Friday Flash Fiction

The Church Tower, by Guy Fletcher

11/7/2025

Editor's Choice

She had eagerly anticipated
ascending the tower of St Mary's Church
to view as far as Weston on this clear day.
Yet her ageing legs had other ideas:
the narrow perilous stone staircase stretching
ahead as if a vast mountain.
She retreated out of the church
to Old St Mary's across the village,
entering the iron gates to another world
where graves had been moved, it was overgrown,
a rainbow of flowers patrolled by butterflies
the church stripped to its foundations
now with no regrets about the tower,
fully enchanted by nature's power.

2 Comments

The Bust of Jim Morrison, by Guy Fletcher

6/6/2025

"The future's uncertain, the end is always near."- Jim Morrison

I visited Jim Morrison's tomb
on a balmy Paris afternoon
at the immense necropolis of Pere Lachaise.
I recall a man playing "The End"
feeling a tear strolling down my brow.
There was graffiti in many a tongue
paying homage to a bright star
who faded from the sky so soon.
His bust had been stolen decades before,
an adonis of Rock n' Roll
but now it has been recovered
yet it is a powerful place even without it,
beautiful lyrics floating in my head
at twenty seven too young to be dead.

A Garden in Spring, by Guy Fletcher

25/4/2025

2 Comments

I sit on the old garden bench
scene of so many memories
and observe a robin flutter
from the Japanese Maple tree
whose purple leaves dance in the spring breeze
as butterflies flicker over red tulips.
Nearby lie beautiful indigo periwinkles
and primroses with their yellow hearts
with a white exterior.
The sky is azure after months of grey
and the cat rolls onto her back.
Yet the view holds a certain melancholy
for it's a paradise which cannot last,
a magical time...but gone far too fast.

2 Comments

Temptation, by Steven Bruce

30/3/2025

WINNER, 2025 SIDERIUS MEMORIAL POETRY PRIZE

TEMPTATION

It doesn’t knock.
It waits.

Finds you when the day's too quiet,
when the night sweats loneliness,
when the bottle’s near empty.

When the bed feels too big,
and the past comes crawling back.

When you tell yourself,
One last time.

It comes soft, familiar,
like a childhood song
you can’t shake from your head.

And by the time you realise,
it’s got you by the wrist,
pulling you into the dance.

Choice, by Teri Wright

28/3/2025

You swallow your first day nerves.
Your eyes scan the display cases,
their contents sparkle enticingly.

You long to smash the glass,
snatch necklaces from their velvet nests,
enjoy the feel of cool metal on your skin.

Your palms begin to sweat,
your fingers fidget,
your heart thumps.

You breathe deeply.
Resist the urge to steal.
For now.

TEMPTATION

28/3/2025

REVENGE

luminous Lepus
no unlucky monkeys paw
draws blood with sharp teeth

It’s Not Okay, by Peggy Gerber

26/3/2025

REVENGE

When did it become okay to spread
fake news and rumors over social media
knowing the more it circulates
the more people will believe it?

When did it become okay
to troll the internet, posting vitriol,
anonymously, like the biggest of chickens,
getting revenge on anyone
who doesn’t share your beliefs?

When did it become okay to take a country
with United in its name
and divide it up into left and right,
pitting neighbor against neighbor?

When did it become okay?
I’d like to know

The Perfect Place, by John M. Carlson

26/3/2025

REVENGE

She tours the nursing home
She’s looking for the perfect place for her dad

This place is AWFUL!!!!
Depressing rooms
Repulsive food
Lumpy beds
Mean staff

Her dad was abusive when she was young
This awful nursing home will be perfect payback
She’ll put him here

The Hand Not Given, by Thurston Hurt

25/3/2025

REVENGE

The boy was only eight, I said.
He didn't know. For shure.
His mom told me he was quite shy.
A silent soul, no more.

I know , he said, I heard the same.
He did not want to kill.
The other boy was also eight.
His friend, his friend no more.

Comes Billy Hagard, that wise guy.
He said, it was revenge.
The boy fell in a fishing pond.
He never got a hand.

He Doesn't Live Here Anymore, by Sandra James

25/3/2025

REVENGE

He doesn’t live here anymore…
she stammers and hangs up before the visitor
can ask for his new address
trembling… she makes another mug of tea
trying in vain to hold back tears
anger?
loss?
whatever… it hurts

the postman rubs more salt
three letters…
she scrawls address unknown
in red across the front…
a circular addressed to Mr & Mrs
confettied… filed in the bin
but one… a window-faced account
brings a smile as she redirects it to his girlfriend’s home

The Temptation of Mona Lisa, by Sankar Chatterjee

25/3/2025

TEMPTATION

Little did Mona Lisa know
With her mysterious gaze and enigmatic smile,
She would captivate millions over hundreds of years.
While hanging on a wall at the Louvre.
But the truth be told,
A gorgeous noble woman she was married
To a wealthy Florentine merchant.
Along came Leonardo, a polymath and a painter.
Desire ignited, she would attempt
A forbidden romance
Flashing that mysticism in her melting face
But, all Leonardo wanted to paint her.

Five hundred years gone by
Her temptation remains ethereal.

Poison, by Guy Fletcher

25/3/2025

TEMPTATION

It's a beautiful, ugly sight:
froth as white as snow,
small bubbles busily rising,
He writes her name on the condensation
which encases the golden pint
and the devil uses all his power
to entice the sad desperate man to devour

what for him is pure poison.
There are other lone drinkers here
mostly middle-aged men too,
he has joined a far from glamorous club.
Oh, he is tempted to submerge himself
in the liquid but if he were to succumb
knows that there will be many more to come.

Tempt Me at your Peril, by Sandra Falconer

24/3/2025

TEMPTATION

You leer at me, seduce my senses,
From the glossy glass counter in Greggs,
Flaunting your crispy flaky pastry,
Your swirling whirls of clotted cream,
Until I lust for you, dismiss my diet,
Ignore the cholesterol, the added inches,
But I shall put an end to your siren ways,
You will never tempt another,
I devour you whole.

Parliamentary Pecking Order, by Bev Wood

23/3/2025

REVENGE

the rooster crows
egging them on
hens scratch
for tasty titbits
worms wriggle
but
at this point time
at the end of the day
the chickens come home to roost

Billy the Brat, by Glenda Bailey

22/3/2025

TEMPTATION

Billy, the Brat, wasn’t a well behaved boy;
With so many temptations in the world to enjoy.
I mean, who could refuse giving cats a good kick?
And dogs deserved to be hit with a stick.
Swear words would happily dance on his tongue.
And giant rocks were made to be flung.
Gardens were there to be raided for sure.
And who could resist a pile of manure?
Boogers and spit were meant to be flicked.
And teachers and parents deserved to be tricked.
But at the end of the day when lying in his bed;
Billy prayed for good thoughts to fill up his head.
To stop all of his meanness and all of the pranking;
But there flew a fly whose wings needed yanking.

Before Long, by Stella Courmouli

21/3/2025

TEMPTATION

the silence covered the forest
once more
allowing the deer to fall asleep,
the grace of nature wounded the hunter;
tempted, yet charmed,
his bitten soul
laid aside the bow,
the bleeding soil
swallowed up the arrow,
lost to the earth
that whispered of life and death,
the weeping moon cast its gentle glow,
vigilantly
watching over them both
for eternity

Gylen Castle, by A C Clarke

20/3/2025

REVENGE

Look up at the scarified walls,
the sad-eyed windows,
imagine fire darting from rafter to rafter,
the youngest MacDougall watching his home
so long impregnable
beacon the Covenanter ships
in triumph while musket shots
shouted the deaths of every last one
of his kinsfolk.

What’s left of the castle
looks out, as ever,
over the treacherous sea
but there’s only an island ferry
tracing its white path,
the distant gleam of sunlit sails
where yachts are sporting, noiselessly.

A Pet Shop Plea, by Sue Clayton

19/3/2025

TEMPTATION

A little face, four tiny paws
Pointed ears and a cold wet nose
A drooping tail between my legs
Please take me

I won’t eat much, a bone or two
Nor will I whimper or make a mess
I’ll go outside to do my jobs
Please take me

I’ll learn to sit, stay and beg
Fetch your slippers, paper too
When I’m grown I’ll protect and guard
Please take me

Temptation’s great, I can’t pass by
He has a home, a family now
A ball, a lead, a fireside basket
Thanks for taking me

Towards Termination, by Mimi Grouse

18/3/2025

TEMPTATION

Listen to the ticking of clocks
And the whisper of sand
As it runs through
The funnel
Of
Time
Taking revenge
On tyrants and bullies,
Puppeteers, puppets and cowards.

Rabbit Hole, by Lillibit Ray

17/3/2025

TEMPTATION

Dreaming of spotted rabbit hopping quickly by,
then dropping down, underground, into rabbit hole.
Why urge to follow, unaware of what might be found,
knowing, as an addict, I stood to play the fool?

Yet I feel curious and dangerous, so down hole I go,
tunnel system vast, I follow rabbit until it is out of view.
I search forward, backward, side to side,
lost, but finally finding small room with food inside,

and maybe imagination, maybe desire, I see flower blossoms,
filled with fermented bee balm nectar and precious poppy pollen.
Still hooked, strung out, substances present so near, and it is clear
that though they are not mine to take, my impulse is to use.

First sip, first sniff, slipping down rabbit hole to active addiction,
as one’s choice to not partake becomes absent,
progressing to continued use, excessive abuse,
so quickly the vice takes control, dream turning to nightmare..

Eden Sonnet, by Mary Anne Mc Enery

17/3/2025

TEMPTATION

“Crave thy tongues for tastes yet unrevealed?”
Quote the snake, its speech in swift display.
Adam, versed in Eden's sacred shield,
Replied, “Fruit abounds; no gifts we seek today.”
Eve stood by him; her silence spoke consent.
The serpent smirked. “Your God lacks flair.”
Offering a fruit of heavenly hues sent.
Kin to apples, yet unique, a dare.
Their pulses quickened at the deceptive sight
“Indulge,” urged the forked tongue, “in untasted delight.”
Into the lie their innocence took flight.
Thus, sealing a fate that could not be made right.
Eden did not fall to an apple's naïve crunch.
But to a green pair who lost sight of paradise’s hallowed touch.

$ Figurines, by John O’Keefe

17/3/2025

TEMPTATION

holding the figurine to the light the old man smiles
beautiful argillite carving but a lil overpriced

the fund manager from New York turns to him
prices seem reasonable here sir
that piece would be hundred bucks higher
in the Inuit store next door

the old man shrugs
maybeso ma’am but I am on fixed income

glancing at him she sees $593.04
according to scientific calculations
that’s the average human body’s value
broken down to the molecular level

$593.04 is not something
to write home about
until you multiply it by a billion or two
something worth thinking about

A Bad Dream, by C. J. H. Dickens

16/3/2025

TEMPTATION

Last night I dreamed that evil stood beside my bed
I woke in terror, sweat pouring down my face
The beast had a fiery pumpkin for a head
And nothing but poison in its base.
Triumphantly, it grinned at me
‘I’ve got you where I want you now,’ it said,
“Your days of woke morality –
Care, compassion, decency – are DEAD!!!!”
Tempted, I reached for an axe
To slice off that wicked pumpkin head
But no – desist! – let’s face the facts
Like Hydra, there’s more, the disease would only spread
And bad as it seems, it could be even worse –
Cure comes only when it’s run its dreadful course.

Lure of the Siren, by William P Adams

16/3/2025

TEMPTATION

Her Siren Song wove Terpsichorean choruses of earthly delights and pleasures
Lashed and bound, his heart a plectrum striking silken notes within his chest
Her dance, effortless and seductive, wound its way into his most vulnerable crevices
He, weakened and powerless against her dulcet refrains, struggled to remember his vows
Her strains build, pulse, and whirl - a crescendo resonating in ambrosial sound
His resolve eroded and worn away, at long last calls for release from the marital mast
She beckons, with whispered promises of sweet wine running over in carnal rapture
Resistance futile, vows forgotten, heart blinded, beguiled, he succumbs to her charms
She smiles knowingly, the wreckage of a thousand ships lies just below her surface

Their Date, by Krystyna Fedosejevs

16/3/2025

TEMPTATION

The moment they met
heart-shaped kisses raced
between their eyes,

spaghetti twirled al dente,
Bolognese sauce sprinkled
in fanciful design.

Sips of Pinot Noir lured
selective words to engage
in passionate dialogue;

love directed their pursuit
of intimate romance,
foregoing Tiramisu.

<<Previous

The Church Tower, by Guy Fletcher

The Bust of Jim Morrison, by Guy Fletcher

A Garden in Spring, by Guy Fletcher

Temptation, by Steven Bruce

Choice, by Teri Wright

TEMPTATION

It’s Not Okay, by Peggy Gerber

The Perfect Place, by John M. Carlson

The Hand Not Given, by Thurston Hurt

He Doesn't Live Here Anymore, by Sandra James

The Temptation of Mona Lisa, by Sankar Chatterjee

Poison, by Guy Fletcher

Tempt Me at your Peril, by Sandra Falconer

Parliamentary Pecking Order, by Bev Wood

Billy the Brat, by Glenda Bailey

Before Long, by Stella Courmouli

Gylen Castle, by A C Clarke

A Pet Shop Plea, by Sue Clayton

Towards Termination, by Mimi Grouse

Rabbit Hole, by Lillibit Ray

Eden Sonnet, by Mary Anne Mc Enery

$ Figurines, by John O’Keefe

A Bad Dream, by C. J. H. Dickens

Lure of the Siren, by William P Adams

Their Date, by Krystyna Fedosejevs

Poetry

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