I speak to you in riddles because my words get in my way

Title: A Retail Store Mirror World
Word Count: 107
Notes: This was written for the brigits_flame August competition; the topic is "Smoke and Mirrors."

( A Retail Store Mirror World )

Title: The Wings of a Butterfly
Word Count: 111
Summary: "God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages." -Jacques Duval
Notes: This was written for the brigits_flame July competition; the topic is "Wings."

( The Wings of a Butterfly )

Title: Absence
Word Count: 873
Warnings: Behind-the-scenes violence.
Summary: Can a man who lives by chance really be a man at all?
Notes: This was written for the brigits_flame June contest; the topic is "Caesar."

( Absence )

Today, I dreampt that I used every ounce of strength I had to try to stop an inevitable collision. It came, nonetheless, and in the aftermath is when I found that true friends never let you down.

Title: Dinnertime
Word Count: 525
Warnings: The topic was thought of while watching MTV and singing The Beatles. Warning enough? I think so.
Notes: This was written for the June contest atbrigits_flame; the topic is "Oil and Vinegar."

Title: Once Upon a Time
Word Count: 1,016
Notes: This was written for the June contest at brigits_flame ; the topic is "Ranch."

Today, I returned to things long forgotten. Things that were once cherised, but somehow got lost in the turmoil of life. I found contentment in the lightning strokes of my fingers across keys. The fruits of my labor manifest in beauty.

Today, I watched the life and death of a thousand glowing suns, each raised in a chorus of clashing, distorted, beautiful voices. I stared in wonder, almost in pain. Smiled, as they lasted for fractions of a second, and descended in fiery rain.

Today, I said, "I love you."
                 By that, I mean,
                        "I trust you."
                       "I need you."
                                     And
           "Please, I beg you,
                     Love me too."

 Today, I flew on the waves of the sea, and laughed as my dear friends swam below me in joyful abandon.

Today, I triumphed over evil in a gamble for life and death on the literally storming seas. We scrambled and chased, and screamed and panicked. But in the end, all that is decent and good prevailed.

And I walked away with a Murder Afloat totebag.

Today, I said, "I love you,"
Let it blow into the breeze.

Tomorrow, I'll hear, "I love you, too;"
Let love find me in ghostly whispers.

Only in the darkness,
In the secret,
Subtle,
Implied words
Can I find love.

Longing gazes,
Longer touches...

The poisonous phrases of friendship
Freeze us firmly into place.

Today, I sang a song of hope and glory and love and faith, only to find that I had lost my voice. So instead, I settled  for merely mouthing along with the words, and that was good enough for me.

Today, I dreampt of a child. One that had fallen, and couldn't, wouldn't, climb back up. He'd been so beaten down, so bitter, so jaded. A child! One that hadn't yet lived, and yet had lived too much, too long for someone so young. I dreampt that he needed me. I dreampt that he begged to me. I dreampt that he couldn't, that he wouldn't, but that he should. But that I should. I dreampt that he needed me, and I tried. I dreampt that he spoke to me, and that I tried to speak to him too. And nothing. No air from my lungs, no breath for my words, and so he fell, and fell, and fell.

I dreampt that he needed me. I dreampt that I tried.

I dream of a boy who falls. And falls,
   and falls,
      and falls,
         and
      never stops
         falling.

Today, I forged through my day with every ounce of strength I could spare. I toiled, and tasted, and tested, and finally tumbled, fatigued, into my house to find comfort, and family, and what's so easily known.

Today, I write a little ode to those

Today, I found love. Love in a moth that flew in my door and lived on my floor and died by my side. Smeared across the sheets like so many specs of dirt. Its faltering flight is a search for light, and a metaphor for human life. Like us, another will come and another will go, over and over, night after night, in their communal search for something more, something better than what they have, only to find that "something more" is more than what they wanted.

I found myself today. I found the world today. I found life today in a little dead moth that lost its way.