Cheryl Snell's Blog, page 7

A Story in 100 Words

My drabble featuring a composite grandma is up now at A Story in 100 Words, thanks to Doc Collins.

Roi Faingeant Literary Press

Thanks to the editors at RF for publishing my micro stories

New World Writing

Many thanks to Frederick Barthelme and everyone involved in publishing my micro story. Drawing by my late sister Janet, to jazz up this post a bit. .

GAS 14: Poetry, Art and Music

The Ilanot Review

I read my flash, "Worn" in the Earth issue of The Ilanot Review

Alarm

The Ekphrastic Review hosts a regular call for writers to use a piece of art to spark written work. Mine, a flash called "Alarm,"accompanies Sonya Gonzalaz's painting "Angel Production" and is listed at https://www.ekphrastic.net/ekphrastic-writing-challenges  

Alarm

      The alarm on the mother’s hospital bed goes off and does not stop for the twenty minutes it takes for her to die.
       When will the people come to take me home?
The maintenance men have been summoned; one punches the reset button on the alarm. He stabs it again and again. Is it a mechanical malfunction, or something more?  Nothing surprises him in this building brushed with wings.
       Never seen one of these sensors stuck at full volume before, he says.
       Check the battery indicator.
       I did. What about the alert on the pad?
       She’s lying on it, but we shouldn’t move her.
Not now. Not so close to the end.       
       The others will be missing me.
The worker looks at the mother. She is the most translucent patient he has ever seen, her skin scattering light like a skull held up to the sun. He can hardly make out her figure on the white sheet, until she coughs up a streak of red. It flows over her chin onto her breastbone.
He plucks a tissue from the box and dabs at her sunken chest.
         Your father went on a bender while I was giving birth to you and my milk dried up, the old woman says to the man who she, at that moment, thinks is her son.      
       Don’t cry, Mom.
       The only time I left him was that time he beat you bloody. There are a lot of things in life that shouldn’t happen.
       He broke my nose, Mama.
       But when his heart stopped, you were the one who tried to restart it.

        The mother’s legs mottle and swell. Her feet are chilled. Her hands. She is so cold the air around her seems to shiver.
        Where is my cooked potato? Did Mum put it in my winter muff? Is it still hot?
       The man says yes, and floats a heated blanket over her body. It isn’t warm enough.                                
       Perhaps I have no place left inside me that can hold a sun.
       The bed vibrates with alarm.
       Am I going to go wearing this?
       She wets her finger in her mouth and rubs the stain on her gown. 
        My life is like a book I barely remember reading. And look here, the story ends with bloodstains anyway.
      
The angels in the corner huddle together. They were all hoping for an easy passage, with flowers blooming and violin music rising above the sound of the alarm. But the petals droop and the music falls again. The angel-wings twitch.
        Did I ever tell you that my father’s last girlfriend sent his body back to my mum, naked in a pine box?
         No, Mom.
        And when my husband told me he was dying, I said no, you’re not. He didn’t even try to argue with me. He just went. It was as if I let him die alone.
        She has nothing more to say; her tears stop in their tracks. And with that, she becomes unknowable.
 Her final ragged breath rattles through her open lips as they fall away from the jaw.
       
     Oh. She’s not breathing now, says the nurse; the sash on her apron unrolls, fluttering around the mother’s face.
The alarm goes mute at last. The workers leave. The faucet gushes open.

 

My Journal Publications 2021---2022

https://brightflash1000.com/2022/04/05/downsizing/?

fbclid=IwAR2FDM7lrKhhFttJzjrnFXMqDXzv3DrTDWgTI_c6L08OZmo34UBOKeR1i_k

https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/100-word-stories/harvest-by-cheryl-snell?

https://thedrabble.wordpress.com/2022/02/14/trashing-a-hotel-room-on-mars/?

http://www.onesentencepoems.com/osp/?p=6740 

https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/12/goldilocks-fairy-tale-fiction-by-cheryl.html?

https://oddballmagazine.com/poem-by-cheryl-snell/

https://www.trouvaillereview.org/home/degrees-of-glare-by-cheryl-snell

https://101words.org/daybreak/

https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/strider-marcus-jones/lothlorien-poetry-journal-volume-3/paperback/

https://bombfirelit.com/2021/09/25/2-poems-by-cheryl-snell/

http://paragraphplanet.com/trampoline/

https://sixsentences.blogspot.com/2021/09/something-up-with-which-i-will-not-put.html

https://www.neurologicalliterarymagazine.com/post/song-for-a-seedling-cheryl-snell

https://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2021/07/blue-by-cheryl-snell

https://gaspoertyartandmusic.blogspot.com/2021/06/gas-featured-poet-cheryl-snell.html

https://www.wordsandwhispers.org/gray

https://oneartpoetry.com/2021/05/28/two-poems-by-cheryl-snell/

https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/05/four-sublime-poems-by-cheryl-snell.html

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/22/breathe-4/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/21/how-to-wait/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/21/how-to-hear/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/20/moon-bugs/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/20/attachment/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/fire-tornado/

https://clementineunbound.wordpress.com/2021/03/23/1545/

https://autumnskypoetrydaily.com/2020/12/23/comfort-measure-5-by-cheryl-snell/

My Journal Publications 2021---

http://www.onesentencepoems.com/osp/?p=6740 

https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/12/goldilocks-fairy-tale-fiction-by-cheryl.html?

https://oddballmagazine.com/poem-by-cheryl-snell/

https://www.trouvaillereview.org/home/degrees-of-glare-by-cheryl-snell

https://101words.org/daybreak/

https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/strider-marcus-jones/lothlorien-poetry-journal-volume-3/paperback/

https://bombfirelit.com/2021/09/25/2-poems-by-cheryl-snell/

http://paragraphplanet.com/

https://sixsentences.blogspot.com/2021/09/something-up-with-which-i-will-not-put.html

https://www.neurologicalliterarymagazine.com/post/song-for-a-seedling-cheryl-snell

https://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2021/07/blue-by-cheryl-snell

https://gaspoertyartandmusic.blogspot.com/2021/06/gas-featured-poet-cheryl-snell.html

https://www.wordsandwhispers.org/gray

https://oneartpoetry.com/2021/05/28/two-poems-by-cheryl-snell/

https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/05/four-sublime-poems-by-cheryl-snell.html

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/22/breathe-4/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/21/how-to-wait/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/21/how-to-hear/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/20/moon-bugs/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/20/attachment/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/fire-tornado/

https://clementineunbound.wordpress.com/2021/03/23/1545/

https://autumnskypoetrydaily.com/2020/12/23/comfort-measure-5-by-cheryl-snell/

My Journal Publications 2021

 

https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/12/goldilocks-fairy-tale-fiction-by-cheryl.html?

https://oddballmagazine.com/poem-by-cheryl-snell/

https://www.trouvaillereview.org/home/degrees-of-glare-by-cheryl-snell

https://101words.org/daybreak/

https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/strider-marcus-jones/lothlorien-poetry-journal-volume-3/paperback/

https://bombfirelit.com/2021/09/25/2-poems-by-cheryl-snell/

http://paragraphplanet.com/

https://sixsentences.blogspot.com/2021/09/something-up-with-which-i-will-not-put.html

https://www.neurologicalliterarymagazine.com/post/song-for-a-seedling-cheryl-snell

https://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2021/07/blue-by-cheryl-snell

https://gaspoertyartandmusic.blogspot.com/2021/06/gas-featured-poet-cheryl-snell.html

https://www.wordsandwhispers.org/gray

https://oneartpoetry.com/2021/05/28/two-poems-by-cheryl-snell/

https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/05/four-sublime-poems-by-cheryl-snell.html

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/22/breathe-4/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/21/how-to-wait/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/21/how-to-hear/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/20/moon-bugs/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/20/attachment/

https://eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2021/04/19/fire-tornado/

https://clementineunbound.wordpress.com/2021/03/23/1545/

https://autumnskypoetrydaily.com/2020/12/23/comfort-measure-5-by-cheryl-snell/

Lothlorien Poetry Journal: Goldilocks - Fairy Tale - Fiction by Cheryl Snell

Lothlorien Poetry Journal: Goldilocks - Fairy Tale - Fiction by Cheryl Snell: Goldilocks   I don’t remember why I refused to completely grow up. My reflection in the glass claims I did anyway, according to how I fill...