Creative #Punbelievable

Hey everyone. Hope you’ve all had a wonderful weekend. I’ll be putting up details of my second book in my next post, but as a thanks to you who have been so supportive of my writing I wanted to share one of the short stories here. Please enjoy, and feel free to add any comments on the story below.

Punbelievable

Finley Waters: Man, what a day. Thanks for choosing this restaurant Robin. It was very tweet of you to remember it was my birthday.

Robin Foxton: I saw a blog review that said it ofishially has the best seafood section in town. Would have been shellfish not to share it with you.  Especially as we haven’t met up since your business trip to Swimapore.

Finley Waters: It shore looks a good plaice. As I was heading out of the office, my colleague looked envious and said “Let minnow what you order.”

Robin Foxton: It’s been ages since they sat us down. Service cod be a lot better.

Finley Waters: Service bad, food great. That’s what I’ve been herring from everyone. I’ll sea if I can get that waiter’s attention. Done! Eel be right over.

Waiter: (comes over) Welcome to The Eating Among the Fishes restaurant. I’ll be your server today. Sorry for the delay. It sardinely got very busy. Water day! I had to clam a few people down. They were getting a bit crabby. Our reservations system had some problems. Thankfully, it’s going swimmingly now.

Robin Foxton: Let’s have a bottle of your finest house white. Just for the halibut. And no need to debait this. I’m having the lobster paella.

Finley Waters: I don’t need to mullet over either. I’m having the sea bass, fish cakes and tuna salad.

Waiter: Grilliant choices. I’ll be right back. (leaves)

Robin Foxton: I swear, that waiter looks like Salmon Rushdie!

Finley Waters: He really does. I wonder if he gets that when he’s trout and about. I was just wondering whether to perchase one of his books. Funny old world. Any fin is possible.

Robin Foxton: Ah nice, I’ve been reading a bit recently. Catfish 22. If you get the opportunaty you just have to read it. I’d add Metamorfifish, Wuthering Pikes and the Jaws of Perception too.

Waiter: (approaches) Here is your bottle. It’s dolphinately a fine choice (pours both glasses and then leaves).

Finley Waters: So how are things at work? That new guy sounds useless. Like he was lost at sea and completely out of his depth. And how are things with your new gillfriend? Come on, don’t be koi. All I know is that she’s a dog lover.

Robin Foxton: Ah yes, Pawline. Mutt have been fate. It’s not like I’ve been active on the dating scene. I’ve been doggedly after that promotion.

Finley Waters: I know! You’ve been alsationable on that score. I’ve not seen you in weeks.

Robin Foxton: Sorry about that. I guess my inner ambition was unleashed after that work trip. Working those long hours has been ruff. I wasn’t the only one trying to move up. Would have made a dramatic dogumentary. Real dog eat dog stuff. Being hounded all the time. But since meeting her it doesn’t seem to matter. I was probably the underdog anyhow.

Finley Waters: Did you and the mastiff dog lover meet at your vet practice?

Robin Foxton: No, I was on a quick lunch break and literally ran into her at the supermarket. You know me, always dachshund around.

Finley Waters: So, what happened after? Pup and running from the get go?

Robin Foxton: We agreed to go to this fancy Italian restaurant. She was late as she had left her handbag behind and had to go back so she could retriever purse and stuff. Almost made her late for the reservation. I was thinking: “Howl late will she be?”

Finley Waters: People being late. That’s my pet hate.

Robin Foxton: It was worth it, though. She looked so fetching. Real elegant restaurant too. The pianist even played Poochini.

Finley Waters: Fur real? That is classy.

Robin Foxton: It turns out we’ve a really similar sense of humour. She’s a big fan of Eddie Lizzard, Tuna Fey, Jelly Seinfeld Anchovy Chase.

Finley Waters: Well she’s got my seal of approval. What does she do?

Robin Foxton: She’s a freelance fundraiser for various animal charities and animal shelters. She does so much. She even organised a huge event to save some rhinos at no extra charge. And she’s so romantic. She’s got into the rabbit of baking me animal-shaped cookies. As the weather has been so much otter recently, she’s been doing jungle ones.

Waiter: (enters) Here sir, is your lobster bisque. And also, the sea bass, fish cakes and tuna salad. We’ve recently added the collieflower to the dish, so any feedback at the end of the meal would be most welcome. (leaves)

Robin Foxton: It’s only my second time eating lobster. I won’t be wolfing this down! But yeah, things have been going super well. Just remembered. At canine pm, the local store closes and I need to pick up a few things.

Finley Waters: So, pug in the gaps for me. What do you two talk about?

Robin Foxton: She just loves dogs. But she used to have all kinds of pets growing up. Now she has two dogs, Bark Twain and Droolius Caesar. Funnily enough, she also has a cat that shares your birthday.

Finley Waters: You’re kitten me?

Robin Foxton: Yeah, pretty ameowsing really. I’m feline good about this. I think it’s meant tabby with this one. If anything, I’m worried it’s going too purrfectly. But enough about me. I heard there was a bit of a catastrophe on your trip.

Finley Waters: Yeah, we got Cat, our next door neighbour Cat to keep an eye on the house when we were away and water the plants in the house. You know my wife and I went to a tour of Italy for a break. Real romemantic place.

Robin Foxton: I guess once you’re Turin there you forget about life back home.

Finley Waters: Genoally, the best country I’ve ever visited. You have to go. You’re messina out otherwise. Turns out, the neighbour had left the water running. The florence all flooded. Quite a lot ruined. I wanted to give her a pizza my mind. But amid all the comotion you realise it was an honest mistake. Her parents have agreed to cover the repair bill. No point making a fountain out of a molehill.

Robin Foxton: You do live life a lot more Capri spirited than I do. House it going with the recovery?

Finley Waters: You know I believe in karma. If you don’t act kindly now, you’ll pompeii for it later. Yeah, we got all the new stuff fine.

Robin Foxton: That’s wonderful to hear. It will be our six month anniversary tomorrow so I got all this cool stuff booked well in advance, including the biggest bouquet of flowers you’ve ever seen. Didn’t want to leaf it until the last minute.

Finley Waters: Great to see you this happy. You had some tough break ups back in the day. There was Rose, Jasmine, Daisy, Poppy, Violet, Olive, Flora, Iris, Holly, Ivy, Heather and, what was her name again? Oh yeah, Lily. Her mum Hyacinth was always so nice to me. Didn’t Lily go abroad after you broke up?

Robin Foxton: That’s why we broke up actually. She was an environmentalist. I wanted to sweep her off her feet but that relationship was just littered with mistakes. We’ve both moved on now though. She’s dating a farmer. I always knew someone who worked outdoors would a tractor.

Finley Waters: Awesome. Let’s get the bill. Hang on, where’s my wallet. This scampi happening. Oh wait, there it is. Freaks me out when I change pockets.

Waiter: (approaches and takes plate) You enjoyed the dishes? I have to ask. The head chef has been grilling me. I said I’d kelp out by finding out what you thought of the new salad? He’s been fishing for compliments all day.

Finley Waters: I did. Ah yes, your spacific request. Yeah, all great. Nothing to hake at all. If you can bring over the bill as well please. (waiter leaves) Oh before I forget. Did you know I can jump higher than a house? Because houses can’t jump (laughs).

Robin Foxton: (rolls eyes) You and your wordplay. You’d never catch me doing that.

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Creative #EssenceofBeauty

Magnetic, electric, eclectic eyes,
That shine like frozen diamonds raised by sunlight,
Decorated by free-falling hair that parades and cascades
With the freedom of flight, that will best strike
Those able to see the beauty within,
that goes beyond mere skin

I’ve quoted countless of my favourite poems, but I do like to share my own work too. The last one, She Loved Me Once, was in June, so I was certainly due.

Creative #SheLovedMeOnce

She loved me once and I threw it away
A love so pure there was plenty to spare
And yet not enough for me to keep
And not enough for me to share

Her and I loved in different ways, speeds and styles
At contrasting times and in different places
Her love for me now sat with old newspapers
Faded clothes, expired milk and long-forgotten faces

But my love for her caught in a sandtimer
With my heart waiting for the last grain to fall
Memories varying from light to dark and dark to light
And questions and questions challenging it all

Whether better to have loved and lost I’m not certain
I wanted to love you the way you did me
My love took too long to catch up with yours
And you never slowed down, more’s the pity

I will let go, I hold on with fewer fingers now
The future is coming into view more than the past
But while we’ll never be that us again
Your role in my life will last

After finding an old poem Some Things, I decided to fine tune another poem I wrote while back.

Creative: Autumn Leaves

Autumn is the judgement of time,
the lovely hold between
the leaving of summer
and the returning of Winter.
It counts its days
by the leaves that fall,
slowly, smoothly,
to the ground,
and the temperature that lowers
quickly, roughly,
before reaching
the call from the ice statues,
that come back to the foreground
from an eternity in the oblivious background.

Creative: Lies and Secrets (short story)

One of the joys of this blog has been able to share the things that interest me and that have grabbed my attention. It’s also been great to have shown you some of my creative works with you in the past, including my poetry and writing process.  So I thought why not put up one of my short stories, one I’ve always had a soft spot for.

To give a bit of context. I wrote Lies and Secrets in college (the photo would have been taken a year or two later – I’m on the right) and even won some book vouchers when I entered it into a local competition. At the time I was writing lots of short stories and was even part of a weekly writing group. What with Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it hasn’t dated well but I still feel an attachment for it. Do you like it? I’d welcome any feedback so please let me know what you think.

Creative: A Life in the Day

A newspaper I’ve been reading since I was a teenager has always had a back page feature entitled ‘A Life in the Day’; a reverse reference to the famous Beatles song. In it, a celebrity or even an ordinary person will explain a regular day and how that relates to their life. It continues to this day, and a few years ago I bought the 25th Anniversary book. As part of a writing project, I wrote one myself when I was 18. It’s amazing to look back the hopes, dreams and routine of myself over a decade ago. I hope you like it. And no, I still don’t drink tea or coffee.

Creative: Before the Embryo

I’ve read so many great creative pieces by bloggers on here, and with some even explaining their process of writing, that I wanted to share something the way I write. I penned this years ago, before even going to university so it’s quite a feeling to look back on it. Hope you all like it.

Creative: Yesterday’s Tomorrow

Unlost yesterdays lie luxuriously while life flies fast forwards
Lovingly lasting in memory, they await instruction
For when they must be ready for repeated viewings
By the audience comforted by blurred certainty.

But what those memories know, as we know,
Is that yesterdays can rust to nothing
And so unexplored and unfelt memories
Must be allowed to crash the revolving stage.

Because the roulette wheel is best when spinning
And triumph waltzes with infinite shades of possibilities
At kaleidoscopic speeds with unveiled messages
That life is not remembering but redesigning, living not reliving.

Creative: As the Night Fades

As the night fades to nothingness
And the nothingness fades back to light,
I sit alone staring at the sky
Lay ever infinitely away, ponder what I am thinking.

That laying before a heartless horizon I so adore
I am destined to be replaced,
And never to be traced,
Back to the chance for a paradise I never faced.

But I am to be comforted.

The sky will always sleep above me,
It guarding me forever,
Until that nothingness
never dies again…
And again…
And again…

Creative: Nightworld

Amidst the silence, shadows and cloak of secrecy,
Amongst the dismayed, disgusted and despaired
There lies a place: unseen, unheard of.
Beyond anything, care or repair
Filled with haunted, taunted, distorted souls,
Who, tortured by the tainted night
Create their own images and ideas.
The thoughts and fears,
Become tantrums and tears
As those lost souls wait patiently by the door
For new members to arrive and fall.