Author: Mike Crowl

Repetition

‘CIRCA’ turned up a week ago, so it
STINGs and gives me trauma to use it yet again. My
BELLY, in fact, has churned, like there’s a full-scale
DRAMA in the innards down below.

Hello?

SPOUT forth a much too-friendly
HELLO, a far too-friendly nine
CARAT gold sort of hello, a bland
ADOBE baked brick kind of hello.

De-enthused

GRACE, until then an enthusiastic amateur, began earning
DOUGH for doing what she’d always loved: playing
SPORT. The tedium of endless travelling, training and timekeeping,
CIRCA 2020, soon took the edge of her enthusiasm.

Misunderstood

STEIN (Rick Stein the chef, not the drink) came in for a
REFIT. Seems a bit of his aging anatomy – a
JOINT – had gone awry. No wonder he was
TESTY. Wait! Did he mean a joint he’d cooked?

Flat flatting

ULTRA crisp, clean white
SHIRT – or so I dreamt. I
AWOKE to one wet, unironed – had to
VAUNT sleeping cat, snoring dog, last night’s empties, three packs of crackers, only to find the flatmate had ‘borrowed’ the iron last week.

Fizzy

FRITZ is not a common name to
UTTER, but the one-syllable zip of it is
LIGHT to the tongue, giving an extra tingle to the
AORTA.

Angled pasta

PENNE is “an extruded type of pasta” best eaten in a
GLADE. It has “cylinder-shaped pieces,” which, with a
CRICK of the fork, you can flick hither and yon in a
MANLY way. “Their ends are cut at an angle.”