***
He thought it would be easy. Unfortunately for the rest of us, he learned the hard way. You don’t enter the schoolyard ready for a fight with no backup. He shouldn’t have challenged the biggest, already sore from the last fight, boy in school, especially after calling down all your former friends. But that’s what bullies do; big, crazy boys who think they’re omnipotent.
***
The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS March 21, 2026
Childhood mission, pick some berries
Gathered our pails for well worn trails
Picking berries
Our favorites being
Strawberries tiny
On green grass hills
We knew so well
But no, the order was for gooseberries
Sweet spiky orbs that prick little fingers
**we dared each other to eat them, sharp but sweet😎
Weekend Writing Prompt #460 – Gooseberry
I woke up, unfortunately I was on my way to work…driving…no memory of getting out of bed, dressing, or even a cup of coffee! I panicked and pulled over on the side of the street. At least I wasn’t on the highway! I recognized neighbor Jerry’s, trash can on the sidewalk. The street ahead held an unusual, new, traffic sign. My head started to spin with the worst headache ever and my car just started driving me towards the sign. When closer, I saw a huge circular disk. I was transported inside it, asking, “Is this the Twilight Zone?”
***
20 March 2026
This week let’s write a poem with the words condition, five and rapid in it. This is another of those prompts where I randomly choose three words from a list of the top 1000 words in the English language plus a few of my favorites. Post your poems in the comments below.
Never counted to ten or even five
Never thought of risking lives
Rapid as striking a match
Condition red threatening to open a latch
Fumbling fingers a toddler might hatch
Thinking it a game, a winnable dispatch
Sadly for the boots on the ground
And airmen in planes flew around
These lives expendable the toddler thought
His gaming continues as the golf he plays
It was a deal he thought could be bought
And I have to ask, how many days
Will bombs and rockets fly
And we sit at our screens, watching them die.
***
My response as https://rugby843.blog to this poetry challenge:
POSTED BY BARTHOLOMEW BARKER ⋅ MARCH 16, 2026
“You can’t just divorce yourself from generations of family memories. They’re included and accepted with each member relying on love and forgiveness. When you inherit your husband or wife’s family, you also welcome all the personalities, their strengths and their foibles. No matter how you want to miss the problems that may occur, there is an invisible glue that held all these people together over the years.”
***
MLMM Monday Wordle #468
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You respond with something CREATIVE. Perhaps an answering photo, or micro-fiction, or a poem, or just a caption
As before, there are only two criteria:
!!!!! Your creative offering is indeed yours !!!!!
!!!!! Your writing is kept to 150 words or less !!!!!
If you post a link in the comments section of this post I’ll be able to find it.
Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN
Crimson’s Creative Challenge #078
Every remark caustic
Buried under inadequacy
Every task a contest
Needed bravado
Each word a challenge
Never a compliment
Easy outward manner
Zealous danger
Equal disdain
Reared temperament
***
Meeting the Bar: Tell Me Your Name
We are all butterflies. The Earth is our Chrysalis – Goodreads
Trampling spring flowers in the garden
Destroying beauty, an act ardent
Personality fixed so young
To raise a child with all smiles masked –
As if her song already sung
How’s this possible you ask
A parents’ deliberate task
Tiny brain which no love has seen
Intervention now too late it seems.
***
Reena’s Xploration Challenge #422
Sara clung to the deck chair as if it could save her. Her boyfriend Jim, yelled, “Jump! The boat is useless and in a few minutes it will sink!”
“Sara, being a pristine young lady with no experience, yelled back, “I’m not going to jump into that dirty water! It’s all muddy and black!”
Jim tried to dash over to help her and that’s when he fell in. He didn’t want Sara to drown, but he couldn’t reach her, the waves too strong. The last he saw of her in the storm was her grasping the wooden chair as if it could help her. It did not.
***
Three Things Challenge #MM368
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Get to Know You #82!
The Bag Lady 
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