SUNDAY PROMPTS

Tell us the story about the little boots

DONKEY

When Saturdays were only for football

Torn Envelope

And the pit-heads baths is a supermarket now

Death by Sunbed

There was a picture made of flowers

Dogs

He worked in the steelworks

How you can push, push with your anger

Tonight, January fog

How much that dies with them

A mother moves away to birth her lamb

Let the number be learned

In a few month's time I will stop and linger

Old men like monkeys

February Streets

In clear snow like laughter

I have known too many of the murdered

BELL

Mrs Blenkinsop keeps a tiger in her cellar

DISH

You wouldn't know the place now

EAR

Old, so old, and short of wind

We went on holiday to London with Mam

We who wait

The old sad things have been forgotten

When old age came he stood up and kicked it

On the wrist, a watch

SATURDAY NIGHT PROMPTS

It was love at first sight

Mullet

All day it has rained

I am amused

Love drips and gathers

Knobkerry

Dominoes, Woodbines, Senior Service

Spangles
A most curious device

TRICK
Raking through the ashes

BAR
I have learned to dream with the sound off

Sailors Killed it

I think we need to say goodbye

It takes sixpences

With my pockets full of money

BOMB
Cinder-fucking-rella

M-T-G-G

You roll away and show me your sullen back

The Loch Ness Mobster

I was young and easy then

The window is filthy

Shall I get drunk or eat a piece of cake?

OLOLAQICI82QB4IP

Time ate my love and farted, then you departed

Snakeskin

Recognizing a red kite

Put a shilling in the gas, your head in the oven

Last night I met my father

I am preoccupied

Words are my instruments but not my servants

The Lover & Her Killer

A house with bleached-white walls

How to Kill 101

Saturday Prompts

Barely a twelve month after
Tonto
Three old shops, all in the name Jones
Do not ask, "What is it?"
FOLD
Violence upon the roads
Two dark tractors, pausing
A pale light
sawdust bars, the sounds of angry men
BUZZ
A lovely piece of slate
There is a girl standing there
Our life is changed: their coming our beginning
Prophet
It was a soft October night, summer at last
His quick body
You can cast out past the fish
The sun used to shine, remember?
Leave, then
We heard a distant tapping on the road
A sunrise like military best
Smudge
She slipped away to die quietly
ITCH
I love this, as some day a child will love it
I have mislaid the key
For I have known them all already
Only an avenue, dark and nameless
I see the image of a naked man
We did not dare go near them
The entrance is blocked by brambles
Late in the summer the strange horses came

Tuesday prompts

I told my son about my father
There's water still in the bath
Majestic
The pub quiz: it's all about winning
Bridge
Why not be a Brain-Surgeon?
Kite Surfing 101
There's a problem at the bridge
Trying to fix a light
Big Boy
Sudoku for the damned
The boys done well
A handy electrical gadget
A quarter ton of lego
The sound of cars passing in the wet
Why she doesn't phone
Whisky without the e
In the not too distant future, if all my dreams come true
This is a stupid way to die
With sawdust, string and patches
From the hill I saw a line of snaking tenements
Bush Meat
Under an awning, talking about nothing; rain
Peonies
Is surviving suicide a success or failure?
Two rooms done and the doors closed
A three-legged hippo
It may be pretty, but is it appropriate?
Holes
Arctic elephants are the same as African ones. But colder.
Treasure Island

Bank Holiday Prompts

Pictures of old London
Undercoat
Discovered by a monk
Futurama
It torments me, this injustice
Crayon
She is big and plump and happy
If you can keep your head
Refreshed every two minutes
Shifting the furniture
Glasses, but naff
Tea, biscuits, a rest
The sound of bickering
I need to be very drunk
16:16
Oh for a muse of fire
What bells are these that toll?
Fokkers!
Do NOT close the cupboard
Anyone can use them
I wondered lonely, under a cloud
City of Angels
The thing I like is overcoming
Another Monday!
Muscle for the wing
Just at that moment, Carol came in the back door
He lifted a bowl of nuts and offered them
Deep Blue Goodbye
The Edge of Reason
I’ve come for a payment on the bed
Why the vacuum cleaner makes me angry
Out of the Sun
What I’m saying is I’m a drunk, not an alcoholic
Electric Polisher
An amazing ending
Mother, mother, where did you go?
I try not to see my sister too often
He was a sort of commando
A thousand blessings, Effendi
I claim death
The difference between clams and mussels
The café is shut.

Sunday Aug 24 Prompts

I've been away a few days, but here:

When all this is over, I shall give them the finger
The weakening eye of day
I saw an x-ray of a baby
AXE
Unwearied still, lover after lover
Not even in my thoughts
I did not think death could undo so much
DANDELION
She is beautiful. I dream about her.
The rain flies down the street, flaps outside our door
BLOOD TEST
All the sun long it was running
Appointment in Basingstoke
The stove’s heat mottling her legs
Moving the books
Her dead body wears the smile of accomplishment
I know where you are
Thinking of an old lover makes it hard
JUG
We renounce everything except the self
Uzi Wedding
Her floured hands at the baking board
Show me the kitchen, the knives
Three thousand years ago they didn’t give a fuck
GUN
I would like to be terminally ill
Red and yellow, silver-back, half-imagined things
16 GIG
I kept my wife’s heart in a canary’s cage
DUFFY’S TRICK
I’m going to sail round the world
I cannot speak to you
Horses passed from dawn into the night, horses, horses, horses.
PAIRS
We come to terms with shade, the principle of grey
One or two blackmailers, a poisoner
Unnatural Acts
Every fear is a form of desire
Use the back entrance

Monday

December. Another Monday.
If we mattered they’d have to feel guilty
Bright-faced, her eyes darting.
A brush with drowning
He could see her in his rear-view mirror, long and slim
Her thoughts were filling the silence
There was darkness and a silence she could feel
It was “Teach Yourself Flying”
She was shoeless and massaging one of her black-stockinged feet
They went down to the canteen via the back stairs
You measured harassment by the square yard
They heard a quick rush of men’s laughter
My Billy is an angel
The rounded-down sterility that came from a ball-point pen
They were brewing up behind the bar
She was a tallish size twelve with shining black hair
A thin air job
She wished that she was running, right now
Remember, God sent me.
They can do it to us because we’re nothing.
This is the one. She likes me.
She lived alone on a quiet estate of Barratt houses
Perhaps she had smelt something burning
Thank-you for your co-operation
We’re looking for a man in a dirty raincoat
They were bound to talk about men
Her hands at ten-to-two on the wheel
They parked in a side-street
A massive oak tree
Sunlight flashed off bone
He’s magnificent!” she said.
Four or five hundred yards away to their left
The temperature had finally crept above zero
A dark green sheen on the grass
She twitched her nose, sniffing at the air.
I feel shitty if you must know
From the bushes he saw the two of them
He was in a Nike shell-suit and a pair of New Balance trainers
Then the women turned and walked away
He felt something cold snap around his wrists
We don’t fancy the paperwork
The parking’s crap in central Richmond
Man-hating would do for now.

Sunday Afternoon Prompts

A misunderstanding wings in
Bakelite
The spaces between people
Girls in the river, the water up to their waist.
Banana Salad
In the dark houseboats families were stirring
All our lives we must forget
Red Bus
The bride, holding her flowers too tightly
Drip-Dry
I predict my predictions are always wrong
Grief by instalments
On the muddy bank, boys are fishing
And still they die
I sit drinking, thinking. The coffee is bitter
Napkin
Prince Thingumebob, from what’stheplace
Wooden Crosses
What I am is not important
Fear swells the heart
Brute force will do
He trod cautiously over the dead
Champions
Dogs slavering behind barbed wire
Hammer
Syllable has too many syllables
A girl in exile
Pirates
Fool’s Gold still looks nice
Your daughter is accomplished, Madam
SKIP
What EXACTLY is in that sandwich?
Mistakes in Nightclothes
Things bin-men collect
A little bit to prove
The morning hits me like a fuck-off phone-call
What was left was fine
Some bastard stole my life and left my wife

Prompts for Sunday

My father, crying in St Mary’s
I am worn out with dreams
My love, I never spoke to her, but she heard every word
Smoke in the Valley
I am a man now
Al night in submarine light
My hands are red with the blood of the dead
I think about the FBI
We drove fast, singing, playing the Stones
I know that I shall meet my fate
He was a schoolmaster
Agnes fiddling with her rosary
Tread softly
A boy like a ballet dancer, poised
Oh love and you so far away
I draw your attention to the window
A sadness of penguins
Hair pale as a breath
If I should love a fat lady
Somewhere, on the other side of this wasted night
I took my son’s girlfriend home
How delightful it may be
Losing is fairly easy
I lost my father in Waitrose
Boogie-Bloody-Woogie
My friends rise up and chant
Yellow pissholes in the snow
I can name them all
Television and other necessities
Passing bells
My daughter is drawing a picture
We can get so far in this world
I once bathed in a bath full of eels
Time is a bastard
Shall I compare thee to a Lamborgini?
Isobel from the estate kissed me
When all this is over, I’ll retire
It’s a shame about the shadow
At night I do not know who I am
I walk through your rooms, wondering
Underground
I am acquainted with the dark

Saturday Prompts

In the depths of the Greyhound terminal
The soldier takes pride in saluting his captain
A white mare
My days wind out, aimless, hopeless
Pursuit
Old men and women, rich and poor
Pencil
Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold, Gold
A cricket bat, a box
Nothing to do with Hamlet
Two men in blazers
Crew
The boys are not well
It’s about the end of the world
Clear plastic
An aged man is a paltry thing
This is fresh
I shall hide behind being old
The fun starts here
We pace along the battlements, hoping
Two men have been found
Edgar wins!
A winding staircase, candles flickering
A Mexican green pepper
Without love, the world is too heavy
Rage-driven, rage-tormented
Swan
When we were young we had pretty toys
Tennis-ball
They are holding a public meeting
Silver
I started running weeks ago. I will not stop
Atlas
I’m trying to come to the point
On the cover of TIME
Through icy streets
There are places where I have not been
They reject spirit
This man can sing!
I imagine a land, rain-soaked

12 Signed, 3 Stories, 33 Flashes, 3 Poems

Blind eyes like unshelled hard boiled eggs
There was a river
Parchment
An old man sits next to his beer
CHAIR
I have had lovers, all sub-prime
TABLE
Thinking of fish we have caught, almost caught
A Red Wheelbarrow
We took turns, and she said yes, then why did it feel wrong?
Pullman
Once, after a long day of unremitting rain, the sun
BECKS
What if the road you often took, was moved at night?
Scooping Cream
What if there was never surprise?
The nearest shop is miles away
The life of a leaf
Suddenly there are cattle, rumbling towards McDonalds
MicroLove
Shopping Carts and Rain, and amber light
Now something is in the air
I have heard, the children are returning
DIE, Bond!
If you could unwind history, where to stop…
CRANE
Of course the world is not enough
Late September
Once I asked my grocer for a perfect potato
Nobody there, just fruit on bramble
Stainless Steel
You said it wasn’t worth the trouble
Day Rises, and quiet
I caught a tremendous fish
I have loved three women, married others

Loadsa Prompts

These are singled, the alpha-listed, then in reverse.
try reading it all, singing them, chanting

Wait for a voice to call you

They have promised to send a train, and we will leave
Father Maloney’s stare
Imagine a tender gravity, falling
Decision
And if I am writing, I am not holding my wife
I would like to sit close to the doors
How Morning is, and quiet
Tock
I have told you all this to give you pain
Bamboo Squares
They bubble-wrap hearts now and sell them three for two
The cook’s boy, the cleaning girl
VENOM
Stone to stone, heart to stone
CHIME
The rustle of history
NAIL, Hammer
Time clears its throat
BALL
Days of great love; of destiny
Do mad people love? What are there letters like?
GRATE
Birds Eye Frozen False Tears are on Offer
Jack of Hearts
We will talk about great things, and football
TAXI
I am silly, filled up with sleep and want
One Potato, Two Potato
Hardly a Joker
Should you not have time to memorise these instructions
Flat-Pack Marriages
The Chemistry of Distaste
And then cracking twigs
And we all stared at the box, and it inside

And if I am writing, I am not holding my wife
And then cracking twigs
And we all stared at the box, and it inside
BALL
Bamboo Squares
Birds Eye Frozen False Tears are on Offer
CHIME
Days of great love; of destiny
Decision
Do mad people love? What are there letters like?
Father Maloney’s stare
Flat-Pack Marriages
GRATE
Hardly a Joker
How Morning is, and quiet
I am silly, filled up with sleep and want
I have told you all this to give you pain
I would like to sit close to the doors
Imagine a tender gravity, falling
Jack of Hearts
NAIL, Hammer
One Potato, Two Potato
Should you not have time to memorise these instructions
Stone to stone, heart to stone
TAXI
The Chemistry of Distaste
The cook’s boy, the cleaning girl
The rustle of history
They bubble-wrap hearts now and sell them three for two
They have promised to send a train, and we will leave
Time clears its throat
Tock
VENOM
We will talk about great things, and football

We will talk about great things, and football, VENOM, Tick-Tock, Time clears its throat, They have promised to send a train, and we will leave, They bubble-wrap hearts now and sell them three for two, The rustle of history, The cook’s boy, the cleaning girl, The Chemistry of Distaste, TAXI, Stone to stone, heart to stone, Should you not have time to memorise these instructions, One Potato, Two Potato, NAIL, Hammer, Jack of Hearts, Imagine a tender gravity, falling, I would like to sit close to the doors, I have told you all this to give you pain, I am silly, filled up with sleep and want, How Morning is, and quiet, Hardly a Joker, GRATE, Flat-Pack Marriages, Father Maloney’s stare, Do mad people love? What are there letters like? Decision, Days of great love; of destiny, CHIME, Birds Eye Frozen False Tears are on Offer, Bamboo Squares, BALL, And we all stared at the box, and it inside, And then cracking twigs, And if I am writing, I am not holding my wife

27 Flashes, Two Stories, 20 More Prompts

The tree-stump, devoured
OATMEAL
Sometimes everything I write seems a snapshot, with a thumb over the lens
Tomorrowness
Consider the grass growing
ECHO
Being a man and not a god, he leaves
Squawk
Once upon a time, there wasn’t
Much of my thinking is about loss
Postcards from Fiji
Blackberry, blackberry, blackberry
BASRA
Shut up. Shut up. There’s nobody here.
Shampoo
Running from Spiders
CHISEL
Peach or Mango
Two white, ripe girls on the tube
Last Supper II
Two a.m. bright moonlight, a train in moonlight, hissing
CARS
He sits with his absent wife
The sky ripped open
I stretch my arms
Fish know where to move and when
Furniture
One minute and forty-two seconds
Only the virus
Goodnight, and goodnight

Update and Prompts

We now have eleven signed up, twenty flashes and one story posted and approaching 100 crits.

Here are some prompts to cover the week. Loads more at BC.

Monday Prompts

The Gods That Failed
Seagulls
Goldilocks is Asleep
When lovely woman stoops to folly
Man-bag
She turns and looks a moment in the glass
On the cheap
And children suffocate
Pictures
No one scrambles over the sliding chalk
Bacon, bacon
On the divan piled, stocking, camisoles, stays
Unreal Cities
Hardly aware of her departed lover
A Silen Fan
A sea-fog like gunsmoke
DAMP
So now the Victorians are all in Hell
BREAD
Your favourite word is wee, and you eat Eccles Cakes

TUESDAY

An so de rain a-fall and a-fall
Black Ball
There I places I will never go
Married and not pregnant: there’s posh for you
MARZIPAN
Where can I go then, from the smell
STALYBRIDGE
Bless you Alpha-Doggie
Good Boys
Into the grave that we have dug
Dai K lives at the end of the valley
Sin-Cake, Sin-Eater
Books, books, books
Of the forests and smashed faces
A crowd flowing over a bridge
COLD
A drowning child
Blodwen is leaving
He ravishes the fiddle, screams when drunk

WEDNESDAY

What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
GOOGLE as a number
The night we were struck, the night
Icing, meteors
Trains will run later, and fuck it
Cheesy Bond
September was when it began
Magic ingredient
A swarm of frogs, swollen, hideous
BERET
I can remember, see, my father walking home. I was never there
JUICE
Miss Marples, were they ever young and fucked?

THURSDAY

Blessing
You could try cheese
Mirror, mirror, on the fucking wall
The eighth dwarf
Crowds round the ticket barrier, a white face waiting
Death by Meteor
It has been said, that sometimes I lie, or bend the truth
Blind Faith
The very young T.E.
Was there a poster of me, with a moustache?
Blowing up the train
Poets only play with words, they always lie
We fight for something
There was an airfield here, the grass grows and leaves a pattern
Poppies
What is the opposite of E’s?
My father ran round the garden in the dark

FRIDAY

At least it’s something
September 1, 1939
There is no greater crime than leaving, except to stay
UNDESIRE
I may have been a Zulu, or wore petticoats
Mis-spelling, Miss Spelling
You can count on friends, but only to twenty or so
All I have is a voice
Aberyswyth
Accurate Scholarship is not of the soul
TS
But the corpse, alas, goes on dying
You do not love the dead, the word is LOVED
RAIN
After all you lasted longer
Practice hate, hate the village

SATURDAY

I sit in a dive on fifty-second street
CLINK
Truth-loving Persians
And where, exactly did the peach come from?
Why declare war?
TOM
Listen, there is a hum, and ticking
Through half-deserted streets
Tennis for the dead
Dogs skittering on polished floors
Snap!
And I have known the eyes already
Pop!
How the door clicks open
Crackle
Let us go and make our visit
Do I dare?
The soot that falls back down the chimney

PROMPTS

Ten songs, one solid block of agony



Tourists, not Terrorists



Your father, in his terrible pose



Jill Dando



and inside the house, the bewildered child



Certainty



It began to snow at midnight



BOUNCE!



Where and when, exactly, did we first have sex?



BACK



Whose woods these are, I think I know



TAIL



the ragged road, the wood, the yearning



Kids on Stage



Breathing at my side, that heavy animal



Extensions



Back out slowly, step off your life



Samson



It's only a week, but you're slipping



Lighthouse



They have captured the moon, it's in a box



Getting There!



I will go back to that silent evening



BALL



When you have a plan, your life



You've been knocking a door, but it is just a door, nothing else is there



Acker Bilk, or the Other one



You could have just been another maggot



Rock's the cradle



ARIA



Finney, I will never forget

SIX SIGNED!

Various Boot Campers have still to respond, but already we have four guests signed up for the month, a total of six writers.

Flashes posted to date (well it IS early!) SIX

Prompts & Advice

Please note that there is no "rule" which says you must read "this" set of prompts "NOW" and immediately write a flash.



The purpose of flashing is to UNLEASH, to break your own pre-set rules

but all we want is for you to write fast, unthinking, instinctively, with the gut.



If that means reading lines of poetry or looking at pictures, or listening to music on repeat, that's fine.



If it means reading 1-2-3-4-5 sets of flash prompts, that's fine, too.



What is important is letting rip, writing free of constraints and without planning.



PROMPTS




Burning burning burning burning


Armadillo


Children's voices in the orchard


The Pub Quiz


Where the grey light meets the green air


Lost Voices


I have been here before


SAND


I remember now. I did not know if it was grief or love


Restless nights


It was now a soft October


BLOSSOM


I have gone at dusk through narrow streets


A wallet filled with fat


CHERRY


I will always miss her, miss her


Bike!


The winter evening settles down


Gently, gently


I will row into the current, towards the falls


Tomorrow, then


A South Wales Argus came swirling about my feet


The boys in new kit


Wipe your hand across your mouth, laugh


This hour or so, drinking


Among the Dead Cities


I remember the nights, and the sound of nights


I would like to gently