Joe Swanson

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (280)

280 Stories

3972 karma pts

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“Winter's Spring” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #86

Daffodils blooming, and in the most unexpected places. Not being indigenous to the coastal region I find anything that offers a glimpse of life before April, suspicious. I begin to look for the source of the deviance, usually a nuclear power facility that has gone awry, or a Cannabis sativa drying facility, that has gone up in smoke. But alas it is just the temperament of the rain forest that brings life to the innocuous observations of a winter now past. I do find it contemplative, that Daffodils should find their way to the ...

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“Awakening” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #86

One minute we are there, and then we are here. That time it takes to change from a then to a now, is it part of the present or the past? Or is that time, lost for all eternity?  The prospect of having missed something, possibly life altering, or even in that moment of careless abandon where you just say to yourself, “to hell with it,” and close your eyes and hope to regain the vision of a calm sea at midnight, won't abandon you. But that time, does not occur, for if it did you would have lost one more physical tie to a wo...

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“Getting By” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #85

I noticed something different today. Perhaps more unusual than different, I see this guy walking by here towards the river, always comin after this mangy looking dog goes by. Didn’t think much of it the first time, but like most things when something keeps happening you get the hint that you maybe should be paying attention.  I like to sit on the porch and keep an eye on the street so as it don’t get any funny ideas, like pot holes and such. Not that they bother me much more than the taxes do. Don’t drive anymore.&nb...

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“Where I Used to Live” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #85

“It’s nice here. I like sitting looking at the pond, the Cathedral across the way, the pigeons. That’s one thing about this city, the parks are wonderful. Someone had the foresight to envision that amongst all the madness that we accept as modernism, progress, we would need a place to go to remember.” We would often go to the park and just sit. Every once in a while, something would change, but that was rare. Most of the time what you could count on, and the reason we pursued that place, was that things didn’t change...

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“Hays Building” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #85

Abner Hays was a proponent of the elevator. His creative capitalistic endeavors did not go un-noticed throughout the business communities of the Midwest. The Hays Building, on Hays Boulevard, was an icon of its day. It towered above the other buildings on the main business district of Benton Ohio.  What made his building iconic wasn’t simply its height, an anomaly when compared to the building that surrounded it, but its innovations. Buildings were designed for the activities they were proposed to support. As cities ...

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“City Light” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #85

“That’s the thing about this city, it will kill you, if you’re not paying attention, just a warning. So many go about life with their head in the clouds, like these brick canyon walls are as magnificent as the red sand stone of Utah’s Arches, without the clarity clean air provides, or the quiet that comes with desolation. But then we aren’t in Utah, so can’t expect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to follow us down the trash laden alley ways and rodent infested subway tunnels. But then I’m used to the decay. Pl...

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“Six of One...” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #85

   I love this city; I just can’t live here.  But then, that has little to do with appreciating a fix that takes you to a place you can believe in, or one that you can’t forget, if only on a Monday. It is not just the excitement of the city; it is more than that. The lights, the noise, the immediacy that permeates from every crack in the sidewalk; the city, the world, as though taking its final breath. The pulsating waves of fear, hate, euphoria that accompany you on a stroll through a town that is being born, ...

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“Watching” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #84

Sitting here in the shade of a brick building whose brick has shed its soft alluring demeanor and has taken on the stories of those that have passed; those that live and those that no longer care or need to. When time marches slowly enough past our front door, it allows one of two things to happen. Either we look for detail and appreciate the effort, or we get bored of the sameness, and begin to think of things we have no business thinking about, but for the distraction. Jammie Espiers sat on his stoop overlooking Franklin Avenue and ma...

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“End of the Beginning” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #84

“Tripoli? This is Blue Sky. Can you hear me?” “Loud and clear, Blue. Long time……heard from you." "What you been up to? Nothing bad, I’m sure. Last time we spoke I hope I didn’t come across as being too inquisitive. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that we live in such different worlds, such different lives, I just can’t envision what it would be like to be there with you, living like you live. Hope you don’t mind if I ask you about your life. Just want to know what it must be like to be fre...

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“You Can't Get There from Here” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #84

“Does it do any good sitting here. We’ve been coming since the accident. Last Christmas Eve, and now it’s another Christmas Eve and she’s still in there someplace but doesn’t seem like she is ever coming out. We should go back home. We got other’s to think about. It’s Christmas. She won’t know if we are gone or not. They say when she’s ready she’ll come out. Comas they said, don’t have an expiration date. Could be tomorrow, never. We should go.” “You ever pray to her?” “No use in praying.&nbs...

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“Back of the Bus” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #84

“You’ll have to move to the back of the bus.” “Why do I have to go to the back, when all these other people are sitting up her in the front?” There it was again. Like head ache you get from those newfangled blue headlights, so they can see better at night, but blind everyone else. I’ve been driving a bus for most of the past twenty years. I said most of, because the disease came, and everything shut down. People were told to stay home or die. Course some of the people thought it was a joke of some kind, so they kept taki...

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“As Good As, Any Other Day” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #84

As Good As, Any Other Day     Eleven O’clock, PM, AM. Doesn't really make a difference when there is nothing to do but listen to your heart beat, and wonder what it’s like out there. Last I heard, we were supposed to be in for it. Possibly the worst we’ve ever seen. I don’t know what that is supposed to mean. “Worst we have ever seen,” It’s what they were predicting on the radio and TV, when we had radio and TV. Don’t now anymore, what we got. It doesn’t seem like it takes that long for time to ...

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“To Be, Or Not to be” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #83

“You can’t stay here. They are going to eradicate all life on this island. Something to do with contagious viruses being released under the sea. Contamination has been discovered on the other side of the island. I don’t know any more about it than that, they didn’t tell us much. But Dad, they said to come and help you get resettled. You need to leave. We need to leave, now.” “I’d rather not.” “It is not a matter of whether or not you want to leave, it is a matter of having to leave. The World Health Organization...

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“Little to Nothing” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #83

Can you imagine what it must have been like back then? Back before there were people, trees, flowers, water, anything. Just one big hot rock coming to life. It all seems so unreal because of the length of time it takes for evolution to catch up to itself. Trial and error, over and over, until something works. Life if funny like that; shows up when you least expect it, and when you most need it to. Did I ever tell you the story of Bart Little? He was a guy I met on the docks. He was the biggest liar I e...

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“Other World” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #83

“You ever have reason to believe there are actually two worlds, ours, and that one up there. I know it is different, but how different can it really be? We breathe water, they apparently breathe air, but given the facts, we are basically the same. We are just on different sides of the Oxygen Triangle.” “What is an Oxygen Triangle? Sounds intriguing. Don’t believe I’ve heard of it though. This big push lately about getting prepared for big change, has taken the majority of my time. Do you know Old Starfish? ...

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