In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Burnt
Ashes to Ashes
Month: January 2022
Purple Star
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Deep bright purple star.
Piercing from the depths of roiling blue gas clouds
And a million billion stars
Outshining Venus and Mars
Swathes like silver paths
Some gathered in spiral wheels
And between them in the sparse dark spaces
Ships blink and travel on by.
A memory from the deepest well of childhood.
A memory that could not have been.
Scott’s Daily Prompt 31/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Burnt
Remember yesterday, when your home was on fire and you got to save five items? That means you left a lot of stuff behind. What are the things you wish you could have taken, but had to leave behind?
Fire
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Burning down the house
The mountain rained fire Castle trembled, emptied of life In time, forgotten
Meaningless
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Meaningless
Less meaning
All our words
Our angry words
Falling on deaf ears
Met with serious frowns
Hiding sneering laughter
Less
Less
Nothing
Only the attempt
Gives us life
Scott’s Daily Prompt 30/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Burning down the house
Your home is on fire. Grab five items (assume all people and animals are safe). What did you grab?
Through the Window
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Through the window
Blue and yellow flashes Many shades of tan and brown Black deep with sheens of rainbows And a brazen red singer Finally, the black and yellow friend. The visitors to the table today
Ordinary
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Ordinary
Normal
Steadfast
Boring
Nah!
That doesn’t make any money
Excite them
Stimulate them
Make them play
Make them pay
Milk them
Like the cattle they are
I yearn
For ordinary
Scott’s Daily Prompt 29/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Through the window
Go to the nearest window. Look out for a full minute. Write about what you saw.
Ode to a playground
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Ode to a playground
There are live in graves Where I used to play Cramped houses Looking all proud and clean Destined to become slums All dumped on The orchards of my childhood The woods where I played
Dreams
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Dreams flying away
In an excess of real life
The stars just don’t care
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Scott’s Daily Prompt 28/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Ode to a playground
A place from your past or childhood, one that you’re fond of, is destroyed. Write it a memorial.
Sliced Bread
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Sliced Bread
Ten thousand songs In the palm of my hand I dreamed of always having music In my ears I was in love And I wanted the object of my love Near me always Now I have The iPod, The smartphone For the music alone Is the best thing Since sliced bread
Leagues
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Today’s tragedy
Is the damn acceptance of
Bloody league tables!
Scott’s Daily Prompt 27/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Sliced bread
Most of us have heard the saying, “That’s the best thing since sliced bread!” What do you think is actually the best thing since sliced bread?
Music
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Musical
Music gives us Emotion without consequence Exploration without responsibility Imagination without boundaries It is the perfect space To reflect our Perfect selves
Minimal
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Minimal contact
Minimal support
Minimal communication
Maximum propaganda
Scott’s Daily Prompt 26/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Musical
What role does music play in your life?
Eulogy
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Dearly Departed
Here I lie A dreamer Who fell in love with the ephemeral And never Made those dreams Concrete
Instinct
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Is knowing when to fight
And when to absorb the blow
Today was absorption
Tomorrow…
Scott’s Daily Prompt 25/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Dearly departed
Write your own eulogy.
Ready, Steady
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Ready, set go!
Go! They say, write Don’t think Just write But for me That defeats the purpose I write because I can’t talk At least I can’t talk eloquently I cannot frame my argument Or my thoughts In the best way Only when I have walked away I write So I can think So I can find the best words To say what I
Immerse
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Immersed in purple
Drifting in a swirling cloud
Sparkles in the distance
In the deeper swirls
And somewhere
Deeper
Beats the pulse
Of the roaring
Burning heart
Scott’s Daily Prompt 24/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Ready, set, go
Set a timer for ten minutes. Open a new post. Start the timer, and start writing. When the timer goes off, publish.
Shipwrecked
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Shipwrecked
I am shipwrecked
I sailed a sea of honesty and regret
I did not see the storm coming
So here I am
On an island
No resource or escape
And the horizon
Is endless
Warm Crackle
By Scott Bailey © 2017
There once was a time
When the crackle of vinyl
Was the path to love
Scott’s Daily Prompt 23/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Shipwrecked
Read the story of Richard Parker and Tom Dudley. Is what Dudley did defensible? What would you have done?
Northern Beauty
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, I got skills
“Look at the sky! That is beautiful!”
There were gasps around me but I was enrapt. Above me, the northern lights were on fire. I had seen them before of course, living here. But this was something else. It was as if they had decided to mark the occasion with an extra special show.
I was entranced. It felt like I had been waiting for this my whole life. Like this was its purpose, to be here, on this night and witness this.
On the edge of my awareness, I could hear people calling my name. I tuned them out. I wanted to savour this, drink in every moment without distraction.
By the time I saw the wave it was too late. There was no way to escape it.
So I turned to face it and embraced every facet of its beauty and power.
Twist and Shout
By Scott Bailey © 2017
A shout from the earth
Twisting rivers of fire
Cascade to the sea
Scott’s Daily Prompt 22/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
I got skills
If you could choose to be a master (or mistress) of any skill in the world, which skill would you pick?
Sweet 16
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Sweet 16
When I was just sixteen I wanted to change the world Bring peace, fix all the problems By twenty one I knew that was not to be Instead, I would leave a legacy Something by which the future would remember me By thirty, the world was down and dirty I was fighting for my place By forty I was planning for those to come By fifty I was fearing the legacy we were leaving Now I only crave peace
Murmurations
Dusk murmurations
Like a ballet in the sky
Whirling evening swirls
Ordered by some hidden sign
Steeling for the long flight home
Scott’s Daily Prompt 21/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Sweet sixteen
When you were 16, what did you think your life would look like? Does it look like that? Is that a good thing?
Rules
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Breaking the law
I have lived in fear of breaking the rules While the party of fools And partied Why Did I fear Adhere Keep clear
Pattern
By Scott Bailey 2017
When the pattern has grown grey and tired
When the plaid is threadbare and thin
Break out the paint and the brushes
And graffiti the fucking walls!
Scott’s Daily Prompt 20/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Breaking the law
Think about the last time you broke a rule (a big one, not just ripping the tags off your pillows). Were you burned, or did things turn out for the best?
Run up and down the scales
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Apply yourself
Run up and down the scales Patience they say is the key To be a master of music Run up and down the scales Run up and down the scales Repetition and I don’t agree It’s just not how I learn Run up and down the scales Run up and down the scales I like to hop, skip and soar Produce something bad and improve Run up and down the scales Run up and down the scales It’s still not a tune Not even pleasant to the ear Run up and down the scales Run up and down the scales When will my guitar gently weep? When will the crowd cry for more! Run up and down the scales Run up and down the scales I think you are getting my point Patience. Patience is the key. Run up and…. sod this! It’s brain surgery for me.
Abstract
By Scott Bailey 2017
Abstract
That seems to be the government’s plan
Absent
And
Subtracting
Taking away
From those who need it most
With a complete lack or guilt
Or morals
Scott’s Daily Prompt 19/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Apply yourself
Describe your last attempt to learn something that did not come easily to you.
Home
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, free association.
The rain on the soil Leads us to the homeward road Where roots are deepest
The Man in the Meadow
By Scott Bailey 2017
She had brought it on a whim at a garage sale. The woman who sold it had practically thrown it at her when she enquired, took only 50p. With bloodshot eyes, she spat the tale.
“She must have brought it for him! I have never seen before.”
She, it turned out, was some mysterious floozy who had apparently stolen her husband. He had disappeared one night leaving everything behind. His wife had found the picture hanging in his study. She assumed it was from her.
Now it hung in Suzanne’s hall. As she looked at it in greater detail it did not seem a likely love gift.
It was a simple landscape. A green field of swaying grass and in the distance a lonely figure. A man she thought but there was no telling why.
A simple image but compelling. The nuances of the colour were subtle and lifelike. She could almost feel the grass swaying. She wondered where the man was walking to. He seemed to be disappearing into the horizon.
A simple picture that had drawn her eye from the moment she saw it.
And so it continued to. As she went about her daily business she kept passing by and stopping to appreciate her new find.
In fact, she realised that she was finding the least excuse to pass that way more and more often. She laughed at herself. What a silly obsession!
But she did not stop.
Finally, she went to bed.
She could not sleep. The picture played on her mind. There was something about it. Something she was not seeing. There must be some subliminal symbol or hidden message that was trying to call out to her.
She tried to ignore it and get to sleep.
She could not.
There was something about the picture!
Something wrong.
She got out of bed. Went back down to the hall and stared at it.
It was mesmerising. The brush strokes were so fantastically real. Had she stumbled on some forgotten or lost masterpiece? The grass almost seemed to be moving, rippling like water in the wind.
No! It was moving! And the figure, the man. He was closer! Holding out his hand in invitation….
He had not noticed the picture in the catalogue. But now, here in the auction room, it drew him. The fact that it was from the house clearance of a mysteriously missing woman somehow added to his desire for it. It seemed to have no worth. It was described simply as “Man and Woman in Grassy Meadow”. Artist unknown.
He had to have it!
He would pay dearly for it!
Scott’s Daily Prompt 18/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Free association
Write down the first words that come to mind when we say . . . home. . . soil. . . rain. Use those words in the title of your post.
Hesitation
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, In a crisis
Vacillate, hesitate That would be me In a crisis I know But I would not be alone We should be thankful For the impetuous In a crisis In these days They are a pain
The Future
By Scott Bailey 2017
I ruminate on my future
I have grown weary
My skills and senses
Blunted
A plough driven too long
I must change
Or something must change
Nervous
I must arise again
Be alive again
Feed!
Scott’s Daily Prompt 17/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
In a crisis
Honestly evaluate the way you respond to crisis situations. Are you happy with the way you react?
Knowledge
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Toot your horn
A tenuous connection but that’s how my mind works.
Knowledge is nothing To admit your ignorance That is true wisdom
Swarm
By Scott Bailey 2017
Around the towering icon
The overgrown child
The mad fool with power
They swarmed
Bringing their stings
And their anger
Buzzing at last!
On the sidelines
Stood the keepers
Ready with their smoke
Ready to reap their honey
Scott’s Daily Prompt 16/01/2022
Today’s prompt is.
Toot your horn
Most of us are excellent at being self-deprecating and are not so good at the opposite. Tell us your favourite thing about yourself.
Polite Company
In response to Scott’s Daily Prompt, Polite Company
Polite company Will not let you grow It will smother you With comfort Only the harshest critics Will allow you To find the best seeds To sow
The Colourful King
By Scott Bailey © 2017
The kingfisher marks
The day with a drip, drip, then
Flashing, splashing colour.
Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 