More RATTLER’S TALE Stories
by Anthony North
for
Friday Fictioneers
dVerse
Poets & Storytellers United
The Sunday Muse
in association with
KEYUDOS
PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll
SODOM ‘n’ STUFF
‘And the Lord God said: “Let there be cars … and there were cars” …’
‘Is that how it was Dad?’
‘It was son; but it all went wrong.’
‘What happened?’
‘Mass production, motorways, broken communities, air travel, globalization, climate change …
‘Well, in the end Planet did a HG Wells & shut things down.’
He became reflective then. Said:
‘If only we’d looked in the right direction, we wouldn’t have ended up like Lot’s wife.’
HYPO FLORA
FOR POETS & STORYTELLERS UNITED
Why does Rose have thorns?
‘Cos she’s got a prickly temperament.
Why is Daisy in chains?
‘Cos little girls like her.
Why don’t we have the freedom to roam?
‘Cos gardeners imprison us.
Why don’t the little ones grow?
‘Cos they’ve been classified as weeds.
Why do people keep cutting us?
‘Cos they can’t hear us scream.
What is Ivy doing now?
Strangling humans.
HUNDRED
FOR THE SUNDAY MUSE
Okay, excuse the way I’m saying this;
Shouldn’t really be saying anything – I’m not very bright …
I’m 100, you see.
For ages life seemed boring –
No opportunities, no nothing, as if I was stuck in the dark.
Then, when life took over, it happened so fast.
No time to think, plan, nothing.
I was just buffeted this way and that, pressures mounting all the time …
It sometimes felt I was going at 100 miles an hour.
Of course, careering at high speed had consequences.
I made no money – I’d only have burned it anyway.
No photos of relationships – never had any; never loved.
It was just a jig-saw with no doors opening.
And then, at 100, I found myself in the proverbial tunnel.
And then the light approached …
And now, I suck my mother’s breast, happy to forget the 100 minutes of my birth.
Book 27 of 68, Mysteries of the Bible, out 27 March
Great use of the Biblical metaphor
Thanks Neil, glad you liked it.
Ah, if only!
Neatly done dystopia
Indeed. Thanks for that.
Dear Anthony,
This is simply stunning. The last line packs a powerful punch.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Kind words, Rochelle. Thank you, much appreciated.
Cars in the future need to be eco-friendly.
Humans need to learn and mend their ways soon.
Let’s see if this is a wake up call. Hopefully it is.
On the bright side, the world is still standing. Leaves me wanting to know more.
Oh yes it always will – we may even get something right eventually.
Wow! I love this!
Thank you Dale, very kind.
An interesting take on the prompt. Eventually the human race might learn to care for the planet, I suppose.
Thanks for that Penny, we can but hope.
I have heard it said that the current virus may be the world telling us more forcefully what some have been saying for a while – we need to reset and think about how we consume and use the world. Good stuff.
Thanks for that, Iain. Even Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis could be applied to the inevitability of this virus.
Nicely done! Here’s to always looking in the best direction …
Yes, I second that. Much appreciated.
I love the title. Your story’s simultaneously funny and poignant. Well done.
Thank you for that. Very kind. Much appreciated.
Oh my, that was well spun. Nothing more to say.
Thank you for the kind comment. Much appreciated.
Yes, indeed. Hind sight is an often a sad contemplation.
It certainly is Michael.
Love the Biblical background to this. Let’s hope it’s not too late for us to start looking in the right direction…
Thanks for that. Hopefully not.
Only one word springs to mind – amen!
You can say that again.
Oh, we both went biblical for this image… it seems to me as that car is a deity…
I sometimes think we think they all are.
The wrong fork in the road…can we retrace our steps?
I do hope so.
And there was air travel and highways and climate change and globalization. Interesting to talk and write about globalization these days. There have been so many positives to it and yet here we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic which is anything but positive. Borders closing. Stores, restaurants, arenas, concert venues….all closing. And now, after all of this globalization, we are retreating to the simplicity of our own homes and with just a few people. I keep waiting for the plague of locusts to come.
Scary times. One day we’ll get it right.
As a child of the 50’s, I had a love affair with muscle cars, but in the last couple decades as cars have become computers on wheels, the thrill is gone. We drive a hybrid Camary that gets 42 mpg, and global warming has taken the fun out of twin glass pack mufflers.
Oh yes, the world is changing.
We walked such a very fine line with globalisation, especially as everything seemed to happen so fast. When I was a child, not many people had cars or telephones, I didn’t know anyone who’d flown on an airoplane. I agree with Lillian, about it now being anything but positive.
Hi Kim, I don’t think it ever was that positive – finite planet verses infinite economic growth?
Good one, and so very true!
Thank you Susan. Glad you liked it.
I really like that last line, in the context of what’s happening now.
Hi Grace, thanks for that. Much appreciated.
With the pollution clearing up and the animals trotting out of nowhere, I do feel like the pandemic is nature’s re-balancing act. In a way, we were like a virus on earth. Polluting and killing rampantly.
Your biblical references are so apt for this situation.
Thank you for that. And I agree with you.
Love it. The Biblical works so well in the present.
Thank you for that, and welcome here.
A rather wry sense underlies this one, Anthony. I enjoyed it 🙂
Many thanks Linda. I always try to add a bit of humour.
This is wonderful Anthony! You really raced through life and the photos perfectly! Thank you so much for joining us for the 100th Muse. It is always a pleasure to read your poetry!
Thank you Carrie, and you’re welcome.
Goodness, I love both of these. The last line on the first one hits hard. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us!
And thank you for the lovely comment, Susie.
Lovely. But I’m not sure who became reflective? God or Dad. Maybe it doesn’t matter. We all get it wrong.
Ah, I’ll have to reflect on that 🙂
Very entertaining, all of them.
Thanks for that, Rosemary.
I can’t deny that on some days, I’m Team Ivy.
So am I, Rommy.
Such speed through a hundred years and that ending…the wonder at the end makes me question whether the speaker will remember or pick up speed once up again.
Oh, he won’t Chrissa. My pen won’t let him 🙂 And it’s great to hear from you.
Daisy in c.hains !….now that gave me a laugh. Loved it.
Thanks for that, Rall. Glad you liked it – I had a giggle myself as I wrote it 🙂
Brilliant the way you incorporated pieces of each photo in you poem. It does seem we are living in a time of great change. A reflective piece. My mother who has ailing health issues said to me the other day “maybe, we all need to slow down we have lost our way”
Thanks for the kind words, True. Your mother and I share the sentiment.
Poor weeds. I’ve always wondered if people would be less ruthless to other living things, if they un-blinded themselves enough to truly see and hear them.
Yes, you’ve captured the problem in your comment. We look but rarely see.
I wonder how many “youngsters” these days will “get” the allusion to Lot’s wife. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter if they do or not. That’s where we are in our car-crazy world.
As someone who hasn’t owned or driven a car since 1984, I agree.
I have to admit I’ve always taken umbrage with the story of Lot’s wife. After all, he, the old rapscallion, was the sinner and she was punished only for looking back! I always wanted to have a long talk with her!
Ha ha, yes, I agree Bev.
A bit overwhelmed by your multiple submissions, and lengthy comments. I got into FRIDAY FICTIONEERS for the first time. I picked up on it from Bjorn’s site. All this helps to make your poem even more interesting.
Hi Glenn, thanks for that. If you want to know why the multiple submissions & long comment thread, you can find out from Keyudos, linked on this post or from the header button.
Nice!
Thanks for that. Much appreciated.
I guess we get what we deserve. You had me laughing at daisy having chains.
We sure do. Glad you liked the Daisy chain 🙂
Wonderful, Anthony. I remember cars like the one in the photo. We thought we were so cool.
Thanks for that Sherry. I remember waiting with eagerness for my first car. Now? Haven’t owned or driven one since 1984.
Always enjoy your ‘tongue in cheek’ approach to issues timely and pertinent
Have a creative week Anthony
Much❤love
Thank you Gillena. Very kind.
The story of your birth, those 100 minutes, kept me in suspended animation!
Thanks for that, Helen. Much appreciated 🙂
We are our own worst enemies – we created an unsustainable mess and now we flounder as dystopia takes over our gardens too!
Nicely put together. Thanks for the comment 🙂
Now we’re stuck gazing at Sodom. Salty.
Salty indeed, Hazel.
Your Hypo Flora is brilliant!
Thanks for that Sara. Very kind words.
Well…trust me to get it horribly wrong. I thought Anthony’s Grandpa was living some sort of delusional fantasy as Hemingway …hmmm there is a good story here and I want to know more. I really enjoyed this poem you didn’t write:)
Hi Rall, I like the way you put that 🙂