*So yet again I exceeded the word limit for a Challenge - but it was worth it! So here it is randomly and you can find the original Challenge here: https://theprose.com/challenge/10235

A poem from Mazzmyrrheyes

Another joke or pearl from JimLamb

Finder's posts are hard to find

But worth it when I did

GaryEnglish follows his handle

And Huckleberry is Hoo you follow

Dctezcan warms your heart

Either with kindness or a sociopath's microwave

rLove327 plugs away with coffee

Rhlencash spits out another ballad

Tuskntale makes me smile

While Mnezz curates my whole day

Harry_Situation brings the geek out

2bamboopanda keeps it real

Undermeyou brings everyone together

Ribeyemoshpit makes me laugh

Taki writes mysteriously

Lexicon meticulously

ajrfanze keeps it short but sweet

BarAloiscious has to, but maybe grits their teeth

I nearly miss SaroSathivelu's gems

She digs real deep it seems

Inlovewithwords definitely loves them

Wordvom fills the void with dreams

Luthien diligently taps away

GhostHerald plays a tune

dominospice is sad but nice

Beancounter chases away the grays

Boxcartramp tramps out the dust

Rustknight squeaks along

Dragonchild likes it wild

KassKatt likes it strong

TomJonas spins a fancy phrase

The_Book_Girl_K crafts a castle

charlottewrites (oh yes she does)

Hazelnut blooms like a warm cup of coffee

I can't fit them all

Into a Prose challenge, really

But I will spend as many minutes as I can

When they have spent theirs making my day

Note: Folks come up with phrases/words from their own tribe(s), or some local artists do the same and use these words in their work, then it catches on spreading, used by many fans/people across the nation.

A. blazing, blazed~

drunk/high (on drugs).

B. Chamba

marijuana\cannabis.

C. Bali

Older man, father.

e.g. how’s your Bali doin’?

D. Chow—

eat

• When are we goin’ to chow?!

E. Zed

a slang term/word for, mi home country Zambia.

F. Colgate

yeah, we use the word Colgate for ANY toothpaste. Doesn’t matter what brand. Lol.

G. Dyonko

a sample/taste.

Nifuna ka dyonko. ( I want a sample/taste).

H. Fastele

(Be) fast, hurry.

tiye, fastele.

let’s go, be fast/hurry.

I. Laka

nice, good, great.

Musa: how are you feeling?

Henry: I’m feeling laka!

J. Queen:

Mother.

How is our Queen doing?

If you looked at me

What would you see?

Would you see

The broken pieces within me?

The humiliation

The shame I hide

Could you see it in my eyes?

My broken soul

My aching heart

Don’t you see?

I am torn apart

The agony

The misery

Rejection, pain, hostility

Behind a smile

So fake you see

Could you, would you

Want to be

With someone

so broke like me?

Written by Michele Del Russi

The earth is round.

It still spins even though you are gone.

The sky is blue.

The birds still fly and carry on.

My heart is broken.

It still beats and gives me life.

My soul is bruised.

It still has hope amidst the strife.

Standing in a field naked, yet not one blade of grass seems to brush upon my skin.

I’m cloaked in a layer of satin.

I feel my eyes open for the first time in many years, as the person I thought I was disappears.

All of the things that I thought belonged to me, that I thought was me, was not.

I had no idea I have been wearing a mask all this time.

It’s like I’ve been dropped into a country so far from my own.

Where I do not speak the native tongue and everything around me is so unfamiliar.

And now I must find my own way home.

Tell me who I am from the inside out...

I see an orb of light filled with childlike joy. It brightens as you move closer to the core. I feel like it represents purity and divine nature.

Moving outwardly I see a beautiful clear day with fluffy white clouds over green fields of grass with purple and white flowers.

Next I see an ordinary day that is hot in an empty mall parking lot...

It was the weekend before Thanksgiving and I was a recent graduate, living and working in Philadelphia. I was new to experiencing life in the United States as a whole as I hailed from India.

I was walking back to my apartment with a handful of groceries, when I heard someone crying behind me. I wheeled around to see a guy in his early twenties sobbing on the phone. I was in a culture shock and was unsure if I should approach him; not knowing how people in the US reacted to displays of emotion.

He yelled, “Why do I care? Because you are my fucking brother. Now I will be alone for Thanksgiving.”

He was still on the phone, gasping for breath in between loud sobs, tears streaming down his ruddy face, comingled with the snot running from his nose. I had to do something, culture shock be damned.

As I approached him he screamed again, “Well fuck you. I just wanted to be with family.” He hurled the phone across the asphalt and it cracked open. The battery landed at my feet while the rest of the parts were strewn around.

I picked up the various parts and put his phone back together. The screen was cracked and it wouldn’t turn on. I handed it back to him as he continued to weep with his eyes closed. He looked so sad! He wasn’t keen on accepting the phone back so I placed it on the ledge he rested against.

“I hope it gets better for you.” I said.

He nodded his head and before I knew it I was hugging a complete stranger as he lay his head on mine and cried (he was at least a foot taller than me). We stayed like that for a minute or two and then he picked up his phone and walked away.

I walked back to my apartment with my groceries for one. I never saw him again. But every once in a while, I wonder about him. Did he ever reconcile with his brother? Does he have a family of his own?

I hope he found what he was looking for...