Blogflash 2012: Celebration

As I continue to chip away doggedly at #Blogflash2012, I will say I enjoy taking a word and spinning it in a non-obvious direction.

DAY 12: CELEBRATION

Today is her wedding day. They wove roses in her hair. They scattered fragrant petals in her wake, singing songs of celebration. Her heart swelled when Grandmother blessed them.
“Today you become a woman.” Her mother sewed a coin in her hem for luck, “You will never forget today.”

Then the raiders came. Songs became shouts. Acrid smoke filled the air as the chapel burned.

Everyone was gone. She stood alone on the outskirts of her village and watched it burn. She smelled crushed rose petals.

Today was her wedding day. And tonight she would weave roses in his shroud.

Word Count: 100

Blog Flash 2012: Greed

This post is in honor of Meg McNulty (@charitygirlblog), Classicist and secret goddess, who shares my love of mythology.

I always thought there might be another side of the Danaë myth. Here’s my version.

DAY 11: GREED

Every morning, sun reflected off the sill of her bronze tower, warming her face. Today, a shower of gold flakes floated down and manifested into a man’s shape.

His voice was like thunder, yet his hands were gentle, countless gold flakes brushing her skin.

Before long, Danaë was with child. She gathered handfuls of gold flakes and scattered her hair, greedily rubbing them across her belly.
One day, he looked in her eyes and saw only the reflection of the gold.

As he fled, the gold flakes melted in the sun like snow. Her despairing cries followed him to Olympus.

Word Count: 100
Art by Brad Kunkle, “Two Suns,” Oil and Gold leaf on canvas – All rights reserved.

Blogflash 2012: Success

This Blogflash 2012 entry proves not all success is positive.

DAY 10: SUCCESS

 “Hair black as coal, skin white as snow, beauty unceasing, true heart revealing.”

Elidia chanted the prophecy; it left a galling taste in her mouth, like the arsenic creams used to whiten her skin. Whiter, whitest, still the furrows in her face deepened.

She’d been the beauty, married the King. But Time, inexorable, curved creases round her mouth.
She pricked her finger with a gold needle and trailed it across her Mirror, tying the enchantment. 
Within the reflection, Snow White’s ruby mouth opened in a silent scream. 
Elidia reached for her face cream, the taste of success on her lips.