The freeXpressions prompt was Winter Wonderland:
which prompted the following haikus:
cottage nestled
wood stove heat within
fresh water outside
brick ground floor
large open windows
fresh frigid air
figure arriving
chimneys smokeless
keep your coat on
I went for groceries
on a pleasant sunny day
and return to this
a tree trunk diverged
two paths it could follow
Robert Frost, it chose both
elaborate fence
guards an elaborate ditch
river guards itself
riding inner tubes
could be fun
with enough beer
with the freezing cold
I think trees respond to it
they stand more erect
blue skies of winter
look much colder than
blue skies of summer
off-grid living
wood-powered snow blower
a creature comfort
cold lonesome cabin
be bold! be adventurous!
grow wings and migrate
nice picture
now to recover
the camera
trees don’t follow
(including limbs and branches)
the straight and narrow
and then I wrote this microfiction:
A cabin in the woods - his first architectural commission. When it was done, the customer complained and demanded a refund.
Lumber harvested onsite made it a cabin near the woods. Lack of a front door made it an unusable stone and wood box.
He replied that the trees he’d planted would grow well after the snows melted - that climate change would make the coconut palms thrive. And that entry to the structure was easy - just climb through one of the windows; given how uneven snowdrifts could be, why lock yourself into a single entrance? He even offered to pay for a step ladder - an expensive metal one that could be stored outside.
The customer, for some reason, wasn’t mollified. He reasoned that there was simply no satisfying some people.
and then this prose poem:
Three seasons cabin stands starkly in the fourth. No sanctuary, this, ‘gainst howling storm, but edifice enough to persevere through blinding snows. Even Dorothy’s tornado would admit defeat to the stolid lodge. Only the most stubborn of residents, survivalist pests, eke out a meager living.
It shivers alone.
The stream burbles on.
.webp)