Author Archives: talebender

The prompt for this piece is “AI and I”, and it consists of two five-stanza poems. One is written by me, the other by AI (Copilot). Can you guess which is which? Happy PilgrimI am a happy pilgrim wand’ring down … Continue reading →

PROMPT: Reflections MONTHLY CHALLENGE: Pacing My granddaughter snuggles down under the blankets in our guest-room, her coppery hair splayed across the pillow.  Winnie-the-Pooh lies beside her, the same ragamuffin teddy-bear I’ve had since I was younger than Kelly is now. … Continue reading →

[A TONGUE-IN-CHEEK MEMOIR ABOUT ATTENDING A LITERARY SALON, WITH A SPECIAL NOD TO SALLY] The missus an’ me went out t’other night—together, which I gotta say is unusual.  We’re home most nights on account of we don’t got a lotta … Continue reading →

Good writing is not easy.  Whether author, blogger, diarist, journalist, we are likely to have discovered that truth a long time ago.  Nevertheless, it is a lot easier than when I began in the 1980s—as a look backward to 1985 … Continue reading →

Reading from the game-card, Lenny asks, “What’s something that, once lost, can never be found?”  He leers at me, waiting for my reply. “Innocence,” I declare, and the others applaud as my answer garners the points I need to win … Continue reading →

The brothel was tight on Saturday night,The Johns were lined up at the door.The ladies were busy, almost in a tizzy,Even up on the very top floor.But one callow chappie was quite unhappy, That he hadn’t gotten his due.“I paid … Continue reading →

A while back, we had a prompt about setting a hook for the readers in our writing, in order to engage them in our story right from the get-go. Here is my effort to do that in the first chapter of my … Continue reading →

Can bad decisions lead to better stories? Let us suppose for the purpose of crafting an entertaining story that your lead character’s dotty, old Aunt Hilda—whom he hasn’t seen in forty years, and who recently died at the impossibly-old age … Continue reading →

As he creeps up on his seventy-eleventh birthday, somewhat apprehensively, he’s discovered he can’t scratch his own back anymore.  It used to be he could get at any itch, anywhere, with a few grunts and gyrations.  But now, his arms … Continue reading →

The young lad’s voice was pleasant enough, if a tad off-key here and there, and he held his beer-drinking audience rapt as he began singing the song. To the tables down at Mory’s, to the place where Louie dwells,To the … Continue reading →

The prompt: tell a story from the point of view of an inanimate object. I first espied your home millennia ago, long before your primitive, bi-pedal predecessors first walked upon your insignificant rock and thought to look up at me.  … Continue reading →

“One of these four guys is the burglar,” the detective said, “but they’re all tellin’ diff’rent stories.  We think three of ‘em are lyin’, so we’re stumped.  That’s why we called you.” “What have they told you?” the professor asked. … Continue reading →

“Our church is becoming the crosswords of the neighbourwood!” Mrs. Dogberry complained.  “Every day, more strainers are deriving at the door!” “They have nowhere else to go, dear,” Reverend Dogberry explained.  “They need sanctuary and succor.” “You’re the sucker!” his … Continue reading →

The little boy’s cries quieted when his mother entered the bedroom.  “Hush,” she soothed.  “You’ve just had a bad dream.” “It’s the schgreeeken,” he whimpered, pointing to the partially-open window. His mother peered through the crack in the curtains, straining … Continue reading →

I’m sure you’ll find it difficult To understand what I once saw Parading on the sun-warmed beach— I yelled out, “Holy mackinaw!” A wizened, white-haired gentleman With skin the hue of walnut shells Went sidling by in just a thong … Continue reading →

“No!” he declares vehemently.  “I will not say No to them!” “No, you won’t say No?” she replies incredulously.  “That doesn’t make sense!  It’s a double-negative.  Surely you mean Yes, you won’t say No.” “No, I don’t mean Yes!” he … Continue reading →

good things come in threes—- like lines in haiku poems, making us happy good things come in threes—- like the start, middle, and end of a good story good things come in threes—- like triplets identical, instant family good things … Continue reading →

So, what is it that makes life worth living, anyway?  Is there a universal, one-size-fits-all answer, or is the answer situational, dependent upon the circumstances in which we each find ourselves? Either way, what might that answer be?  Is it … Continue reading →

This week’s prompt—the main character in a novel you are writing takes issue with you wanting to kill them off—coincided perfectly with a chapter I had just written in my latest crime novel (working title: The Cannabis Conundrum). I’ve included … Continue reading →

I dreamed last night of a universe vast, Extending the future from some unknown past, Throbbing, emitting, exploding in heat, Its energy vibrant, its fate incomplete As onward it rushed, this dream in my head Rendering me rapturous, there in … Continue reading →

The prompt was to take a memoir you have written and turn it into a story (i.e. leave you out, become the narrator).  Think “narrative non-fiction”, which allows you to use more flowing words and embellishments to tell a true … Continue reading →

“How come you know everything, Gramps?”  Out of the blue, the question sprang from the mouth of a sincere, pixie-faced six-year-old. “Everything!  What makes you think I know everything?”  The answer, trying to buy time, came from a surprised old … Continue reading →

Stabbing the PAUSE button on his Spotify screen, the man said, “That right there was your mama’s favourite song, ‘specially after she took sick.  She had me play it near a dozen times ever’ day ‘fore she passed.” “Why’d she … Continue reading →

The golf course itself is not inanimate, of course.  Rather, it is a living, breathing entity adorned with tall trees and great, green swathes of grass—perfectly cut and trimmed on the fairways, left coarse and wild in the rough. And, … Continue reading →

I still recall when I first learned I was a pompous ass—an overheard remark passed from a young lady I’d been trying to impress to her friend. “Just…wow!  He’s so full of himself!” Had I not stopped unexpectedly to tie … Continue reading →

Our oft-poetic and always-thoughtful Pelican Pens scribe has forwarded some good questions to us, arising from last week’s discussion.  Should we take a breather from being so prompt orientated?  Have we made it like a job? Or homework?  Should we … Continue reading →

“What’s this you’re waving in front of me, Abercrombie?” “It’ a cellphone, Professor!  A cellphone!  I found it on the floor in front of the pharaoh’s sarcophagus by the far wall.” “Well, whose is it?  Obviously, one of the crew … Continue reading →

In response to the word-puzzle prompt, I’ve excerpted from and repurposed a chapter from one of my earlier novels, First, Do No Harm. Jack Lambert called Sheila Forbes at home, fearful she’d be out, relieved when she picked up the … Continue reading →

“Yes, they are!” the lissome, young woman declared, annoyed at her friend for contradicting her.  “They’re a pair o’ Docs!”  Indeed, the shiny-new, black Doc Martens that graced her small feet proved the truth of her words.  “You’re as stubborn … Continue reading →

I wish I had paid more attention when the annual Queen’s birthday celebration had arrived in late-May, the first long weekend of the year.  With it had come the customary rites of spring, traditions that herald the soon-to-be-arriving summer holiday … Continue reading →

A friend posted a picture online recently, accompanied by a passage from John Muir, the Scottish-American naturalist and author.  It read …and into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. I have long believed there … Continue reading →

Our fathers grow old, despite their best efforts, and we eventually lose them as they board the last train to glory, to borrow from an Arlo Guthrie song.  My dad departed the station twenty years ago, but he remains with … Continue reading →

“I got my first sight of your mother when she was sixteen,” my father says.  “I turned to my friend Peter an’ said, ‘There she is!  That right there is the girl I’m gonna marry.’  An’ four years later, I … Continue reading →

I am cursed with an inability to avoid telling the truth. Honest! And so, I resort to speaking in clichés. My friends think clichés are timeworn, oft-repeated banalities, devoid of meaning because of their ubiquity, too self-evident to be of … Continue reading →

“I’m not here,” I say to those who stand above me, on top of the grass. “I’m not here, below where you gather to mourn me,” I cry joyously. “I am in breezes that blow gently in the night, rustling … Continue reading →

January 20, 1973—Inauguration Day, the forty-seventh in the history of the republic—had dawned under a cloud-covered, iron-gray sky, with snow threatening.  By the time the invited guests were fully gathered in front of the Capitol, the temperature had reached a … Continue reading →

Like one who has sunk below the surface, I struggle to rise again, only to find I cannot pierce the pernicious meniscus, that slender filament separating me from the here and now.  Or, I fear, from the there and then. … Continue reading →

I dialled my own cellphone number, trying to conceal my anxiety from the large man looming over me. “Please enter your password,” the robotic, female voice said.  “Or, if you have entered the wrong phone number, press *.” “Hello,” I … Continue reading →

It’s not so bad when I’m lying in the bedroom, Pretending that you’ll soon be home again, It’s not so bad, that lonesome feeling in my heart, dear, ‘Though it’s a way-down-deep-and-lonely, aching kind of pain. It’s not so bad … Continue reading →

“Okay, whattya got for me?” “Try this one,” said Morry, watching his boss in the mirror as she applied her makeup.  “Why’d the chicken cross the road?” “Punchline?” “The light turned green!” Morry cried delightedly. A moment passed as Sal … Continue reading →

Some folks worry about getting old.  And they bemoan the passage of time. But once upon a very long time ago, nobody kept track of the years.  People in their nomadic, tribal clusters got up when the day dawned and … Continue reading →

Several years back, in a long-distance telephone conversation, one of my granddaughters reminded me that Valentine’s Day is coming ’round again. She didn’t ask if I would be her Valentine again, as she had for most of her six years.  … Continue reading →

The wad of soiled bills hit the ground with a thump.  The canvas bag holding it kicked up dust that settled on the big guy’s Doc Martens. Looking down at the bag, he said, “You bes’ be pickin’ dat up, … Continue reading →

Another birthday, the eightieth since my actual day of birth, is looming. If I have my way, there will be no party celebrations to mark the occasion—no gathering of friends, no gifts, and most mercifully, no public rendition of that … Continue reading →

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. – T. S. Eliot As another year draws to an end, and with it … Continue reading →

There are none so deaf as those who will not hear,Who will not listen to my spoken word,Who turn away from me as I draw nearAnd act as if they never even heardThe words of greeting, strong and loud and … Continue reading →

I consider it objectionable when people ignore the fundamental tenets of good manners, of respect for others, of common sense.  Since when is that okay?  As a gentleman of a certain generation, I object to the innumerable behaviours that flout, … Continue reading →

It’s hard to believe, but this soon-to-be-upon-us Christmas will be the eightieth time I’ve celebrated the festive season with family.  I have no memory of the first five or six such occasions, and most of those that came after are … Continue reading →

“You really sheriff, ol’ man?  Or didja win that tin star at the town fair?” “That’s funny, kid!  You should be on the stage…the one that’s leavin’ town tonight.”  The older man held his hand close to his holstered revolver. … Continue reading →

As a younger man, I never harboured grandiose thoughts as to the destiny that might await me in life—not until I became a father.  That changed everything.  Just recently, I came across an arresting picture on the internet, one that … Continue reading →

“You’re Canadian, right?  From Canada.” “Right,” I replied.  “And right again.” My neighbour from across the street continued, “So you celebrate two Thanksgivings, right?  One at home and one here in Florida.” “Right again,” I smiled.  “On both counts.” “Well … Continue reading →

The loud pounding on my front door startles me, interrupting my review of some security-cam footage from the camera mounted under the eaves at the back of my house.  I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I have no choice … Continue reading →

This is the story I’m submitting for STROLL magazine. A friend I met sixty-five years ago in high school will soon celebrate his eightieth birthday, as I will shortly afterwards.  We stood up for each other at our weddings, and … Continue reading →

I’d found myself in a grave situation, for sure!  After being unemployed for six weeks, dying in fear of eviction in another two if I couldn’t dig up rent money, I’d been undertaking a job-search, shovelling my way through the … Continue reading →

“Mike Eruzione?  No way!  Grandpa wasn’t that good a hockey-player.  No way he played with Eruzione!” “He says he assisted on Eruzione’s game-winning goal against the Russians.” “That game was played in 1980! Grandpa was born in 1935, so he’d … Continue reading →

Talk about close calls! I still remember that bone-chilling, unexpected visit I made to the emergency department of our old hospital, a facility reminiscent of the dark ages of medicine.  My wife was away for the weekend with friends, and … Continue reading →

Four in the morning. The young woman’s cellphone on the bedside table shuddered awake.  Stealthily.  Ethereal light suffused the darkness, so faintly that Melanie did not waken.  Lifted by an unseen hand, the phone silently captured her unsuspecting picture. Back … Continue reading →

In January 1948, twelve weeks before my fifth birthday, I entered kindergarten, four months after my classmates had started.  The following September, I moved with them into grade 1, the youngest of my comrades, all of whom were born in … Continue reading →

The little boy is eight-years-old, and loves to visit his grandparents at their family cottage next door to mine.  For him, every day is an adventure, a surprise, a delight, as he wanders the woods, swims in the lake, and … Continue reading →

At a community cocktail-party recently, I was doing what I always do at these affairs—wandering casually from group to group, wine glass in hand, smiling and nodding, overhearing and eavesdropping, trying not to engage directly—biding my time until it was … Continue reading →

On a recent stroll through the harbour district, I spied a large boat tethered to the dock, its name emblazoned in gold letters across the stern—Crappy Diem.  An obvious play on the Latin phrase carpe diem, to seize the day, … Continue reading →

Shortly after the end of my seventh decade, I made a dramatic discovery.  One of my basic beliefs, one of my most treasured tenets, turned out to be untrue.  Indisputably incorrect.  Not founded upon fact. Contrary to my lifelong assumption, … Continue reading →

Every winter for quite a number of years, my wife and I used to head north, without the kids, for a vacation-weekend of cross-country skiing.  But for the life of me as I think back on those long-ago days, I … Continue reading →

This little fable tells of a man who registered himself on MILFantasies, a website dedicated to hooking men up for discreet sexual liaisons.  To his dismay, the website’s unreliable database was hacked by a malicious, anonymous group shortly thereafter.  The … Continue reading →