After reading "The Worlds Shortest Stories" a collection of 55-word stories, I decided to try it. Here is how James Harris describes the concept. Click on his name to see some of his Fifty-Five Words stories.
"The idea is simple: write a short story in 55 words or less. A complete short story. With beginning, conflict, and end. Not a poem. Not a journal entry. A short story. A very short story.
The 55 Fiction contest was created in 1987 by New Times, an alternative weekly in California. It quickly caught on, and created a new genre: "flash fiction." New Times (and its sister publication, the Santa Maria Sun) now receive a thousand or more entries annually, from around the world. Winners have been collected in two highly praised books. You can learn more about the contest at Wikipedia."
Read about the yearly ongoing contest for 55-word stories here.
Stacked Against
It seemed like hard work but I needed the money.
The ad read $25 a cord for stacking wood.
I figured I could make a few hundred a day
without too much effort.
Neat stable stacks four by four by eight feet required.
(I) Read the six-month contract.
I signed.
The company name - Toothpicks Galore.
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Who was that Masked Man?
He pulled his mask higher to insure it covered his mouth and nose.
The passerby’s unmasked smile was discordant.
Days later the discordance between belief and evidence took his breath away.
Beneath him the passerby did lie, on a gurney looking forlorn in his abbreviated life journey; now uselessly masked.
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Recurring Calamity
This must be a dream, no, a nightmare. When I wake up the world will be normal again.
Again I wake up only to read the news that will feed my next nightmare.
Night after night
Nothing changes.
Then finally after four years, the nightmares end.
I am relieved; If only I was awakened foremost.
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When Hell Freezes Over
She had been running
through the woods
only slowing to a fast walk when winded.
Nightfall was approaching.
In the dark what she feared the most
more than any bear
were snakes.
She, Eve, must reach the pond,
a barrier the snakes could not swim across
Slithering tongues sensed her approach
The pond was frozen.
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In Jericho, Vermont, telephone poles serve double duty. In early March, metal buckets are attached to select Electric poles. Sap drips into the buckets; during high (power) peak times the flow shoots out in bursts.
The flow of positive maple ions mixed with the flow of electrons transforms electrolytes making Jolt Maple Syrup (patent pending).
Telemarketer Response
Please do not hang up, this is an important call from
Dribble, dribble Drabble
Can I count on you to
Dribble, dribble Drabble
For a small donation, you can
Dribble, dribble, Drabble
You may have won a
Dribble, dribble, Drabble
Your contribution will help
Dribble, dribble, Drabble
The sink overflows onto the gurgling telephone receiver.
Author's note: To report unwanted telephone calls, utilize the government website: https://www.donotcall.gov/index.html. -----------------------------------------------------
INSEXS
In broad daylight no less
no blankets, cheese, or wine.
Little thought of taking cover.
Artfully, with passionate persistence
mate seeks mate under the sun
as perhaps when Adam & Eve first came together.
Pheromones secreted, the air is aloft with sexual invitations.
Visual signals flash in a private code.
Al fresco. Insexs - outdoor insect copulation.
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Cavern Delivery
It was almost always very dark inside; in winter bitter cold, during summer sweltering hot. Conversations grew stunted over the years, now mostly money-related salutations filled the cavern. Each time the flag was raised, more branded deportations would occur. The clearinghouse delivered faceless names, some tracked, some not, to and from the rural mailbox.
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