Broken hearts, it's something that many young men and ladies experience. You will recover from your first heartbreak but you will never forget them. Here is the story of my first experience. Now I had quit school at sixteen and went to work despite all the negative warnings from my former teachers and guidance counselor. I found work almost immediately and away from school and the day-to-day harassment from my fellow stud...

Betrayal More than a colleague, I called you my friend, was a miscalculation – I found in the end. The sordid agenda you’ve had all along, is banefully evil and morally wrong. You’re a smooth operator who’s casting out bait, while leaking exchanges to make you look great. Looking for tidbits, any presence of clues from close conversations – to package and use. You twist and embellish to thwart the benign, make the slighte...

The Report This is the third poem in the series of 3 and has been written from the perspective of the parents of the young man who sort justice on his behalf. We wrote to police headquarters and we told the bloody lot How many police were crooked and we told about the ‘shop’ We told the names of witnesses we talked about our son We said that we were worried if something wasn’t done. They came down from police headquarters...

#1. It was the year I was doing a show in Omaha, Nebraska that I met Sandy, a self-proclaimed white witch. I had been fascinated by the dark arts for some time and began to read and dabble in them attempting to expand on my sometimes ESP experiences. I was standing by my stage in between shows when I saw this mildly attractive woman walking by with two children in tow. I looked at her, and the name Sandy just jumped into...

In a seance with an angel Touched by the smile of love With whispers in my ear Like a fine-tuned piccolo As soft winds blow Far away yet so near With memories of thine On a bed of potpourri snow Dripping ambrosia On the fob after nine

To everyone in the room, she seemed like just a normal girl wearing Vans, blue jeans, and a red hoodie. She was. Normal. Her grandmother made certain of that. But Gloria, or Glory as her Gran called her, was also extraordinarily special. The universe saw to that. “Shuffle Challenge.”  Glory laughed after she said it, knowing her Gran was much hipper than she let on. She'd heard stories. She’d seen pics. “That’s your idea?...

It was that time of year again, midsummer. One of the highlights of the year for me is our little village fair. We always seem to get the weather as well. I think once in the last ten years we had rain. It was only a little shower though and was soon gone. In the middle of the village green, they set up a marquee. People from the village bring along their flowers to show. The best flowers get a certificate and a rosette....

His simple question rocked her; hurt bubbling to the surface and etching itself on her face. Paul was alarmed he had spoilt their growing rapport. “I’m sorry, Sara. I didn’t mean to pry. Let’s talk about something else.” “No. It’s not your fault,” Sara replied, her smile watery, “It’s been a few months since my break-up, but I guess I am still a bit raw.” “I know what you mean by rawness. I’ve been separated longer, but s...

Charlotte Hale hated that she had to gather wild berries. It wasn’t that gathering wild berries was hard. It was that gathering them was not hard and at sixteen, she felt like it was demeaning. Her eight-year-old stepbrother, Albert, was perfectly capable of the task. So she could not, for the life of her, understand why she had to be the one to gather stupid frickin’ wild berries. “I need them for the salad, Char,” her m...

The winter of 1597 was particularly harsh. It started snowing in late autumn. Most, if not all were unprepared for the long, cold winter to come. Jacob was such a man. He lived alone in a small cabin in the woods. The autumn was a time to stock the larder and fill the log shed. The early snow had left him with a near empty larder and log supply. Most of what little he had were taken by the landlord’s bailiffs. Late aftern...

Rosa went upstairs to check on Karen to find her on her knees in her bedroom apparently playing with someone who wasn’t actually there. Having been a nanny for many years Rosa didn’t see any harm in the fact that a nine-year-old had an imaginary friend, it has been something she had seen on a number of occasions and if no good ever came from it before then Rosa was unaware of that no good. Karen’s father had passed away a...

‘Forgive me father for I have sinned...’ Father Joe usually took confession on a Friday evening and on one certain Friday in particular his first confession would also be his last of the evening. This one confession stunned him so to the point that he would not be able to continue on taking more. It would take him to his own past and also have him question his future. ‘...Twenty-five years ago, today I killed a boy and I...

The worst thing about being an executive of any business in a time of recession is when it is decided that the necessary cutbacks are to be job losses, especially when one of the unfortunate employees is a friend or even a neighbour or even someone who is both. This morning I had to let Arthur Dempsey go. Arthur is in his late fifties, even though he is well experienced and very dependable, he is not as quick or as cheap...

If you are going to become a butterfly and learn to float through the air, then you first must be the caterpillar and learn how to crawl. One can't simply just be a butterfly. Be the caterpillar, keep your head down, work hard, and dream big then one day, one day if the universe allows it, the time will come where you will open your wings and you will take to the skies. Big Bill was not always so big. His memories stretch...

'I am finally gonna get to come out your way.' Paul smiled as the words appeared on his computer screen, still, even though he liked what he read, he didn't quite believe the words and it would take a moment or two for him to adapt to the statement as being something of fact and not an empty promise or a promise that may not come to be, but this was something which was actually going to happen whether Paul is ready for it...