‘Don’t forget it’s the giants who are poisoning us. Now they are staying indoors, locked down so there will be no poison.’  remarked Bertram.

   ‘Yes; but we will all starve in the city without the two-legged giants,’  cried Lady Belle.

  Within a week, food was becoming scarcer and scarcer, during the disappearance of the locked-down two-legged giants. No-one was eating in their restaurants and discarded food was becoming scarcer. Restivo, the leader of the pack, called the rats to a mass meeting. 

  ‘Listen friends, we’re moving out to the green fields of the farms with huge grain stores, and mounds of food growing everywhere. There are vegetables and fruit freely available, growing in orchards. Beautiful wheat-fields with gentle summer breezes and crops of waving winter wheat, ready to be harvested by our families.’

  There was a chorus of agreement, then Roberta Rat shouted.

‘ Where are we off to Boss?’

‘The hinterland just outside town.’

.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

THE HARMONY CIRCUIT

SUNDAY 23rd AUGUST 2020

This is a response to a Flash Fiction prompt from ‘Putting My Feet In the Dirt’, Writing Prompts hosted by ‘M’.
Which can be found by following the link below..

August writing prompts

THE HARMONY CIRCUIT 

by John Yeo

  Something had pulled the plug and fused the reliable harmony circuit! The fans were staying at home!

 It was always the same, year after year for Brad and his group, ‘The Strangers.’ These young men had been making the rounds for about ten years. Their music was well liked and their fans would pay good money to follow them around and hear them perform. Brad Wilkins was the lead singer, at six foot tall, he had shoulder-length black hair he usually kept tied back in a ponytail. Onstage he would leave his locks flowing freely as he danced and pranced around the various stages of the different venues on the harmony circuit. Then there was his younger brother on drums, nicknamed Shorty Wilkins he was just 5’.5” tall with a shaved head and an earring in each ear that gleamed brightly under the stage lighting.  James Brown on the lead guitar was a stocky fellow of medium height, a singer with a permanent scowl on his face, who was always referred to as the hard man of the group. Finally, on the bass guitar, there was the nondescript cheeky chappy, Barry Hall; always smiling and having fun, well loved by everyone. Barry was average height and build and always wore his trademark beret, to hide his receding blonde hair.

 The group’s voices harmonised beautifully and they were a popular act on the circuit.

 Then the global pandemic arrived and pulled the plug on everything. This virus took everyone by surprise and the group were locked down and out of work.

After four months of inactivity, Brad took a job as a dustman, his brother Shorty worked on the council as a road sweeper. James and Barry both became ill and recovered to a life of unemployment. Life for The Strangers had become extremely strange indeed.

© Written by John Yeo

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