Asakiyume

Nobody special, but I dream. I was Morinotsuma on the bird site. Author of LAGOONFIRE, THE INCONVENIENT GOD (both from Annorlunda Books); PEN PAL.

Public Key

npub18y7ymsk5jvfla397a8gslrqt8hkg7yuq0tgteelekzktf5dya6rsh9gt0t

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrj0zdct2fxyl7cjlwn5g03s9nmmy0zwq8459uulumpt956xjwapcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dshqp297

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub18y7ymsk5jvfla397a8gslrqt8hkg7yuq0tgteelekzktf5dya6rsh9gt0t

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Last Notes

2026-05-25 23:50:47 GMT

"When you cut off a hydra's #head, two more grow back in its place," said Virgilius, the master horticulturalist. "So as soon as you see a head beginning to form, clip it. Keep doing that until you get this wonderful, rounded pincushion effect."
The plant was Hydra lernaea: it sent up serpentlike stems from which heads flowered. These had frilled petals marked with eye spots and came in different colors. Properly trimmed, they made a magnificent display.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-03-29 21:00:17 GMT

The countries couldn't be more different. In the one, gov't ministries are all about activities that are done to the land and the populace. There's a #Minister of Extractive Industries, a Minister of Agricultural Output, a Minister of Citizen Compliance, etc. In the other, gov't ministries are all about receiving input from the land and the populace. The Minister of Geologic Dreams listens to the petitions of the land, the Ministry of Voices listens to citizen ideas, etc.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-03-28 23:53:59 GMT

I don't like the new-type prove-you're-a-human questions, e.g.,
"What things make you wake up in a cold sweat at 3:25 am, #dread hanging on you like a mildewed blanket?
Where do the machines and algorithms get off thinking we're just going to volunteer our deepest fears? Nuh-uh, not me! Also, how about toning down the purple prose? A little lilac round the edges is ok, but that's full-on eggplant-purple.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-03-28 13:14:48 GMT

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Wow, so beautiful!

2026-03-26 23:58:35 GMT

Gloriannie was fascinated by the girl who got off the bus at the Benton stop. She wore pink headphones & radiated an inner calm that Gloriannie yearned for.
Gloriannie made a #concerted effort to catch the girl's eye, & finally one day it happened. The girl slipped her headphones off & looked at Gloriannie questioningly.
"I-I was wondering what you listen to" Gloriannie stuttered. The girl smiled & put the headphones on Gloriannie. "They're noise cancelling," she said.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-03-26 13:22:56 GMT

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As Kaworu said in Evangelion, it's the greatest achievement of Lilim culture
(he said that about song, but I think it applies to music more broadly)

2026-03-25 03:05:07 GMT

Vikkerson manufactured nacel stickers in a retro, 20th- and 21st-century style. They said things like "Betazoid on board" and "Jesus take the #helm." Also popular was the "Coexist" nacel sticker with letters made up out of the Federation, Romulan, Cardassian, and Ferengi symbols. Not so popular was the one that said "My other star cruiser is a Borg Cube," but then, not all ideas are winners.
#wss366 #microfiction #StarTrek

2026-03-21 23:00:29 GMT

The Democratic Centrists implored Brad to leave the race: in their eyes, he couldn't possibly win & was only going to draw votes away from Gil, who'd served faithfully for years. But the Left mistrusted Brad as well: his progressive bone fides were weak. Jay, the Republican candidate, plied Brad with money to stay in the race, while both wings of the Dems offered him money to get out.
"To the #spoiler go the winnings," Brad chuckled--all the way to the bank.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-03-10 18:32:26 GMT

The FBI was on its way to seize the enterprise's documents and electronics. A few company true believers were busily feeding paper to shredders, but most were high-tailing it out of there--with some detours. Casey caught Mitchell raiding the HR head's stash of European chocolates and alcohol.
"Don't just stand there #gaping, help yourself!" he said. "What did HR ever do for us, exactly, huh? And now we're not even gonna be able to put this crummy job on our resumes."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-03-03 00:39:31 GMT

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A meal that's a pretty as flowers and no doubt as tasty as it is pretty!

2026-03-01 22:13:38 GMT

The Chicxulub Craters and the Anthropocene Holocausts were choosing players. Of course the Craters chose a massive asteroid to be on their #side. The Holocausts countered by choosing fossil fuel consumption. Then the Craters chose massive volcanic eruptions, so of course the Holocausts chose aquifer depletion. They met the Craters' acidified oceans with thinning sea ice--and so it went.
It's going to be the extinction match of the ages.
#wss366 #microfiction #ClimateChange #MassExtinctions

2026-02-28 23:49:18 GMT

The band was called Later, Alligator. Jude was the #front man. When he sang longing, the amorous coyotes in the hills would stop and listen; when he sang despair, the nighthawks in Edward Hopper's painting would look up from their drinks.
But when he sang celebration, when he sang joy, then there wasn't a listener out there, from the biggest metropolis to the smallest nowhere in the #back of beyond, who didn't feel their spirits lift, who didn't feel the pull to dance.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-02-23 16:35:15 GMT

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I can't see your link, but it shouldn't take that long! For me it's been just a matter of days, not more than a week.

2026-02-23 04:23:03 GMT

"What do you mean, you've got a #backroom security system?"
"Well just that: I put anything that needs securing in the back room, and it stays there safe and sound in a very low-key, no-bells-or-whistles sort of way."
"So what do you currently have secured back there? And what's doing the securing?"
"Currently? A forged Rembrandt that would fool most experts, a child math prodigy, and my Pokémon cards. And they're secured by hypnosis and a poster saying 'don't move.'"
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-02-20 22:43:41 GMT

"Once upon a time," Jasper's grandma said, picking up one of the crayons on the table, "they called this color #flesh."
Jasper looked dubiously at the crayon. "Really?"
His grandma nodded. "Uh-huh. Even though the color only matched the flesh of some people. And there's all kinds of other fleshes it also doesn't match. The flesh of a green grape, for instance. Or a papaya."
"I'm coloring a sunset," Jasper announced. "It's the color of papaya and strawberry flesh."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-02-20 04:39:14 GMT

Stellamaris and Zoe were looking at their old highschool yearbook.
"Hey, remember Gretchen? I wonder what she went on to do."
"She's in product development at White Elephant Furniture. You know the trampoline #chair? She's the creator!"
"No way! That was her? My kids love trampoline chairs! It makes dinner a little messy, but it's worth it."
"Agreed. The kids have so much fun. The other day I came home and my 3-year-old was in the chandelier! He'd bounced up to it!"
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-02-19 14:37:21 GMT

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wow! I've had hallucinations when very sleep deprived, but not like that.

2026-02-17 22:44:50 GMT

"A lotta people are fascinated by #prime numbers," Noah remarked.
"Yeah?" Bryce hadn't ever considered being fascinated by any number, prime or otherwise.
"Mmhmm, because you can't multiply two numbers together to get them--they just pop up on their own, randomly. People love the randomness too."
Bryce pondered this.
"But I feel sorry for primes. They're orphans!" Noah said. "I like numbers with lotsa divisors, like 36. 36 has 18x2, 12x3, 9x4, 6x6. It's got family."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-02-12 19:39:35 GMT

For all my life, my parents' phone number was the same. Through the #evolution from a rotary phone to a touchtone phone with its melody & on to cordless phones, that landline number was the same. I can hum the tune of those 10 numbers. But in December my dad moved to be closer to one of my siblings & me. The old house was sold, & the landline was disconnected.
Sometimes I dial it, though, just to hear the familiar tune. So far it hasn't been reassigned.
#wss366 #microfiction #micromemoir

2026-02-11 17:32:46 GMT

Everyone has different ways of #bucking the system. Daniela’s way was, when she had a spare 15 minutes, to mess with CAPTCHA. She’d go to a site that used CAPTCHA, and whatever she was asked to identify—motorcycles, crosswalks, schoolbuses—she’d click on everything but. When a new screen popped up, she’d do the same thing, on repeat until the site denied her access or she lost interest, whichever came first.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-02-09 03:03:54 GMT

Gerald clutched at the wound in his stomach. Blood leaked from between his fingers, forming a puddle on the floor, while Denise, cool as you please, emptied Gerald's safe, taking the gold bullion and putting it her leather valise. The handgun she'd just used to shoot Geraldl lay casually on the table.
"I thought you my dream girl," Gerald gasped. "My #mercurial sweetheart."
"Oh, I'm mercurial all right!" she replied. "I have an affinity for gold & I'm quite deadly."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-02-08 00:34:26 GMT

In my dream, a woman appeared, dressed in yellow with white petticoats. Bright red lines curved up her brown cheeks & down her nose. She had a basket of yellow fruit, one of which she cut open: white flesh, & at the center, a brown nut covered in a lacy wax of bright red. Nutmeg and #mace
"Precious spices," I murmured.
"In small doses," the woman said. "There are those who take too much, attempting visions. They #rue their choice.
Another natural lesson in restraint.
#wss366 #microfiction
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/116/032/186/536/347/981/original/5705d8aebea302cd.jpg

2026-02-02 00:20:14 GMT

Who was behind the manifestos appearing on utility poles around campus? They were typed not printed, so...someone with a typewriter. Bella had a Selectric, but the manifestos came from a manual typewriter. Dylan's was manual, but it hadn't been used in years; the ribbon was rotted. Joel had one, but he was too buttoned down to be the author. All the same, Phoebe snuck a test type on it. Lo and behold: there was a #nick in the T, just like the manifestos. Joel was an ally!
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-31 23:58:49 GMT

People ask me why I'm always so relaxed. I have a deck of answers; I shuffle through them and try to make the one I choose match the person asking--not sure how good I am at that, though.
Here's the truth: it's because I have a microdimension tucked into my pocket, a pocket-sized pocket dimension. If I need a breather, I just pull myself into it. It's a lovely, lazy place, #redolent of indolence, you might say. I linger a bit listening to the four-dimensional birds.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-27 14:40:49 GMT

The apartment building, a 1970s vision of "modern," had broad ledges circling it at each of the upper floors. In the heat of midsummer, Tara & Euphrates had climbed out their 5th-floor studio window & were soaking in the slightly cooler night air, legs dangling over the edge.
Reggaeton floated up from canal, while from the heights, #classical music, one of Bach's Brandenburgs, drifted down. The two musics braided together, backed by traffic sounds, a humid sound tapestry.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-25 22:24:00 GMT

"What are you doing in here?" the night security guy asked.
Fianna spun round & braced herself against the desk.
"Me? Ah--" Her mouth felt like #flannel & her heart was hammering. One hand brushed the leaf of an African violet with a ribbon round its pot. "I was leaving a plant for the boss," she improvised. "A present."
The security guy looked over her shoulder & saw the violet. "Good idea! He loves those." He waved her--and the thumb drive in her pocket--on out.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-25 14:47:44 GMT

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Cuídate!

2026-01-25 14:16:28 GMT

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Stay safe, both of you! I hear things like "catastrophic ice" on the radio. (Here in New England it will be just snow, God willing)

2026-01-24 23:45:46 GMT

Vera had heard that even in extremis people #marshal their inner resources--I've heard that imprisoned poets inscribe poems on their cell walls and that artists, lacking paints, will paint with coffee #grounds.
She was not in extremis, and as for resources, she knew she had many: It was winter. All around her lay a broad canvas of snow, plus rainbow-casting icicles. And she was not averse to collaboration. She placed the icicles just so. The sun contributed the rest.
#wss366 #microfiction
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/952/734/501/734/537/original/5bd11c5f90443288.jpg

2026-01-22 03:59:40 GMT

"Look," said #Roger, pointing.
Starlings were settling on the utility wire, their bodies pressed next to each other, making the wire thicker and blacker all along its length.
"Ooh!," breathed Janise. "Let's be a utility wire." She and Roger held hands and stood so that the slope of their arms from their shoulders to their hands imitated the wire.
Starlings fluttered down, landing all along their arms, and the two laughed, feeling that weight, those heartbeats.
#wss366 #microfiction #birds

2026-01-21 00:57:33 GMT

"Once I dreamed of a pleasant house, a pleasant room, warm, almost stifling, good company, always the same faces, but friendly, unrelentingly so. I knew that I could be happy there. It was limited, but it was safe. It was safe, but it was constricting," said the cook. We'd finished serving; we were free to chat.
"But then you #woke up?"
The cook nodded. "I forced myself awake." She took a deep breath. "And since then, I've been well. It's good, very good, to be awake."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-19 15:10:18 GMT

Started watching MARÍA LA CAPRICHOSA (English: DEFYING DESTINY) on Netflix & wanted to learn more about the woman whose story it's based on, María Roa Borja. One of the first articles that came up was one from @npub18wl…wxmu (hi Global Voices--posting this over here too 😉 ... and @npub1mms…gq3g, tagging you again too 😅) from 2018. #Colombia #IndependentMedia #AfroColombianas
https://globalvoices.org/2018/03/03/maria-roa-borja-a-voice-in-the-fight-for-labor-ethnic-and-gender-rights-in-colombia/

2026-01-18 22:55:39 GMT

"It's all fake news!" said Thumper, his eyes wild. "It's paid agitators--domestic terrorists!--interfering with our brave immigration officers' efforts to protect us from illegal drug dealers, rapists, and gang members." He hopped off, muttering to himself.
Bambi sent Flower an alarmed glance. "What's wrong with him?"
""In the olden days we'd say he's Twitterpated, but nowadays we have to say he's X-#pated ... or Truth Social-ated," Flower said sadly.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-16 19:52:36 GMT

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saw the more recent toot first, this makes the later one even better 😁

2026-01-15 22:12:02 GMT

I dreamed of a pharaoh, awaking after death and arranging to his liking the various precious items buried with him.
"You've got quite an ego," I snapped at him (dream-me is apparently rude to people's faces), "having this massive #pyramid built just so people would remember you."
"That's not why I had it built. It's for all the stories that collect around it. Adventures, time travel, curses, beings from the stars--I hear them all, and they entertain me," he replied.
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-13 19:19:39 GMT

At Janus Cafe, when you order, they ask, "Would you like praise or criticism with that?" Dwayne, an aspiring singer, asked for praise, & the waitstaff unleashed a tsunami of celebration for his voice, his lyrics, his sound mixing till he practically drowned. Shelby, an aspiring novelist, asked for criticism, & the waitstaff tore into not just his characterization & plotting, but his punctuation & font choices.
My turn--praise or criticism? "Nooo, I'm all #set, thanks."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-13 18:36:57 GMT

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Thank you for this. What a miraculous way to come into the world, and what a loss that she died so young :(

2026-01-09 22:35:37 GMT

"So, you think Paolo is--" Fred stopped her, holding a finger to his lips. He scribbled something on a notepad and held it out. /The room might be #bugged./
Veronica snorted. It was a shabby room in a rundown, backwater hotel. A cloud of moths formed a mini Dyson sphere around the ceiling light, and a gecko hugged the wall. When they had opened the room door, a skinny cat had hissed at them and dashed out.
"Bugged?" she muttered. "It's positively menagerie'd."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-04 14:06:27 GMT

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Love especially that barn, the different colors of the wood.

2026-01-03 21:57:17 GMT

Come to the well and lower the bucket. Down, down. Wait till you hear the splash, then #draw it up again. Sniff it: it smells cold and clear as sleep without dreams. Put a finger in, ayyyy, yes; it’s cold all right.
You hesitate. We can practically see your innards clenching as you wonder what that coldness and clarity will do to you.
“Has anyone drunk the water from this well before?” you ask.
We merely smile.
Will you drink, or no?
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-03 00:35:26 GMT

Peppina & May were walking up the beach eating McDonalds--May's suggestion. Peppina held May in high #regard, hanging on her every word, but sometimes there was nothing deep behind what she said. For example, suggesting these burgers. "I just felt like fast food," May said.
But other times...
May was watching the surf race up the sand & then retreat. "Just think: If our life spans were geological, we'd see glaciers doing this--expanding, retreating, as fast as this."
#wss366 #microfiction

2026-01-01 16:24:21 GMT

Driving through Bullhead, South Dakota, Mike noticed a sign on a roadside stand: "Bullhead Champaign."
He pulled over. Bottles with fancy labels in both English & Lakota stood in a row.
"You know you can't call something champagne unless comes from Champagne, France, right? Also, isn't this area too cold for wine grapes?"
The seller regarded Mike coolly.
"This is made from sandcherry. aúŋyeyapi in our langauge. And it's p-a-i-g-n, not p-a-g-n-e. Totally different."
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-12-30 23:02:33 GMT

Shadows of leaves appeared and disappeared on the wall as clouds raced across the sun's disk. What intrigued Sami was the shadow girl among the leaves--because there was no living girl casting the shadow.
When she first appeared, she wore a long dress, but each time she reappeared, her dress was more & more tattered, as if #buffeted by a gale.
"It's clouds, not wind, that rend me" whispered a voice in Sami's mind.
But how to save a shadow not cast by anything visible?
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-12-30 19:32:49 GMT

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And also, Happy New Year to you too! And checking online I see today's principle for Kwanzaa is Nia, which means purpose 🙂 "According to the Odu of Ifa, a sacred African text of ethical teachings that originates in a region in modern day Nigeria, the purpose of humans is to bring good into the world." ... I'm not sure how well we humans are fulfilling that purpose, but it's a worthy one. https://www.wxxiclassical.org/2021-12-14/the-5th-day-of-kwanzaa-nia-purpose

2025-12-30 19:29:40 GMT

@npub1nr6…s6yw I'm not 😅 Every once in a while I notice one of my old pals getting a good score or creating an interesting pattern in their attempts, and then I favorite it, but I did stop, for the time being. But I might restart at any time, who knows ^_^

2025-12-30 19:26:20 GMT

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My pleasure! happy to know there are people enjoying it.

2025-12-30 19:11:52 GMT

Today’s #SkyPortrait: brooding clouds with light punching through
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/810/099/961/094/318/original/1d26ea2eb2f5b0f8.jpeg

2025-12-29 22:20:56 GMT

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The blindness of not recognizing something because it doesn't fit your own model of how the thing should look.

2025-12-28 14:25:59 GMT

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Very adorable, little cold guy with his snow hat.

2025-12-27 14:58:06 GMT

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I was taking to heart what you said about small towns (and small cities) not letting a person enjoy solitude, and on the need for solitude--how so often it's seen as antisocial when it isn't necessarily at all! Many people just need more time by themselves.
But also and separately, I felt so bad for the guy the narrator encounters! You depicted his misery very well, and I just wanted to make a happy outcome for him!

2025-12-27 14:55:16 GMT

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In the past I never cared about content warnings, and as for me personally, I can read anything without minding! But I've come to add them because many people I encounter do like to be warned when things are going to touch on certain topics.

2025-12-26 21:10:07 GMT

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They sure are gorgeous!

2025-12-26 20:17:11 GMT

"No," said Ashland. "I'm telling you, you would have hated my hometown. It was a real intellectual #desert. The only conversation was gossip about the police chief driving drunk and which members of the select board were embezzling from their own businesses."
Catalina nodded vaguely. Her mind was on deserts, on barrel cacti & creosotebush, kangaroo rats and burrowing owls.
"Maybe there was more there than meets the eye," she suggested. But Ashland was shaking his head.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-12-26 18:21:38 GMT

RE: https://mograph.social/@dilmandila/115787094433316496
The author has a follow-up post on what prompted him to write this story which will give you the personal insights.
For me , it's a sobering example of what the pressure to conform can do. (Also, just wishing the poor guy the narrator encountered could have had a better woman in his life! I know many are like that, but not all!)
The content warning I'd like to give this would be a spoiler, so I'll just say, this goes to a dark place, so be aware.
#note1xk3…n4tg

2025-12-26 18:13:15 GMT

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Oh wow, intense, and it makes me think so, so many thoughts... will check out your follow-up post next.

2025-12-24 19:21:52 GMT

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Or this one, by Bogota artist Jean Zapata, that I posted the other day (link to original post below) (2/2)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSklnXHEbzl/
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/776/160/234/349/164/original/ceeae80e22364b96.png

2025-12-24 19:18:55 GMT

I love pictures of the Holy Family that recast them in the modern time, or in other times and places. For example, this drawing, by Everett Patterson. (1/2)
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/776/138/089/125/066/original/61cadbf2804f7802.jpg

2025-12-21 22:38:51 GMT

Marianne was spitting mad.
"You're, you're like a lentil mixed in with the split peas! You're a bluejay in molting season! You're a big-toe hole in a brand-new pair of socks!"
Errol, the object of her ire, looked increasingly confused. Marianne's cheeks burned with frustration on top of anger. She REALLY needed to #perfect the art of the insult.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-12-15 20:57:50 GMT

What is an etymological fabulist, you ask. An etymological fabulist is someone who takes an unusual word or phrase, sometimes a place or personal name, and #proceeds to make up an origin for it. For example:
"Oh, his family name is Perlmutter? Interesting: that comes from the phrase 'Pearl Mutterer'--the ancient profession of speaking to sand and divining where pearl-containing oysters could be found. Long ago, kings and princes vied for the services of pearl mutterers!"
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-12-11 20:02:57 GMT

I'm sittin' in these mangroves
Nursin' a case of blues
Oh I'm sittin' in these mangroves, brother,
Nursin' some mighty blues
They call me mouthless
But I'mma sing to you.
Yeah, they say I'm mouthless
But I'mma sing to you
Under the hot Pacific sun
Clean forgot by everyone
Well I'm the mouthless #crab
And these here are mangrove blues.
#wss366 #microfiction #blues
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardisoma_crassum)
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/702/662/439/164/098/original/2e020371b6bf8c03.jpeg

2025-12-10 16:43:18 GMT

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I want one!!

2025-12-08 18:59:33 GMT

Fragile snow bridge over a stone
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/685/477/276/228/530/original/06dcb47a757871b7.jpeg

2025-12-08 18:03:41 GMT

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And this--love this:
"Traveling was essential. She'd brought someone into the world; it stood to reason to show them as much of that inheritance as she could." --from
@npub1k4a…qt94 's
' BREATH, WARMTH, AND DREAM.

2025-12-08 18:02:40 GMT

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"He breathed until he breathed himself down to a fine dot, and then, with one breath more, to a nothing" (!!)
"A woman so pale, she could be considered a light source" (😆)
"She took her leave, stepping into the brightness of an unfettered, cloudless sky." (2/3)
@npub1k4a…qt94

2025-12-08 18:02:08 GMT

Some more gems from
@npub1k4a…qt94 's BREATH, WARMTH, AND DREAM:
"There were still at least three hours of summer daylight before the universe settled upon them."
"Stars are fascinating. Always there but only seen on their own schedule." (1/3)

2025-11-28 23:11:11 GMT

"You're looking kinda peaked," I said to Jasper. Nice guy, part of the new temp workforce.
"My #lease is almost up. Gotta find the funds for next year," he said.
"You're not in Company housing?"
"I'm not talking housing, man. It's my lease on life."
"O...Oh," I said.
Everyone's heard of life leases--if your social capital score falls too low and you have to rent your right to exist--but I'd never met anyone in that position before. Poor bastard.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-11-25 16:19:37 GMT

She harvested wild marsh flax and spun it into fine thread, shining silvery white. At mid Goose Moon, she'd take what she's spun to the water villages for barter or sale. Everyone wanted some--just a short length would do--as having it sewn or woven into a garment brought blessings of and protections from the marsh waters. She only traveled in fair weather, and people would point to the wake from her paddle: a shining silver two-#ply thread unraveling behind her.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-11-24 13:33:36 GMT

Sunrise sky-ocean surf #SkyPortrait
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/604/910/216/589/609/original/9377cd394bc99672.jpeg

2025-11-22 21:43:08 GMT

Not missing two days in a row, no ma'am! Here is today's #SkyPortrait --the gradient of fading day.
... might also double as a trees-portrait, but ehh?
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/595/527/021/316/779/original/f0897f9101c4e4d7.jpeg

2025-11-21 01:29:24 GMT

The red-tailed hawk #wheeled slowly in the sky, riding a thermal.
"Does the training really work?" Cam asked.
"You bet--just watch." Jay sent a small surveillance drone up--and the hawk arrowed straight for it, snagged it, then flew to to Jay and dropped it at his feet. Jay took a chicken tender from a plastic box and gave it to the hawk.
"You gotta reward them," he said, grinning. "But yeah! No drone surveillance in this zone!"
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-11-19 20:26:26 GMT

One clear day the novice asked the master, What is the meaning of blue?
The master said, Look up. #SkyPortrait
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/578/227/613/885/892/original/13ed6fe5a1c6c43f.jpeg

2025-11-19 00:21:36 GMT

"I'm known in the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects," Taylor said. "And in the state of Montana I'm known to cause stampedes. In the state of Georgia I'm known to tarnish silver, and in Vermont I'm known to curdle milk."
Brent waited a full minute, then said, "You done?"
"More or less. I just want you to be properly warned."
Brent laughed. "You're a little #warped, huh."
"Yep. I'm known for that in Kansas. Forgot to mention that one."
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-11-12 18:25:48 GMT

A painfully loud beeping filled the air. Like all the other kindergarteners, Tiga put her hands to her ears.
"This is a fire #drill," the teacher explained. "Everyone get in a line and follow me."
Tiga was mystified. Her dad liked making things the old-fashioned way. He had a drill with a red wheel, a wooden handle, and #gray, spiral drill bits.
What would a fire drill look like? Was the whole thing made of fire? If so, how would you hold it?
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-11-10 21:11:18 GMT

A new #float will be making its debut in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving parade--THE BIMBLING BULLY WITH TOXIC PRETENSIONS. It's massive, it's orange, it wears a long red thing around its neck. The best thing about this float, though, is that the point of having it in the parade isn't for its balloonitude, it's for the Great Puncturing. Come with your knitting needles, citizens, and prepare to see the balloon release its helium & land in an inconsequential heap.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-11-05 12:47:11 GMT

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The thing I resent about my suspicion about things being AI generated is that it contaminates things the other way: I end up doubting or dismissing legitimate but overly dramatic or "perfect" photos taken by actual photographers.
But you're right: it's not that there's something subjectively bad about the product of AI but simply that the production of art (or writing or music) by AI is a repudiation of human effort, experience, and communion.

2025-10-29 13:31:58 GMT

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😱 😱

2025-10-28 13:30:09 GMT

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love it!!!

2025-10-28 03:13:29 GMT

"Don't #cast pearls before swine," the old sage intoned. "Also, don't sling sapphires before serpents. And don't drop diamonds before dromedaries, nor empty emeralds in front of emus. Above all, don't toss topazes at tapirs."
The disciples bowed respectfully and noncomprehendingly. Finally one mustered the courage to ask, "And why, o master, should we avoid these actions?"
"Because those things aren't food! The poor critters might eat them and get stomachaches, duh!"
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-10-27 03:11:49 GMT

Visitors at Oslo National Museum gaped as dancers in bright sweatshirts & leggings twirled thru the exhibit hall.
"Ugh, performance art," someone griped.
The dancers lined up so their sweatshirts' patterns formed Munch's "The Scream," which hung behind them. Then they removed their sweatshirts. Their t-shirts underneath spelled out "The Munch #caper." Visitors applauded; the dancers bowed & departed. Only then did people see "The Scream" was missing from the wall behind.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-10-26 02:41:07 GMT

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lovely

2025-10-23 23:38:37 GMT

The fairies gave the child the Blessing of the #Weeds
--May you be as bright as dandelions
--May you be as sweet as clover
--May you be as generous as milkweed
--May you be as formidable a foe as water hemlock
--May you be as soothing as valerian
--May you be as persistent as bindweed
--May you be as pragmatic as plantain
--May you be as visionary as mugwort
--May you be as joyous as asters
--May you be as adaptable as virginia creeper
And the child flourished.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-10-18 12:37:32 GMT

Poster for today #NoKings #MeltICE
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/395/194/166/713/375/original/1c7307417c8e541a.png

2025-10-10 14:21:30 GMT

Yulia the Cossack Princess was appalled when she saw the corsets the high-society women of London submitted to. What nature of torture was this?
"Men like a waist so tiny they can wrap their hands around it," explained Lady Eunice.
"I see," said Yulia. She envisioned a solution: all men who wished to court her had to submit to the Finger Extender. Their hands were put in a machine and a #crank turned until their fingers were long enough to encompass Yulia's waist.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-10-04 03:16:57 GMT

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I knew most of those but did NOT know that the cup-crescent moon is visible at tropical latitudes. Cool!

2025-09-28 17:55:17 GMT

Aliens in our midst: Reishi mushrooms trained (by limiting their oxygen) to grow long 'n' tall instead of in a fan shape. The white tip is the growing part. As one customer at the farmers market said, it's like ET's glowing finger.
#FungiFriends #mushrooms
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/283/193/132/404/667/original/aa45dc8eee17ff5a.jpeg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/283/193/128/825/185/original/1b08f1cb4006ef8e.jpeg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/283/193/124/965/935/original/4387488ff49a06f2.jpeg

2025-09-25 19:09:15 GMT

"Light from the Andromeda Galaxy takes 2.5 million years to reach us?" exclaimed Tina, scandalized. "What kind of slow-ass light is that? What kind of long-in-the-tooth light is that? What the hell took it so long? What the hell was it doing on the way? Stopping to buy souvenirs? Decided to #snake its way all zig-zag through the universe to get here? Doesn't it know about respecting people's time? Doesn't it realize there are people sitting at telescopes waiting for it?"
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-09-24 17:21:10 GMT

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That looks lovely!

2025-09-21 03:33:17 GMT

The opera diva Serenissima Dellacqua was called upon to dissuade Emperor Minimilian from attacking the Principality of Closter-Foban.
She had a stage built on the route the army would travel. Musicians were summoned. The diva was singing "Where, O Nightingale?" when the army arrived, flags #snapping in the wind.
"Your orders, sir?" inquired Minimilian's generals.
"Why, sit down and listen, of course! She has the voice of an angel."
And so the invasion was halted.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-09-01 02:44:37 GMT

A female and male northern cardinal enjoy a spot of tea.
#ChalkDrawing #ChalkArt #StreetArt #DrivewayArt #Birds #NorthernCardinal #PájaroCardenal
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/126/735/345/086/256/original/9e9030f5d6e8dfa5.jpeg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/126/735/360/384/019/original/cb4548d6aa530d3e.jpeg

2025-08-27 14:17:28 GMT

Cadwin approached his big sister Dria, who was tapping a single key on her keyboard over and over. He #craned his neck, trying to see over her shoulder what it was.
"I want this galumphing computer to divide by zero," she said without turning round. "I'm not buying this 'does not #compute' bullshit."
Just then a subsonic hum came from the computer. Fractal flowers filled, then shattered, the monitor. The flowers spread through the room, engulfing the entranced siblings.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-08-18 01:45:52 GMT

Mauricio was going on about Hurricane Esmeralda again.
"She was the mother of all hurricanes, she was. Forget Category 5, she was a Category 10, a perfect 10. She--"
But his seven-year-old daughter interrupted him.
"If Esmeralda is the mother of all hurricanes, who's the #father?"
Mauricio's mouth opened and closed like a storm-beached fish, but no answer came out. His wife Claudia came to the rescue.
"Hurricanes reproduce by parthenogenesis. No men involved."
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-08-14 19:44:50 GMT

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The paper
unrolls chaos
releases lawlessness
rolls out disorder
The paper is entropy
The paper is over the top

2025-08-09 22:51:13 GMT

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Do you cook with it too?

2025-08-09 22:24:01 GMT

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Yesterday I used it for a cucumber raita. I also like it just to make mint water, for a cool refreshing drink on a hot day. And it comes up a lot in Middle Eastern recipes...

2025-08-09 22:04:11 GMT

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YESSS. I foraged some wild mint yesterday.

2025-08-06 03:11:13 GMT

Cally's mom was submerged in the hot spring pool up to her neck, a blissful expression on her face. What was so great about hot, smelly water?
"Mom. Mom! If humans like soaking in special water, do you think fish like to soak in special #air?"
"Mmmm," was all her mom said in reply.
Cally rolled her eyes.
Far away, by the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano, the tubeworms were excitedly trying to predict what gases they might experience in the next eruption.
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-07-31 23:41:16 GMT

Three stood before the table on which a smooth, rounded river #stone lay.
"Tell me," said the sorceress. "What part of your body would you like this stone to replace?"
"My brain," said the thin one with shadows beneath his eyes. "I think too much."
"My fist," said the angry one, whose forehead frowned as deeply as his mouth. "There's things need pounding."
"My heart," said the grieving one. "I'm dying from all the sorrows I witness."
Who should the sorceress choose?
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-07-25 22:41:26 GMT

Throughout the day, déjà-vu alternated with a #nagging sensation that I was forgetting something. The juice seller by the colonnade, the way she nodded hello--déjà-vu. The students in the corridor of the west wing: "Professor! Is the exam still this Tuesday?" And when I said yes, one student dropping his papers--déjà-vu.
What was it that I wasn't remembering?
In my study, the Owl Woman was waiting. "You've completed one loop. Do you remember the End Simulation code?"
#wss366 #microfiction

2025-07-19 02:54:50 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub 19 July: What is the difference between a writer and a person who writes?
I think when people get fussy about a distinction, they're saying that the first is phrasing says that writing is important for who the person is, whereas the second means it's something that a person does (but may or not be important for who the person is).
Speaking for myself, I really never want to be labeled with -er or -or labels. I am very happy just to say, "I do X and Y and Q and P," etc.

2025-07-18 23:20:28 GMT

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Cool! I'll be interested in which ones are most common.