Crafting Poetry One Syllable at a Time
Posted on August 21, 2019 by Colleen M. Chesebro
It’s been awhile since I had the time to join in with my favorite flash fiction challenge. Today, I finally made it.
The Carrot Ranch August 15, 2019, flash fiction prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes a sweet jam. It can take you to the kitchen or the smokey room of a back-alley bar. What makes it sweet? Go where the prompt leads you!
One of the fondest memories I have of my mother in law was the day we made strawberry jam. The kids washed the flats of strawberries in the sink, careful to pinch off only the green leaves. I dumped the ripe fruit into the pot.
Arlene never measured ingredients. She didn’t have to. Like a conductor at a symphony, she coaxed the natural sweetness out of the berries cooking on the stove before she added any additional sugar.
The older girls filled the jars with the delectable strawberry compote. Billy the toddler, dipped his fingers into the sweet jam.
© 2019 Colleen M. Chesebro
Category: Authors Supporting AuthorsTags: 99 words or less flash fiction, Carrot Ranch Literary Community, Carrotranch.com, flash fiction, Sweet Jam
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“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
—Dylan Thomas
Click: What is a Rhyme Scheme?
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Colleen M. Chesebro is an American Poet who loves crafting paranormal fantasy and magical realism, cross-genre flash fiction, syllabic poetry, and creative nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called Tanka Tuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com where participants learn how to write traditional and current forms of haiku, senryu, haiga, tanka, gogyohka, tanka prose, renga, solo-renga, haibun, cinquain, Etheree, nonet, and shadorma poetry. Colleen's syllabic poetry has appeared in the Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal, and in “Hedgerow, a journal of small poems.” She’s won numerous awards from participating in the Carrot Ranch Rodeo, a yearly flash fiction contest sponsored by carrotranch.com. In 2020, she won first place in the Carrot Ranch Folk Tale or Fable category, with her story called “Why Wolf Howls at the Moon.” Colleen is a Sister of the Fey, where she pursues a pagan path through her writing. When she is not writing, she is reading. She also loves gardening and crocheting old-fashioned doilies into works of art.
Makes me wish I had some!
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Oh, it was the best. ❤
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Gotta love strawberry jam!
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Now I have to use the sugar free kind. LOL! 😀
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Lol!
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Especially when you helped make it!
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LOL! We ate that jam for months. It was the best. ❤
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Lovely Colleen.. I can taste it from here..♥
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Thanks Sally. This was such a fun time. ❤
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♥
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Yum!
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Lot of fond memories of my mother and grandmother making jam after a long day of berry picking in the wilds.
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I’m a city girl so never got to experience the picking- but I would have loved it! This was such a fun time. I’ll always be thankful for the experience. ❤️
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Jam is one of those gateways to memories, and yours is sweet. I’m glad you wrote about your MIL and that time you shared in the kitchen with her, Colleen.
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Thanks, Charli. We sure had fun back then. ❤
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Loved your take…I have similar memories with my apple tree and my mom 🙂
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Aren’t those some of the best memories? Thanks so much. ❤
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Pingback: A Sweet Jam « Carrot Ranch Literary Community
I was a “Billy” growing up when my mom would make freezer jam!
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I named my son Billy. My dad was a William and he went by Bill. My son eventually went by Bill too. LOL! ❤
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Yum, this was delicious Sis ❤
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LOL! It was a really fun time with the kids and Ron’s mom. She was a lot of fun. ❤
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❤
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Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide Traci Kenworth YA Author & Book Blogger.
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Thanks, Traci. You’re the best for sharing. ❤
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Ah, thank you!
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Yum! I love strawberry jam! I go for the sugar-free, as well.
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I think it’s my favorite. I love the Polander brand if you can find it. Tastes old-fashioned. ❤
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Pingback: Five Links 8/23/19 Loleta Abi | Loleta Abi Author & Book Blogger
Thank you, Traci. ❤
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This made my mouth water for some sweet strawberry jam.
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Oh, I love it too. Thanks, Michelle. ❤️❤️❤️
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