get a bag
place bag on floor
tail wagging
his head will disappear into the bottom of the bag
you know
in case there are food items
and things to lick
mlem
lab caught!
how to trap a chocolate lab
write
Some new changes: from poetry to prose
#73. Opposites Attract. Write a scene in which two characters play opposites to each other. (from writersdigest.com)
He was like fire. She was like ice. He was open like a flame that wraps everything up in its liquid arms and snaps and picks up. She was like wood that tightens and creaks in the cold. Instead of open arms, she felt herself creeping closed and she couldn’t help it.
It started the night she heard him on that phone call. One minute she was making spaghetti and meat sauce at the stove, the next she was peering around the corner to the other room, trying not be concerned at the hushed voice and the way he bent his head into the phone. Like he was trying to hide who he was talking to.
She told herself it didn’t matter and then the conversation the next day. Before work. Her coffee hadn’t even finished brewing yet.
“I have a project after work, babe. I’ll be late. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry” he had said…like he didn’t know how to talk to a woman. Like he hadn’t been living with one for the last three years. Like he didn’t know that all she would do was worry. Worry about who he was talking to as she opened her locker at work. Like she wouldn’t be thinking about the pink lipstick she saw on his neck that one weekend when she changed out of her scrubs later that day.
Yeah, don’t worry. Well, that would be pretty fucking unlikely.
That night she tells him. As they’re standing next to the microwave. She’s waiting for her dinner to finish cooking. “I’m moving back in with my mother. I’ll take the TV. No, don’t worry. I’ll be fine by myself.”
Hi Friends,
For those of you who have been loyal readers and followers these past years, I appreciate you. As I gather content for my next few poetry book projects, I am going to try something new on here. I won’t be posting as much poetry, but in an effort to keep writing…I’m going to try to write some more prose. Right now, that looks like trying writing prompts…wherever I may find them. Who knows, maybe in the future it will move into something else. Maybe it’ll be something that will stick. Maybe I’ll give up after a few posts of writing prompts and start something else. This feels like an ending of an era for me. But also of something new.
Happy Writing!
~AJM
Chocolate and Butterscotch
To be read as if narrated by David Attenborough
two large
pound cakes
a chocolate
and a butterscotch
wait for more
cakes of their own
disappointed
and convinced that
the next five minutes
are essential to their rate of survival
the cakes keel over
and in a weakened state
they slip into oblivious sleep
and start to snore
Poetry book “Remnants” to be published, but not in December 2025
So…have you ever started a project, and then you lose steam just when you think you’re sailing smoothly along? Yeaah, so that happened. I am still working on this project, but it will not be published at the end of this year.
Unfortunately, work and health and life have gotten in the way, but to be honest, though, I do feel somewhat excited to have a project to focus on in the winter months…if we all happen to survive by then, of course.
To reiterate…
This is a collection of new material from the last few years exploring the ‘what’s been left behind’ from my college years, who I am now, and the joys and struggles of being an adult. There are themes of feminism, mental health, self-doubt… and some silly poems about the weather, of course.
Look for it soon…publish date, TBD. I might also post less poetry content as I get my ideas together, but that’s a maybe. I feel like there is still a lot to say.
In case you missed it, my other poetry book, Walking in Cemeteries, can be found on Amazon here.
so tired
it’s the time of year
just about
where hope and joy
fizzles out
i’m draining onto
a dirty ground
like a lost set of keys
never found
there’s no end here
i’ll walk forever
awake no longer
and sleeping never
the slipper
he woos, a muffled woo
my slipper stuffed far in his mouth
I pat his brown fur and laugh out loud
and tug it loose
naughty bear
he wags his tail
someday
my slippers will be dry
and right where I left them
and I can’t tell you how much
that breaks my heart
Hi friends,
I accidentally went MIA these past few weeks. We went on vacation about mid-August, and well, pretty much hit the ground running once we got back. I can’t believe summer is about over 😫
AJM
security blanket
the neighbor’s dogs
didn’t want it
our golden retriever
didn’t either
but every night
our chocolate lab
carries it off the deck
brown and half-deflated
faded from the sun
it enjoys the ride
out into the yard
Koda’s ears perk up
his stance, square and at the ready
something snaps in the woods
he shakes his head
and growls with enthusiasm
the basketball shakes to and fro
it’s a good feeling
to be needed
at the fair
the chickens open their beaks
in a silent squawk
feathered bodies pant
melt and puddle
over wood shavings
the young girl pours water
into the tray in the cages corner
“Jessica needs more water”
“I’m so nervous”
“First place, master showman, I can’t believe it”
off in the corner
several family members
wait and melt in a hundred degrees
with love and pride dripping down their foreheads
and flies batting at their knees
shark week
in the silent
inky darkness
something surges
from the deep
predator
turned prey
as an adult
when i was little
i had someone tell me
“don’t be so eager to grow up”
i’ve had others judge me
like growing up was a competition
that i would fail at
and while i feel old and young
than i ever did before
it doesn’t change
the sadness that overwhelms me
growing up is over with
being an adult
happens now
and i
don’t
want
it
A. J. Morse 