Fifties by the Fire — a fifty-word, prompt-based writing challenge. Feel free to share your response below, or read and comment to join in on the fun.
Prompt: Write a fifty-word story (fiction, CNF, or poem) about one of the following:
Being stranded.
The ship that didn’t sail.
Here are the other guidelines:
Make sure your piece is exactly fifty words. Feel free to use Word Counter or the word processor you use.
Write a title with the genre in the first line. (Example: Neighbors, Fiction)
The title does not factor into the word count.
Good luck and have fun. Happy writing!
Special thanks to John Lightle for providing “Barca Sei” for our writing prompt.
John Lightle is a Texas writer, poet, and photographer who spends many hours sitting on his woodpile contemplating. When away from his frame shop, he schleps his artwork among area art shows. The job takes him across the countryside, occasionally overseas, photographing the quiet resolve found within the golden hours.
I remember, Mama, when I was five, you'd lay me down on the kitchen drainboard to wash my hair in the sink, a washrag over my eyes to keep out the soap.
Now you’ve gone, and I'm stranded here with a thousand small memories of how much I was loved.
The car quit in a desolate part of town. We put the hood up. A few cars came by. One guy pulled up behind our car. He blew his horn until he finally realized, there was no one in the car. He didn’t see us standing over on the sidewalk?!
The elevator malfunctioned and she was late for her interview. The network was down. In the dim light the other passenger was feeling claustrophobic. She regained her composure and loosened his tie. The office receptionist led her to a room.The interviewer spotted his tie and she got the job!
ChoChoSan was a brisk 33-foot ketch. We polished her teak and brass, shared her decks and forward berth. The wind filling her sails weekends and holidays. But always fighting to windward, we let the relationship beneath her golden sails tarnish and rust. The marriage never really filled in the sail.
I’m stranded in a Holiday Inn Express, three hours down the highway from home, five more hours to go. What is keeping me here? Waffling… fear of what’s ahead… fear of what’s behind. The hope in Keurig coffee doesn’t even work. I gaze in the mirror at bleary, pleading eyes.
It wasn't the boat that caused the end but the end of us that caused the boat's end. "Neil Diamond" was optimistic and in retrospect telling. Relationships can't live on schmatlzy sugar, they need a "Wind Beneath My Wings". I had chosen a speed boat, maybe it was already destined.
STRANDED, prose poem
I remember, Mama, when I was five, you'd lay me down on the kitchen drainboard to wash my hair in the sink, a washrag over my eyes to keep out the soap.
Now you’ve gone, and I'm stranded here with a thousand small memories of how much I was loved.
Unpromised Dreams-Poem
after many nights
of you sharing
your dreams i
thought we could
brave the Dark,
Cold waters. but
when you couldn't
hear me over
the waves only
the Whispers. they
must have Told
You You Could
not make it
because when they
found you they
said you tried
to Fly.
At Sea, poem
Drift I must, as my main-sail
Broke in the storm,
And these arms are too tired to paddle.
I shake the last drops of water from my oil-skin,
Praying for deliverance
As days and nights meld.
Stupid being that I am;
Arrogance my undoing;
Thinking the sea was my friend.
Being Stranded, Creative Non-Fiction
The car quit in a desolate part of town. We put the hood up. A few cars came by. One guy pulled up behind our car. He blew his horn until he finally realized, there was no one in the car. He didn’t see us standing over on the sidewalk?!
Stranded or Worse { Fiction }
Light me, Willie.
Remember when mom's boyfriend was supposed to take us to Cedar Point?
That hop over that ditch was better than the coasters we missed.
I'll light my own smoke.
Think I'm in shock.
It was a fun ride.
The axle’s probably destroyed.
Willie? Can you hear me?
Stasis--Poem
Ships are safest while in port.
There is protection from storms,
Access to all my needs.
Ships are safest while in port.
Going nowhere, seeing nothing,
Rigging decaying from nonuse.
I set sail long ago,
Destination uncertain.
I’ve weathered storms and
Becalmed seas.
But sailing will always be my life.
Providence malfunction ( fiction )
The elevator malfunctioned and she was late for her interview. The network was down. In the dim light the other passenger was feeling claustrophobic. She regained her composure and loosened his tie. The office receptionist led her to a room.The interviewer spotted his tie and she got the job!
Democracy, Dystopian Fiction?
She was meant to sail a thousand seas, to carry us to lands of freedom and equality.
All of us. Not just the few, the wealthy. Not just rich white men.
She lies, broken, rotting, on desert sands. A cry in the dark, a whisper, a tear for freedom lost.
The Ship that Never Sailed, Memoir
ChoChoSan was a brisk 33-foot ketch. We polished her teak and brass, shared her decks and forward berth. The wind filling her sails weekends and holidays. But always fighting to windward, we let the relationship beneath her golden sails tarnish and rust. The marriage never really filled in the sail.
Stranded: poem, CNF
how could you just have died on me?
two days before project launch
so much for making millions
and changing the world
it needed the force of your personality
to push it to great success
or make it into what it could be
I am lost without your momentum forward
I’m stranded in a Holiday Inn Express, three hours down the highway from home, five more hours to go. What is keeping me here? Waffling… fear of what’s ahead… fear of what’s behind. The hope in Keurig coffee doesn’t even work. I gaze in the mirror at bleary, pleading eyes.
Splitsville, fiction
It wasn't the boat that caused the end but the end of us that caused the boat's end. "Neil Diamond" was optimistic and in retrospect telling. Relationships can't live on schmatlzy sugar, they need a "Wind Beneath My Wings". I had chosen a speed boat, maybe it was already destined.
So many wonderful stories and poems here. Well done everyone! ❤️