#30Words30Day prompt for April. Day 21: Ideology
He held her while she wept, and hid his tears from her. What was this patriarchal crap that didn’t let men show grief? He could bathe in his unshed tears.
#30Words30Days 20 Guest April 20, 2023
Prompt for day 20: Guest
“Perhaps it would help,” her mother suggested, “to think of the fetus as a guest who’s returned home? Their visit was enlightening, though too short?”
“No, Mom. That doesn’t help.”
#30Words30Days- 19 stranger April 19, 2023
Day 19 prompt: stranger 30 days of writing a 30 word story each day. #30Words30Days
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Which was stranger,
falling in love with an unexpected, imagined future
or being devasted by losing that dreamed of life?
Possibilities shuffled like playing cards.
Which one will they keep?
#30Words30Days- 18 college April 18, 2023
An April challenge to write a 30 word story each day in response to a prompt. Day 18: college
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When they met in college, their shared dreams didn’t include babies.
One careless night.
She sighs, “I didn’t know I wanted it, but I miss the future it gifted us.”
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#30Words30Days- 17 support
#30Words30Days challenge prompt for day 17: support.
She’s never been a clinging vine, needing support to thrive.
He’s always celebrated her independence.
This grief journey is riding vines like Tarzan, feeling out of control, praying for safety.
#30Words30Days 16 feast April 16, 2023
The reconciliation feast, sitting on the floor Moroccan style, is awkward.
Their pain remains a gulf between them. But it’s a beginning.
She feels less lonely.
He feels more loved.
#30Words30Days – 15. Individual April 15, 2023
#30Words30Days prompt 15- individual
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When they embraced with their bodies,
they embraced the shared grief,
negotiating the pain with firmly wrapped arms.
Their hearts synchronized.
We are not alone! their bodies sighed in relief.
#30Words30Days – 14 motley
Day 14 prompt for 30Words30Day challenge. “Motley”
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If he were in motley and clowned for her, she’d have been less surprised.
“Why are you back? I said I need to be alone.”
“We need us,” he wept.
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#30Words30Days 13. Gang April 13, 2023
#30Words30Days challenge
He’s staying with his mother.
“Sometimes,” she says, “respecting loss isn’t sufficient.
Sometimes you must gang up and show radical hope in tomorrow.”
“I’m grieving, too.”
“Embrace shared grief together.”
Shawn L. Bird 