Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew
For Random Learning Comes
Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew
{This is a response to a prompt from Friday Fictioneers. It is a 100-word challenge, to write something inspired by the picture. This picture looked to me like a monastery. And having watched every episode I could get, of Cadfael , the gardening monk, not too long ago, I had to drag gardening into my …
{Pardon my rant at the impossibility, of maintaining a “House Beautiful” or much order, of any kind, in this Life. The Merriam Webster definition (online), for “spit and polish” seemed to fit: “extreme attention to cleanliness, orderliness, smartness of appearance, and ceremony often at the expense of operational efficiency.” My title pays homage to …
{This light-hearted poem on a woman’s time-of-life may be a little too much information. for some of you, but I couldn’t resist the easy rhymes. The title, Pause, is pronounced /pow-sah/, as in the German version of this word. I have often heard it used, to describe the act of waiting a little while, before …
{This is a response to a 100-word writing prompt from Friday Fictioneers. Such an ordinary sight, a tree, at night: until you see the fire. Hope you enjoy, and thank you for the prompt and for reading!} My love for wood-burning started early. Pulling a hot poker from the campfire, Dad dared …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw, a Google-Maps-inspired prompt. Today, the location is Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. Not knowing much about this part of Australia, I have delved back into my own memories, to a trip my father took to Queensland, in order to study for his PhD. It was when …
{This is a response to a prompt from Friday Fictioneers. I could not help, but think of the Sir Walter Scott line, “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” (Marmion, A Tale of Flodden Field) From that thought came this little tale of a student gallery at a fine …
{This poem came to me, while reading the list of vindicating numbers, being proclaimed across the airwaves. In Attorney General Barr’s four-page summary of Mueller’s yet-unpublished report, a paragraph stands out. It seems to argue, in a non-partisan, un-biased, M.B.A. fashion, that the sheer number of resources used is proof positive, of the thoroughness …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw, a Google Maps-inspired writing prompt of 150 words. This week we are in Patagonia, in Southern Chile, South America. This poem’s imagery is heavily indebted to a New York Times article, In Chilean Patagonia, Following a Track to the End of the World, by Joshua …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a 100-word photo prompt challenge. This story tries to capture the feel of a nighttime fair, and to explore what it might be like, to be the person people love to follow. Pegasus, besides being the winged horse of Greek mythology, is also a constellation in the …
We’ve had a few last, precious days of spring recently, in Florida. That only serves to remind us of the dreadful, thick, humid heat ahead. The spring plants seem to reflect this sentiment, and lose all motivation this time of year. Hope you will enjoy this poem, describing our sorry plight. Thanks for reading! They’re …
This is a response to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word count challenge based on Google Maps. This week, we are in Ireland, on an island, in the middle of a lake. Such beautiful seclusion clearly appealed to me, a mom of four! A morning glory is a white- or blue-flowered climbing vine that blooms in …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a 100-word photo prompt. Pianos remind me of Mozart and the Mozartfest in Wuerzburg, Germany, which takes place every summer in a lovely garden, the Residenz Hofgarten. Constanze is Mozart’s wife’s name, which I anglicized. In the movie, “Amadeus” (one of my favorites,) she is a …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw. We are in Greenland this week. I made a pun of it, and hope you will enjoy this poem. It touches on what must, or, at least, should, be serious business, if you happen to live in Greenland–or in Florida, for that matter! The picture is from …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a 100-word-story photo prompt. Thanks for reading and thanks for the picture! To a person used, to seeing boxy warehouse churches, and straight, asphalt streets, it seems very European-ish!) Alfonzo conquered mazes of narrow alleyways, twisting and turning. In old-town Mäuschen, cars crawled. But on a nimble …
{Please take this poem for what it is. I’m poking fun at those who feel sorry for themselves and in doing so, imagine they have conditions or symptoms when they are actually perfectly fine. This is not meant to be a list of my own symptoms, nor do I mean to say anything disparaging …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word prompt based on Google Maps. This week we are in Wales. My story has less to do with Wales than with how a certain middle-aged man (and woman) might feel, in a place like this. It is a series of short vignettes that are not …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers. The photo, above, is from a desert region in Northeastern New Mexico, named Thoreau. I’m sure, I’m not the only one, who thought of the author of Walden Pond: the advocate of simplicity, of getting back to nature. Even our esteemed hostess, Rochelle, uses one of his …
{This is a response to a prompt from What Pegman Saw. Today the challenge brings us to Mount Everest, but my attentions were quickly diverted to another mountain range, in Peru, which contains the ruins of Machu Picchu. My mother actually did climb Machu Picchu at 70. Since this week is the one-year anniversary of …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers with a photo courtesy of our host, Rochelle. We are to write 100 words, inspired by the photo, a task easier said, than done. For those not familiar with US high school customs, a Sadie Hawkins dance is one where the girls ask the guys. Thanks, as …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw, which, this week, is inspired by the Jiangxi Province in China, as presented by Google Maps. I may have to define a few terms: Mesonyx refers to an extinct wolf-like hoofed mammal, a carnivore. Its fossilized remains have been found in this area of China, as …
{This is a response to a prompt from Friday Fictioneers. We are tasked to write a 100-word story to go with the photo above. Thanks for the prompt and thanks for reading!} “Why’s it so dark?” Tubby flipped a switch, bathing his messy dorm-room in light. A groan escaped from a lump of …
{This is a response to a prompt from What Pegman Saw, a 150-word challenge based on a Google Maps location. This time we are in The Baths, The British Virgin Islands. Thank you for the prompt and for reading. And I hope you warm to my character, and that this helps warm all those, …
{This is a response to a prompt from Friday Fictioneers. We are to write a 100-word piece based on the prompt photo above. Thank you as always for the prompt, and for reading! Miasma, for those of you who haven’t watched Victoria on PBS recently, is bad air, believed in the 19th century to …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw. This week the 150 word prompt based on Google Maps takes us to Manhattan, but as a twist, my story has Manhattan coming to me, or at least to a town in Northern Florida. Please enjoy my courtroom drama, and thank you, as always, for the …
