February Year of the Rat Writing Contest Prompts — 50 words exactly

Okay, Happy Valentine’s Day in advance.  I love you all.

This month how about 50 words max.  Sounds good to me.

Here are some prompts you can use or not; it’s to you.  Joy Gold actually used the kitchen sink in one of her January pieces.  You can use the kitchen sink as well.  All prompts this month are From Bamboo Ridge, The Hawaii Writers’ Quarterly, No. 41, Winter 1989, New Moon.

From “Visiting Hickam Air Force Base, 1956,” by Mavis Hara

“You’re a Jap,” he screams.
I have just learned
my Japanese eyes
are dangerous.

(14 word excerpt)

* * * * *

From “This Rocking Chair,” by Juliet Kono

Often, after a bath and long day,
he slumped into the rocking chair,
lit a cigarette,
supported his swollen feet on the porch railing,
and he looked beyond the gullies,
his canefields, Wailuku River,
the harbor that first received him,
then to the first stars on the horizon,
and the swift darkness
gathering at his feet.

(56 words)

* * * * *

From “Get Space,” by Sue Lin Chong

Pausing before the immaculately swept pathway to her home, Mrs. Minayoshi tried to banish the idea of her husband leaving his business twice a week to meet another woman.  As hard as she tried to push these thoughts from her mind, she felt suffocated by the images of him and another woman exploring each other’s bodies and gasping with pleasure.

(61 word excerpt)

* * * * *

Remember that we are writing 50 words exactly this month.  Good luck, and good editing.

Rules

By participating in the Bamboo Shoots community, you agree to the following rules:
  1. We reserve the right to remove content that promotes hate or gratuitous violence. Be respectful and courteous to others.
  2. All contest challenge entries must be submitted by the designated
  3. Enter as many times as you like using a trigger/prompt (this page).
  4. Contest Challenge entries can be prose (including short stories, nonfiction essays, or whatever you write), poetry, or plays -- or any type of hybrid writing you dream up.
  5. Every entry must have a title -- unless you choose to enter a haiku, in which case you can simply enter the word haiku in the title section.
  6. All content/entries should be original work. You retain ownership of your entries; however, we may ask to use them elsewhere on the site or on social media to help promote Bamboo Ridge and/or the Bamboo Shoots online writing community.
  7. Winners will be announced with all possible speed after the end of each month. Winners receive 10 Bamboo Bucks credit to spend in the BRP online bookstore. Bamboo Bucks have no monetary value outside of the online store.
  8. Entries may also be selected for publication in the regular Bamboo Ridge Journal. If your piece is chosen, the editors will contact you via the email address on file.
  9. Please note that you need not enter the contest challenge in order to post on Bamboo Shoots. You may post other writing if you choose. We welcome that here:  Click this link to go to Shoot da Breeze.

This prompt is closed for submissions.

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