The ending is so heartwarming. It was a good idea to make the nails those vibrant colors to protect the precious hedgehog. The play on colors, their meanings, is so impactful in this story! These lines stuck with me especially: "She was sick of feeling invisible. She was scared of being swallowed up by the fog."
I thought I'd left a comment here the other day, but I didn't, whoops, sorry Kate.
Anyway, really enjoyed this. It felt playful and filled with the magical surreal.
Like Troy, I think the badger was mostly surly, hehe.
My favourite lines:
"The bartender served her with a smile then returned to his phone on the other end, which was waiting for him with its cosmic glow." -- cosmic glow is such an awesome description.
"If she had been fully honest with herself, and this had been true for a fleeting moment seated within the interior of the mansion basement, she would have understood that it was the going home that frightened her, not because home was ugly or untidy but because it reminded her of her strangeness." -- perfect description and view into her thoughts.
"It was the color of wild rice — creamy white on one end, then fading between black and coffee-brown." Also wonderful description. Not just rice, but wild rice. Excellent.
Hedgehogs are such lovely, strange creatures. Thank you for bringing them into the world of your writing.
Thanks a lot, Nathan. :) Fun to play with the surreal and think about what it can become. So great to hear which lines worked for you especially! I was playing around with some imagist ideas, i.e. Mansfield's stories. Let's see, I'll do a post about some of her stuff soon.
The Emperor of Ice Cream is one of my all time favorite poems! I love it. This is so uncanny - like an out of body experience - perhaps Lotta has just dropped off in the pub and projected herself out into the night to be with her newfound hedgehog friend. Not convinced the badger isn't a friend too, just surly.
Thanks Troy! I also love that poem. It’s wild and WS has so much great work I’m often forgetting until it pops into my head with one liners like this. I studied him in a grad school course alongside William Carlos Williams - now their communication via letters would have been good for my last podcast series.
Wonderful piece KCW! The alienation of Lotta in her surroundings being overcome by both a passive animalistic stance and the aggressive alpha rounded her out in the story. And I always appreciate your the way your characters wander the streets seeking to locate themselves in strange places. Nice work!
Ha that’s the animal analysis in a heartbeat, Brian. Thanks so much! Hmm, perhaps this disorientation is a bit me — lost in space but enjoying it a little too. Although I guess we are all trying to locate ourselves at times.
Kathleen, I made a post with my poem, and provided a link to your story. I hope that gets you at least some traffic, but I don't have that many subscribers.
I'm very late on my reading. But had to share the spookiest of reading this in an almost empty train carriage on a train that's stopped between stations in them middle of nowhere in the dark. Thankfully an announcement has eventually come: signal failure. But it's so quiet... anyway peng is a word I haven't heard since my days at secondary school!
Enjoyed it. Thanks, not many stories about hedgehogs. And not many poems either.
Hedgehog Rendition
Chorus (rowdy pub song):
Oh the hedgehog’s life for me!
To wander the sedge and be free—
No fears or distress
It’s all peacefulness
We sing out joyfully!
A small hornless rhino that clanks,
This hedgehog’s a monster in plate
He’s covered in sharp-edged planks
What an unfortunate twist of fate
A poor hedgehog, a miniature tank
While surrounded by all his best mates.
Chorus
“This has set me all a tumbling.
These plates are just a kludge.
I’d be happy just a-bumbling
Through brush and bush and hedge.
But look! I'm just a-fumbling
To pry loose and not wedge.”
Chorus
“These scales resemble large logs,
I’d be happier with spines
Spines attract the lady hogs
They’re small and they’re refined
But these scaly thing-a-bobs
Are a royal por-cu-pine.”
Chorus
“I’d really like to clank less
I’m always bringing up the rear
My plates impede my progress
The ladies run in fear
I waddle like a walrus.
There'll be no piglets here!!”
Chorus
“This life’s a regular rum show
Why’d I have to draw this deal?
Don’t tell me--just the way it goes
If it was you then, how’d you feel?
It may be a one in a million throw
But losing throws are real!”
Chorus (minor key)
This poem’s a made-up confection,
Of a hedgehog arrayed in spikes,
Who can’t dance because of rejection,
And sadly walks home through the night.
Chorus (upbeat)
Let’s welcome Spike in, not reject him,
Bring him in to society’s light
Hedgehogs come in different renditions
But inside they are really alike.
The essence of hedgehog is this, I supposes:
We all roll into balls so nothing discloses
Our soft little toeses and turned up noses
Round and stout, we sing out!
Oh, the hedgehog’s life for me!
This is brilliant, Ann :) thanks!
The ending is so heartwarming. It was a good idea to make the nails those vibrant colors to protect the precious hedgehog. The play on colors, their meanings, is so impactful in this story! These lines stuck with me especially: "She was sick of feeling invisible. She was scared of being swallowed up by the fog."
Thank you, Nadia! Happy it felt that way at the end.
That was my favorite line!
It’s fire!
I thought I'd left a comment here the other day, but I didn't, whoops, sorry Kate.
Anyway, really enjoyed this. It felt playful and filled with the magical surreal.
Like Troy, I think the badger was mostly surly, hehe.
My favourite lines:
"The bartender served her with a smile then returned to his phone on the other end, which was waiting for him with its cosmic glow." -- cosmic glow is such an awesome description.
"If she had been fully honest with herself, and this had been true for a fleeting moment seated within the interior of the mansion basement, she would have understood that it was the going home that frightened her, not because home was ugly or untidy but because it reminded her of her strangeness." -- perfect description and view into her thoughts.
"It was the color of wild rice — creamy white on one end, then fading between black and coffee-brown." Also wonderful description. Not just rice, but wild rice. Excellent.
Hedgehogs are such lovely, strange creatures. Thank you for bringing them into the world of your writing.
Thanks a lot, Nathan. :) Fun to play with the surreal and think about what it can become. So great to hear which lines worked for you especially! I was playing around with some imagist ideas, i.e. Mansfield's stories. Let's see, I'll do a post about some of her stuff soon.
The Emperor of Ice Cream is one of my all time favorite poems! I love it. This is so uncanny - like an out of body experience - perhaps Lotta has just dropped off in the pub and projected herself out into the night to be with her newfound hedgehog friend. Not convinced the badger isn't a friend too, just surly.
Ha, the badger comment made me laugh. Who knows?!
Thanks Troy! I also love that poem. It’s wild and WS has so much great work I’m often forgetting until it pops into my head with one liners like this. I studied him in a grad school course alongside William Carlos Williams - now their communication via letters would have been good for my last podcast series.
Loved it.
Thanks Colin!
Wonderful piece KCW! The alienation of Lotta in her surroundings being overcome by both a passive animalistic stance and the aggressive alpha rounded her out in the story. And I always appreciate your the way your characters wander the streets seeking to locate themselves in strange places. Nice work!
Ha that’s the animal analysis in a heartbeat, Brian. Thanks so much! Hmm, perhaps this disorientation is a bit me — lost in space but enjoying it a little too. Although I guess we are all trying to locate ourselves at times.
Really enjoyed this piece, Kate.
Thanks Jo!
Kathleen, I made a post with my poem, and provided a link to your story. I hope that gets you at least some traffic, but I don't have that many subscribers.
How lovely of you! I’ll have a look.
I'm very late on my reading. But had to share the spookiest of reading this in an almost empty train carriage on a train that's stopped between stations in them middle of nowhere in the dark. Thankfully an announcement has eventually come: signal failure. But it's so quiet... anyway peng is a word I haven't heard since my days at secondary school!