SUBMISSION POLICY
Poetry (any form or style) and Micro or Flash Fictions wanted for an anthology on SMOKE. Not just the black clouds rising from the five-alarm fire next door, or the billowing plumes of smoke warning us of a forest fire, or the emissions from factory smoke stacks, apartment house incinerators, and crematoriums, smoke rings rise from cigarettes, smoke pours out of headshops, pipe shops & cigar stores--see that purple haze rising over the fields of poppies and marijuana we just planted--we've used it to communicate via smoke signals and skywriting, to cover our tracks and disappear with and without mirrors, combat the enemy on and off the battlefield, kill bugs, flavor food, cure illness, declare peace treaties, and fragrance our homes. Got the idea? Release it onto the page.
Guidelines: Submit up to three poems/micro fictions or two flash fictions at a time with a fascinating bio of 35 words or less, not just limited to publication credits, copy/pasted in the body of an e-mail (no attachments, please) to roxy533 at yahoo dot com & violetwrites at nyc dot rr dot com. We will also entertain up to six one-liners or 2 short stand up routines at time. Previously published work is OK as long as authors have retained the copyright, which will be returned to them after publication. Simultaneous submissions are encouraged. If your work is accepted elsewhere, and you still have obtained rights to republish, just let us know where and we'll be happy to acknowledge the other publication.
If you do not receive a response from us within a month of your submission considered it rejected and feel free to submit again. Due to the volume of submissions we cannot respond to each and every individual submission. Selection for the on-line edition are made on a ongoing basis as we receive your submissions. However, final selections for the print edition will made after the October 31st deadline. (In otherwords not everything that made the cut for the online edition will appear in print.) Please do not query. When in doubt, send the submission to roxy533 at yahoo dot com & violetwrites at nyc dot rr dot com.
Monday, March 23, 2009
A Smoker's Tale
Everyone has a smoker’s story
In this poem, I’ll tell you mine
Of facing the deadly parental fury
When caught committing this crime
Oh joy! Papa caught me with a cigarette in my hand
And slapped my younger brother, it was grand!
It happened many years ago
When I was young, just thirteen
I took to smoking to look macho
It was fun, I would strut and preen
Oh joy! Papa caught me with a cigarette in my hand
And slapped my younger brother, it was grand!
With friends I was strutting near the mall
Smoking, eyeing girls, having a ball
Papa was standing there with his colleague
He glared, and stunned, I stared, oh it was crazy
Oh joy! Papa caught me with a cigarette in my hand
And slapped my younger brother, it was grand!
In an effort to vanish without a trace
I blew a smokescreen – into his face
He turned and walked away in a fume
And I mourned my upcoming doom
Oh joy! Papa caught me with a cigarette in my hand
And slapped my younger brother, it was grand!
That night I sat shamefaced, Papa, he raved
Mom wept, my pesky brother – he laughed
Furiously, Papa turned and slapped him
Yelling, “He’s a loser, don’t you dare join him!”
Oh joy! Papa caught me with a cigarette in my hand
And slapped my younger brother, it was grand!
by Ritu Lalit
Corporate Executive, Mother, Writer, Poet, born in New Delhi, writes everywhere, Ritu Lalit writes to escape the humdrum. Her short stories have been published in the prescribed text books by CBSE for Class XII students.
Visit her blog, Weaving a Web at www.phoenixritu.com
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great poem... throughout i kept wondering why does the younger brother get slapped :):)
ReplyDeletegood job :0
That was fantastic!!!! And a real twist in the end :)
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