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Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (284)

Comments

Library

261 Followers

1 Following

284 Stories

4018 karma pts

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A Hole In My World

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #93

“You look nervous.”“It’s been a while.”“Don’t worry about it. They are all friends.”“Maybe yours. I don’t know any of them. I don’t know anyone anymore.”“It’ll come back. You ain’t dead you know.”I may not be physically dead, but I’m not sure about emotionally. I’ve been gone a long time. No need to talk about the whys and wherefores just yet; let’s just say I was indisposed. There is something to be said, for being alone. I’ve been told that many people lose their minds when kept from human interactio...

15 likes

You Can't Handle the...

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #92

Hot air, a metaphor used to profess the exuberance of, from the heart declarations. Some appear mysteriously in the clouds: puffy ducks, Abraham Lincoln, or my favorite, Jesus on a carousel. Some are spewed from the pinnacles of power in Capital City. Everyone is entitled to their interpretive imagination when it comes to clouds, but using the commandments to sell snake oil was considered at one time, crossing a line, and that was before we needed a line, to define truth. They promise to govern us and our country with onl...

2 likes

Crispy Cream

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #92

“I think I’m allergic to the sun…” “That’s impossible. No one is allergic to the sun. You may have a reaction to it. Your skin has a tolerance level that when crossed, rebels. Sun burn is not only uncomfortable, but can also lead to serious cancerous maladies. You need to take precautions.” That is not what I meant to say. I didn’t mean to infer that the sun, per say, was the problem. I meant to say sunny dispositions, blind optimists, are the cause of my burning sensation. He is like that however, ju...

10 likes

Metaphysically Challenged

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #92

“What was that?”The question that echoed around the community, a stark eviction notice from Armageddon.We looked out the window at what appeared to be stars bursting in the air, but after removing the philosophical bent that had arrived with the intrusion of darkness and the fear that accompanies it, I realized it was the electric transformers, our silver moons, exploding in 1912 overture style. The rain pounded on the windows, attempting to breech the glass. Lightning in the bruised sky was reflected in the asphalt ponds that form...

14 likes

Shadow Souls

Joe Swanson

“Do you believe in life after death, eternity; going on as you, but in a different form?” “What would be the point? I’ve never understood the entire concept of leaving the reality of life to embrace the uncertainty of a hereafter. Perhaps I’m too cynical, or perhaps too realistic to believe that we simply exchange one form of essence for another.” I could see her point. But I could also understand the need to preserve what we know, who we are, even if in a different form. I believe that is why we seek out a place, like th...

1 like

Light in the Dark

Joe Swanson

“Do You believe there is a difference between ignorance and stupidity? Better yet, stupidity and idiocy?“If you are stupid, doesn’t that make you by definition an idiot? Or if you are ignorant doesn’t that make you stupid?”These are questions we grapple with daily in this new time of encrypted thesaurus and imagined definitions of words. What we hear and what is meant, are often two different things.Some lyric not long ago asked, “Who let the dogs out.” What that meant I have only a mixed array of explanations for. S...

0 likes

Left Alone

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #91

Have you noticed when you are going someplace, unless you are the one driving, you don’t pay attention to where you are going. Funny thing ain’t it. It is especially difficult to stay engaged on public transportation, because dreaming off is the one way to survive the crowded stew of people. If you are fortunate to get a window seat, it makes dreaming all the easier, but still a challenge. Amongst those who believe that sneezing is an appropriate civic expression of sensitivity because they turn their head, and those who think all ...

12 likes

Eternal Check-Out

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #91

“If I have to ask you again, I’m going to insist you leave.” “But he appears to be choking.” “Appearances aren’t always what they seem. You see that woman over there. The one with the Australian looking cowboy hat and that, what ever kind of feather its supposed to be sticking out of the band. She pretends to be blind. I know she can see, cause why else would you come to a library. I suspect she’s stealing books and then resells them at these corner book sale places. I haven’t been able to prove it, but I know w...

11 likes

Night Life

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #91

“Anything? Have you noticed that this age of viruses and communal distancing is making our lives considerably more difficult. They used to leave, if not entire meals, crumbs at least. But now, nothing. I don’t see how we can continue to stay here if things don’t change.” “You may be right, but need I remind you; we are just a link in the chain of Scotts that have inhabited this building for the past 100 years. If you remember correctly, it was here almost sixty generations ago that Billibond Jeffries learned to read....

10 likes

Chances Are

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #91

“You can’t do that.” “What?”“What do you think? You can’t reach into the drop slot an attempt to steal a book and think no one is going to object. Is there something wrong with you?”“I wasn’t attempting to steal a book. I went to slip a book into the slot. My watch band got caught on the door clasp and the watch fell into the book depository. I was just attempting to retrieve it.”“You ever hear of knocking?”That’s how it began. I wish I could tell you it had a conclusive ending, or at least an ending I coul...

12 likes

Counting Tomorrows

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #91

“Forty-one, forty-two, forty” … “yes, forty-three. What difference does it make how many steps lead up to the church. Or how many steps it is to the market, or the shed? Why do you do that? You know people look at you like you are mad. Counting out loud, they can hear you, you know. I know you mean no harm, but it is embarrassing. People look, they point, they whisper, and you go on as if you are the only one in the world, and that it matters that there are forty-three steps to climb to get to the church doors.&...

14 likes

Fabled Extinction

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #90

Elvin Greenfield died today. He had lived a short, and some would say, a non-eventful life. He lived as we all live, day to day, having plans for a future he was sure would never come to fruition. But dreaming as he said, was better than acknowledging that life was good for some, and just OK for most others. Elvin, if he had to choose one word to describe his life, it would be, "regimented."He went to work every day, paid his bills, raised his children, grew old in anonymity, and died. Elvin did not disappoint even h...

9 likes

Just Thinking

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #90

“Mr. Jacobi, I am Belvedere Johansen from the Icelandic Review. We appreciate your attendance here today as who honor our planet and the life that resides upon it.” “Yes, Yes, what is your question?” “Do you believe we have the ability to analyze the benefits of technology, while continuing to consider its effects on the planet, while we continue to strive for what we are told will result in a better world, a better life?” "Are you alright? You appear to not be well." A better world? A better life? I had to question the premise of wha...

13 likes

The Argument

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #90

It began as most disagreements do. A misunderstanding of ones intentions, a word taking on a meaning not associated with an action, stupidity. We all are capable of mistakes that find their way into a realm of interpretation. A time, a place, a venue that cajoles the worst from us. Later we stop and consider how it happened, why, but move on only after reassuring ourselves it will never happen again. And then it does. Sometimes the impetus is too little or too much of a boost to ones ego to be of significance, someti...

12 likes

Tracks to Eternity

Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #90

“Did you hear that?”“No, what?”“That popping noise. Like gunshots, or fireworks. Seems out of place somehow.”That was the last thing I remember before I woke up. We had finally gotten through the circus of station activity, now that the trains were once again running. All we had to do was show our vaccination slips, wear a mask, and not congregate as we usually did in the observation car. That was most of the fun of any trip, besides the scenery, of course.The old woman perched on her bench across from me went back t...

9 likes