RESULTS – Microcosms 129

Thanks to all who submitted to Microcosms 129. We had 10 entries this time.

Please keep returning to Microcosms, and retweet / spread the word about this contest among your followers and friends.

Don’t forget that Microcosms exists primarily to provide a platform for the flash fiction community to hone their skills, and secondarily to give entrants a chance of receiving an accolade from that week’s judge. We also have the vote button for anyone, not just fellow entrants, to register their favourite/favorite(s) and thus establish a Community Pick.

We encourage everyone to reply with a positive comment to any and all of the entries AT ANY TIME: It’s good to have feedback.

 

MC 128 Judge’s Pick, Maya Levine, kindly agreed to act as judge for this contest. Here’s what she had to say:

It’s an honor to be judging this week. The topics of the different pieces seemed very pertinent given the current political climate, and they gave me a lot to think about as I went through them.
Maya 

Favourite / Favorite Lines

Stephanie Cornelius – I had caused his death, not his activism.
Steve Lodge – Around then, I’d had my nervous breakdown.
Ted Young – The old pub singer had seen it all.
Geoff Le Pard – It was the price of stability, of success.
Bill Engleson – By the tweeting of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes?”
Tim Hayes – A play focusing on the big issues of the sixties: the civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, Cuba, and apartheid, deserved something better than an in joke referring to sixteenth century poetic form.
Deanna Salser – I stepped into the gutter the moment the theater door opened.
Angelique Pacheco – Red mist will dance a funeral dirge.
Arianna Hammond – Burned to ashes-
My apartment, my books, my shot at another life.
Nikky Olivier – I left them to their conversations and suppositions and slowly started to gather my pages into a semblance of order.

 

Honorable/Honourable Mention

Tim Hayes – No Rhyme, No Reason

An honorable mention goes to No Rhyme No Reason. It did a great job balancing in-the-moment
dialogue and summaries of long periods of time. The theme of adapting scripts hits very close to my
heart.

Runner-up

Arianna Hammond – Give That Chance

This week’s runner-up is Give That Chance. The structure of the poem was very interesting, and it deals with issues that are incredibly important at the moment. Heartbreaking and intense.

And now, without further ado, we present the winner of Microcosms 129. (We have a double dipper!)

 

(insert drumroll here)

 

Community & Judge’s Pick

Nikky Oliver – Dangerous Time to Make Music

Finally, this week’s judge’s pick is Dangerous Time to Make Music. A very fast-paced, intense read, with a metaphor of music and equal rights present throughout. The last line in particular made it a very satisfying read.

242 Words
Composer; 1960’s Civil Rights Movement; Action

Dangerous Time to Make Music

“Hey! Stop!”

The shout came from behind me seconds before the shots rang out.

I ducked under the table, my papers spilling onto the floor.

“I’ll never get this piece finished now…” I thought dejectedly, as I saw one of the chorus pages being trampled out the door.

Bang, Bang, Bang…. Bang Bang… the sounds were moving off a bit down the road and it appeared that the worst was past, so I cautiously lifted my head above the table, a few of the more curious patrons of the local café doing the same.

“What happened?” came the inevitable question.

“No clue. I just heard the shot and hit the deck. It seemed like the wisest thing to do.”

“Looks like there was a bit of trouble by the bank.” a third voice chimed in.

“Again? That’s the third time this month! Every time someone arranges a peaceful protest, these idiots decide to loot and rob.”

I left them to their conversations and suppositions and slowly started to gather my pages into a semblance of order. Hopefully, I could re-write the few that were destroyed in time.

I could hear the rhythmic chanting of the civil rights protestors and, combined with the feeling that I had just escaped the café with my life had me whistling my new tune as I walked, in fact, I could almost hear the lyrics…

“…the times, they are a changin’…” I sang quietly as I walked.

 

Congratulations, Nikky. As Judge’s Pick, you are invited to judge the next round of Microcosms this coming weekend. Please click HERE to let us know whether or not you are interested!

RESULTS - Microcosms 130
RESULTS - Microcosms 128

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