unphoto

not actually competing for the M&Ms on account of being deathly allergic

  Last week, I went to Boston to stay with an old friend. We excitedly planned out our meager supply of days— Harvard Square, North End, the MFA. Her parents were often absent, and we took subways and buses wherever we pleased— sixty-five cents per adventure. Read more »

I've always played house outside.

As a little girl I constructed elaborate homes in the woods by meticulously raking the pine needles away from the earth. To me, of course, they were labyrinth hallways with secret passageways down every corridor.

I laid down ancient wooden boards for kitchen counters and layers of moss for beds and couches. I even had twig-keys that opened the invisible front door- the only way to enter the house. To walk through walls was insupportable.

[My brother was therefore a self-proclaimed ghost.]

  Read more »

(GG interruption: This is an entry into the Giant Bag of M&Ms UNphoto Challenge. Read more »

The storm rages and rain falls, pelting the grassy field among the spindly blue trees. Grass pricks and jolts to the drops falling from deep grey clouds above.  Read more »

Two days ago I went to a friend's house to hang out. She had another friend over, someone I liked but didn't see very often. For most of the day, we watched videos on YouTube, because it was vacation, and we figured we had license to be lazy. We watched Cee Lo Green's Grammy Performance, Elton John on The Muppet Show, and A Very Potter Musical. Then we put the computer away and since we were all quite exhausted from doing nothing, we all lay on the floor or sat in the chairs or lay on her couch (I had to fight for the couch) and closed our eyes, moaning about how tired we were. Read more »

(GG interruption: This is an entry into the Giant Bag of M&Ms UNphoto Challenge. Help greenie win by leaving many kind comments and suggestions below AND do so in context: Read the other entries by linking here (and comment on those, too) AND create your own UNphoto.)

Four bodies jumble together in a seashell room with a sloped ceiling -- plastered with leaves that crumble to the touch and tea bags that hint of caffeine addiction. The ocean-colored walls are draped with tapestries, bumpy ridges that run in river-map lines. Half-light shades in the bodies draped over the twin bed and shadows those on the floor. They change position with laughter and the thump as one jumps from the set.

More man than you’ll ever be, he flips his scarf over one shoulder and poses, hand on hips, in the middle of the sea salt room. Read more »

You look like a photograph of yourself taken from far far away and I don't know what to do and I don't know what to say...

The dark is thinned by streetlamps, layered by leaves, and thick with a manic shouting that absorbs itself, swells and mutes and swells against the ragged slap of shoes on dirt. They are yelling rules. They are crossing lines. They are spilling out a madness that washes with the light across the curb. Read more »

We never had to express it in a way that was quotable or even memorable. Tangible just isn’t our style. You prefer to walk in strides a few cracked bricks longer than mine and neither of us sees a need to play catch up. I would feel stupid if I said the lights were pretty. What can be gathered without articulation must be done so that way. Read more »

This Is Real.mp3

(GG interruption: This is one of the two winners of the Giant Bag of M&Ms UNphoto Challenge.)

It is now, right now, and I am walking through the halls in my mind until I reach your door. I open it and now I am in your room and it is real; real as if my feet really did warm the floor because you know cold is just heat backwards; real as if I really did ball-heel, ball-heel, ball-heel tip-toe back into your heart. I mean, room. Read more »

[Come on, you guys!  Get writing.  Don't let gg & me be the only ones squabbling over a bag of M&M's, here.
Cheers,
~Neon]

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A rocky beach. Somewhere on the northeastern coast. Seagulls, of course. Read more »

0219_092814.MP3

 A writing challenge for all of you sharing my UNvacation: The UNphoto... DESCRIBE a photo you didn't take, or a photo you imagine taking, or a photo you wish you have. Tell a story behind the description. Consider this the "thousand words" challenge because, we know, words ARE more powerful than pictures. Given this is a typical fly-by-night YWP challenge, our initial offerings for the best one is...a GIANT BAG of M&Ms (peanut, dark or plain). Choose 'DESCRIPTION' genre, 'unphoto' as keyword and add 'podcast' keyword if you upload a mp3 of yourself reading the piece 

Here's a sample to give you some ideas:

It is summer of 1972. I am walking along a dirt road in Littleton, N.H. I am looking out in a field, a bowl of hay, really, and in the middle of the field are Wilts, 92, and his nephew Melvin, 67. They are haying. I'll let you picture that for the moment. ... Read more »