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Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (287)

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261 Followers

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287 Stories

4069 karma pts

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Wobbly Benson

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #304

Wobbly Benson It was my first quarter at the University. I had gone through the usual array of class choices, the professors who taught them, and to be honest I received no reliable information. One advisor told me that Mr. Bensons class, although enlightening in an unvarnished way, was considered incomprehensible by many who dropped the class after the first session, according to the advisor who I felt was not only a bit into herself, but was too conventional to appreciate the nuance between normal and abnormal. I, like many ot...

6 likes

Halleluiah

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #303

Halleluiah! The post I received said we are to write about something we don’t understand…or believe we don’t, or simply prefer not to. You can’t get more inclusive than that. Sitting here in this coffee shop surrounded by people who, if asked would tell you that there are endless things they do not understand. Gravity, orbits, string theories, politics, government, religion, the color pink; endless possibilities to prove to ourselves that we not only don’t know everything, but are better off because of it. A friend ...

7 likes

Stocking Stuffer

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #301

Stocking Stuffer Have you ever found yourself in a situation not of your own making, which controls your every action. I realize there are consequences for our actions, but in my particular situation the consequence was not only potentially embarrassing, but bordered on the edge of remaining civilized. I know I tend to over react in some situations, but this was not one of them. I should begin at the beginning where someone suggested that the beginning is the best place to start as it references where you are during the episode, with...

6 likes

It Could Have Been Worse

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #294

                                            It Could Have Been Worse    “It could have been worse.”   “How? I just don’t see it.”   They’d go on like that for hours if sleep didn’t make them quit competing with one another and communicate like normal people, if there are such ...

3 likes

I lost my mind

Joe Swanson

                                                       I Lost My Mind         “Why are you crying?”     “I don’t see why that is any of your business.”     “I don’t want to intrude, ...

0 likes

Time and Circumstance

Joe Swanson

                                             Time and Circumstance     “How long are we supposed to wait?” He anxiously whispers over my shoulder.    “We’ve only been here for twenty minutes,” I whisper my response without turning to see to whom I’m speaking.  “You k...

0 likes

My Girl in Blue

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #292

                            My Girl in Blue     We bought a house not long ago. It is old and in need of care. Care costs money which we don’t have, so I have been put in charge of doing more with less, unless some unknown person bequeaths a generous contribution to my befriend me site.    I have some experience with the basic needs of a hous...

4 likes

Lunch Box Incident

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #290

     The Lunch Box Incident     Sometimes things happen when you least expect them to; such was the case with Jane.     Walking home from school was always more stimulating than on the way there. It wasn’t that I didn’t like school, I had negotiated a truce; I would tolerate it, it would tolerate me. So far it has been working pretty well. There are times when I’m disappointed, but my bar is high and the school seems to...

5 likes

Lost

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #289

                                      Lost                      “The room is unfamiliar. I don’t know how I got here.”    “You don’t know how you got here? That is unbelievable. You don’t remember me p...

4 likes

You Taught Me to Never Lie

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #289

          You Taught Me to Never Lie    “Where are you off to?”    “Out!”    That is the kind of answer I expect from him. His response to all questions is precise and to the point; it is in deciding which point, that the problem lies.     I believe that I had something to do with his decisiveness. I began reading to him before he was born. I’d heard it was supposed to enhance fetus...

6 likes

It Never Rains, It?

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #288

                     It Never Rains, It…?     “Why are you so wet?”    “It’s raining!”    “I hadn’t noticed.”    “What are they predicting?”    “Who?”    “The weather people of course. Earlier they were predicting rain in excess of six inches. Six inches used to be a catastrophe, now it takes twelve inches and ...

5 likes

Tokyo Rows Cafe

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #287

                            Tokyo Rows Café     William Abbey killed Milford Small after a poolroom fight in nineteen sixty-eight.  It was a brief altercation in the pool room; each taking a turn practicing headlocks and left-hand jabs.  Milford was poked in the eye with a pool cue belonging to a patron of Dixie’s Pool Hall, who was observing their weekly tussle.  Milf...

4 likes

Flying High

Joe Swanson

    I had a brother who was 18 months younger than me. When you are close, but not quite in the same sphere of maturity, you remain in the atmosphere of a nature’s trick, competition. Survival of the fittest, even though you know nothing about it, has its hand up your shirt and you are unable to do little but become its puppet.    My parents both had jobs that removed them from the responsibility of being able to care for their children. The duty fell to my grandmother, who although she ...

6 likes

A Shot in the Dark

Joe Swanson

     “Why am I wearing this shirt?”      “I thought maybe it reminded you something important, birthday, anniversary. It has a certain sentimentality attached to it; it suits you. ”      “Nice of you, but it really isn’t my style. Chartreuse? I haven’t seen one like this since the eighties.”      “Everything that goes around come around. I’m sure you’ve heard that. And besides its your color.”    &n...

3 likes

Negative's Negative

Joe Swanson

     The old Pentax camera was at the bottom of a box of odds and ends. Apparently someone cleaned out the bureau and just threw everything in the box, its value marginal, its presence a nuisance.      The camera like so many things have become obsolete as they have been dwarfed by technology. We no longer need many of the things once necessary in capturing images, making phone calls, flying across the country, the world. Many of the things that have claimed to be an improvemen...

1 like