chrisnelson61

~ Poetry, stories and some random words…

chrisnelson61

Tag Archives: Prose

Sketch – 1

13 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by chrisnelson61 in Uncategorized

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Character, creative, Impressions, Prose, Sketch, winter, writing

The winter had never bitten so hard. Birds that had drifted in huddled like scared children awaiting their next disappointment, wondering if they had strayed too far north. Somewhere a broken Sun was hiding, hoping against all logic that its hiding place would remain a secret and that it would be freed from its eternal curse: cold, warm, cold – the cycle never seemed to have a happy conclusion.

In a framework he sat, impervious now to the cold which had splintered first his skin, then his bones and finally his will. He sat, framed like a priceless artwork, a portrait within a landscape, invaluable and, as such, unvalued. The winter held no more terrors.

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2021

Coffee and Friends

09 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by chrisnelson61 in Uncategorized

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

Change, creative, fiction, flash, flash fiction, Friends, Prose, short story, stories, writing

I had always believed that the city would never change; that it would remain a constant in life, a place to which I could return again and again, knowing that it would hold the footprint of my life forever. Yet now, as I sat in the coffee shop, itself now merely a child of an international chain which offered identikit refreshment regardless of location, I realised that I knew nothing of my surroundings. Monolithic buildings had risen and now towered above the remnants of a much older city, a city which seemed to hide its face as if in shame. Giant mirrored panes reflected sunlight, cars, buses and pedestrians alike. Leather-clad riders wove their motorbikes deftly through the traffic, their deliveries already cooling in their carriers, their reflections appearing, distorted and twisting in the glass, before vanishing from sight. The facade of the station stared out across the city streets, its advertising hoardings boring holes into passers-by as if they had some life-changing message to impart. I tried to think back, to remember the city of my youth, the city in which I had learned to become a man, the city that would forever be my home, but I could not connect my memories to the vision before me. The street names flooded back, each one triggering a recollection, a remembrance, and, yes, none of them had changed, but none was truly the same. It was as if, during my absence, the entire city had undergone massive cosmetic surgery: the creases and wrinkles that informed my memory had been smoothed out, erased, as if I had never been here before.

I sipped my Americano slowly, its bitter tang already lost to me, and wondered what had happened to plain coffee and the corner cafes which served beverages unencumbered by exotic language. Names began to form themselves in my mind, drifting slowly into my consciousness, begging for recognition, and, for each in turn, I formed an image of what I believed their physical forms had looked like. My accuracy in this task lay somewhere hidden in the depths of a memory which I was beginning more and more to doubt. I was, of course, secure in the knowledge that these people, these characters, had, at some point, come into my life. Some, perhaps, had stayed a while, may even have fallen beneath the blanket term of ‘friendship’, others would have been acquaintances, interlopers who came and went, leaving nothing but the shadow of their name. I had imagined each as being inexorably connected to the city, as if their very existence relied on that of the city. What, I wondered, would have become of them as the city as the city underwent its rejuvenation? Perhaps they had been absorbed into the very essence of the city, become part of its fabric. I imagined their eyes, eyes that I was unable to picture as physical objects, staring at me from the walls that surrounded me, eating their way into the heart of me. I could feel their presence gnawing at me, unearthing more and more names that had lain buried within me for years.

One name seeped forwards to the front of my brain, chalking its outline into my consciousness. It belong to one of those people who had had the distinction of falling into the category universally defined as ‘friend’. I had grown up with this friend throughout the now distant days of our schooling, and our friendship had endured the days of change when school life ended and the threat of adulthood reared its head. It was true that we had followed different pathways – he had plunged headlong into a world of employment and responsibility whilst I had sought to avoid such ties by attending the city university. We continued to drink at our usual haunts and waste our free hours with the same distractions that we had grown up with: it was as if we were children of the city and it, as any dutiful parent would have done, was holding our hands as we grew. And then I completed my years at the university, my now qualified status hanging from me like an anchor rather than wings, and the door opened up on my future career. At the same time another town came calling, your name on its lips, and you were gone.

Eight years. Eight years out of a lifetime. Eight years during which it had seemed unthinkable that we would ever not be friends; not criticise our local teams; not put the political world to rights; not drink away the long summer nights. And yet eight years disappears beneath the days as they pass by building walls behind which we can no longer witness the change that creeps silently all around us. Before I had even realised it, as life guided me along pathways that I could never have predicted, pathways that monopolised my hours, years had passed by and what we had once shared became nothing more than distant memories: memories that I could no longer trust. Memories that, for all I now knew, may be no more than figments of my imagination. Before long the city had shaken me off too and, under the guise of ‘career development’ my life led me to different cities, all of whom welcomed me like a prodigal son. Roots were cut and roads forgotten.

And now, as I drained my second Americano and watched the reflections of passing strangers appear and disappear in the mirrored glass, I wondered how much of my own life existed only as mere reflections in the lives of others. The faces that had drifted through my life had been no different to my own: they had come and gone in a constant state of change and I, who had thought that somethings would never change, had been wrong.

 

© All original writing copyright Chris Nelson 2000-2019

 

The Awakening

25 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by chrisnelson61 in Uncategorized

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Awakening, Communication, creative, dream, fiction, isolation, Philosophy, Prose, short stories, thoughts, writing

     A wash of faces hovered above me like a crudely painted ceiling fresco. Eyes, some filled with hope, others relief, bore into me like burrowing beetles. Beyond them an antiseptic ocean of white stretched as far as my own eyes could see; but I was prone, lying like a whale slowly exhaling its last on a beach the colour of gold.

     There were voices; voices which swirled over me like bees returning to the hive, heavy with nectar. Their sweet words bounced between my ears futile in their attempt to make sense of themselves. The sounds meant nothing to me, and neither did the tones which were targeted in my direction. Did the faces expect a response? Part of me guessed that they did, but I could not fathom the reason.

     The expectation behind the staring eyes was palpable, and even my forgotten, deadened senses could taste it. As for why, well, I could find no explanation. I looked back up at the waves as they crashed and dispersed before my eyes and realised, at last, that not one of them meant anything to me.

The Interview

07 Saturday Jan 2017

Posted by chrisnelson61 in Uncategorized

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Creative writing, Depression, flash, Prose, short stories, writing

     When they had asked me what he had been like, the man with the knife, all I could say was that I couldn’t really say. He had been, to my mind’s eye, nothing more, or less, than average.

     He had stood at average height; not discernibly taller nor shorter than myself. His hair had been worn short, but neither cropped nor shaven, and his eyes, well I could barely remember the colour of my closest friend’s eyes, so that line of questioning drew a blank.

     What of the colour of the man’s skin? I could confidently say that he was white, but boasted a tanned face; or had that been a more olive complexion? It was difficult to say with any degree of certainty.

     Distinguishing features? He had a knife: a response that solicited a look which could have been annoyance but equally disdain. No, there were none that my sapless mind could recall.

     He had been, the man with the knife, nothing more than average. His accessory had been all that made him stand apart. His unremarkableness reminded me only of myself.

     In fact he might as well have been me.

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Hidden Bear

A Mechoopda poet

The Vision of Poets

The Poetic Stories of Michael33

HARLEY HOLLAND

Artemis and the Moon

short stories about life

Grumpy's Gifts (poetry corner)

a space cleared for sharing words well worth their share.

Blueprint of a Storm

writer — poet — word and reality rearrange(r)

In mind and out

Read my mind

Daydreaming as a profession

Daydreaming and then, maybe, writing a poem about it. And that's my life.

Treacle Heart

poetry & prose by HLR

Raw Earth Ink

spit, mixed with dirt - muddy words flow

Musings

What comes to me as a still, small voice in the atmosphere of daylight and evening. © Mario Savioni and Musings, 2013. Unauthorized use or duplication of this material without the consent of the author is prohibited. Small (100 words or less) excerpts or links are permitted as long as credit is given to Mario Savioni with direction to the original content. Please refrain from “reblogging” posts.

WordMusing

...a world of poetry and spokenword

Stories From the Edge of Blindness

In 2002, Retinitis Pigmentosa changed my life. This is my story of a slow approach to darkness.

Incarcerated shadows

"Something wicked this way comes"

herschelmann fotoblog, bestpixel-photowerkstatt-hamburg.de

einige mehr oder weniger tolle Ideen um die Fotografie und die Bildbearbeitung

Objects, and the Distance Between Them

Dreams, thoughts, and experiences expressed through poetry and prose

Zoolon Audio

Guitarist / Songwriter / Blogger

MORALITY PARK

A.G. Diedericks

A Blind Bird

There's no sky, just stars.

EWIAN

Independent audiovideo artist

theherdlesswitch

If you search for the light, you will find it.

TheFeatheredSleep

Tigers not daughters

VIEW FROM OUR SOFA

The Years of Watching Avidly

The Brokedown Pamphlet

war some of the time

cakeordeathsite

What would you choose?

Havoc and Consequence

(overcome your fears)

I am Lovely and Lonely and I Belong Deeply To Myself

May You Touch Dragonflies and Stars - Dance With Fairies and Talk to the Moon

As it Comes

A New Era

countingducks

reflections on a passing life

Poet Girl Em

Heartspeak

mindfoxblog

Poems from life

stu ART photo

Urban Minimal, Urban Abstract, and Urbanscapes by Stuart Allen

hijacked amygdala

unbolt me

the literary asylum

Weave a Web

Stories poems music thoughts magic

jdubqca

poetry by j matthew waters

Grandpa's Way

Muse Writer

harmonious volcabulary to substitute for the cacophony of life

THE BROKEDOWN COMIC

KINDA RAMSHACKLE

Alex Raphael

Entertainment, travel and lifestyle blog

Changing Skin and other stories

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johnpoetflanagan

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What I See

Spartan Eye

Picturing the bleak

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