
I want the reader to feel something is astonishing. Not the 'what happens,' but the way everything happens. These long short story fictions do that best, for me.
quote by Alice Munro

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Show Tune II
That's the long and short of it
now you know
how I've been waiting all these years
where I'm coming from
that's the long and short of it.
That's the long and short of it
now you see
just how hot hot jazz was
how it turned about, my bookcase
that's the long and short of it.
That's the long and short of it
now you know
that my arrest record's
not my best record
that's the long and short of it.
That's the long and short of it
now you see
how the Past's like a love
you can neither leave nor live
that's the long and short of it
That's the long and short of it
now you know
it was no gun in my pocket
it was a rocket
that's the long and short of it.
That's the long and short of it
and you're wond'ring dear
how I kept so pure
hull, it was easy
that's the long and short of it.
That's the long and short of it
now you see
so bounce your head
into bed
that's the long and short of it.
That's the long and short of it
read the blues
in these tattoos
make a song of it
that's the short and long of it.
How I wish
there was a bridge-
then I could burn it;
or the train
of a refrain
then I could board it
but there isn't
no there isn't, so...
poem by Morgan Michaels

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We're not keen on the idea of the story sharing its valence with the reader. But the reader's own life ""outside"" the story changes the story.
quote by David Foster Wallace

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The reader really has to step up to the plate and read a short story.
quote by Tobias Wolff

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To Cut A Long Story Short
Soldier is turning
See him through white light
Running from strangers
See you in the valley
War upon war
Heat upon heat
To cut a long story short
I lost my mind
Sitting on a park bench
Years away from fighting
To cut a long story short
I lost my mind
Standing in the dark
Oh I was waiting for man to come
I am beautiful and clean
And so very very young
To be standing in the street
To be taken by someone
Questions questions
Give me no answers
Thats all they ever give me
Questions questions
Oh look at the strange boy
He finds it hard existing
To cut a long story short
I lost my mind
song performed by by Spandau Ballet

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Genius is nothing more than common faculties refined to a greater intensity. There are no astonishing ways of doing astonishing things. All astonishing things are done by ordinary materials.
quote by Benjamin Haydon

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18 Definitions Of A Short Poem
1) A short poem
Saves time,
2) A short poem
Saves time
For its reader, also.
3) A short poem is over
Before its read.
4) A short poem
Can be swiftly reread.
5) A short poem
Is a lightning flash.
6) A short poem
Is one metaphor only.
7) A short poem
Is less than nine words.
8) A short poem
Opens ones eyes
In the morning.
9) A short poem
May be a short prayer.
10) A short poem
May be a poem of a single word.
11) Poem.
12) A short poem
A small play on words.
13) A short poem
May be a single sentence.
14) A short poem is shorter
Than the definition of it.
15) It breaks up the icy sea within.
16) A chill down the spine.
17) There is no end
To making definitions of the short poem.
18) A short poem in Hebrew
Is shorter than than the same poem in English.
poem by Shalom Freedman

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Short-story writing requires an exquisite sense of balance. Novelists, frankly, can get away with more. A novel can have a dull spot or two, because the reader has made a different commitment.
quote by Lynn Abbey

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Nada Mas (only the poem)
Reader, your voice is the poem
you are the words; and
nothing more.
Reader, there is no poetry
unless you speak it.
Reader, there is no sound
you must find what it has to say.
Reader, seek the thought
rising from your soul.
Reader, look all about you, up and down
no one else has come this way.
Reader, there is no other poem
only you among the words of the word; and
nothing more.
poem by Smoky Hoss

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Book Of Life
Life is like a book
A mystery
How many chapters will I have
Will the words bring joy or saddness
Success or failure
A book with no forward
For it is written day by day
With the ending known only by one
Will it be a novel, short story
Or an never ending story known by many
Lived by few
Oh how we would like it to be a best seller,
A classic endearing to the end of time
But sorry to say for most of us
Our story will be only be known by few
I will be happy with that
As long as I don't become one of the forgotten
I believe our storys go on
For as long as someone remembers our story.
poem by David Kush

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Once when I was in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, I met a mysterious old stranger. He said he was about to die and wanted to tell someone about the treasure. I said, "Okay, as long as it's not a long story. Some of us have a plane to catch, you know." He stared telling his story, about the treasure and his life and all, and I thought "This story isn't too long." But then, he kept going, and I started thinking, "Uh-oh, this story is getting long." But then the story was over, and I said to myself "You know, that story wasn't too long after all." I forget what the story was about, but there was a good movie on the plane. It was a little long, though.
Jack Handey in Deep Thoughts

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Laughter
Life is a dull story told by an idiot
Who is the idiot? Macbeth? Shakespeare?
Or the reader himself?
Because where is the text?
Does the reader half create it and
half perceive?
But suppose life were a story
told by an intellectual
Would it make any difference?
poem by Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

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The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.
quote by Ursula K. Le Guin

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We know very little, and yet it is astonishing that we know so much, and still more astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power.
quote by Bertrand Russell

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I've made seventeen or eighteen films now, only two of which have been original screenplays, all the others have been based on short stories or novels, and I find the long short story ideal for adaptation.
quote by Satyajit Ray

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Forgotten Pain
Darling!
I have long forgotten the pain
And your melodic antics
Which nearly drove me insane
I have long forgotten the pain
That moment I was passing weak
With nothing to lose or gain
You were on a mission
With your idyllic vision
You broke my heart; it was your decision
But alas! Time itself is an illusion
I have found myself
Like a reader finds a lost book
In the middle of a bookshelf
My strength cannot be broken
I have now dutifully awoken
Move on
Move on
My Darling!
I have long forgotten the pain
All the stress and all the strain
Is now flushed down the drain
Life is too short!
For tempers to flare hot
My Darling! It is just too short!
To store pain in ones pot!
poem by Sylvia Chidi

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Reader or writer
If you are a reader or a writer.
You should be a positive thinker.
You are more like a scientist observer.
Try to be an exact experimenter.
Nothing is too crazy to put on paper.
If you are a reader or a writer.
The reader is a wonderful dreamer.
The writer is a sincere worker.
Its lovely that both can be each other.
If you are a reader or a writer.
You should never say never.
So don't leave behind a book marker.
Make sure you have a word sharpener.

Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.
quote by Henry David Thoreau

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0016 Amphibrach
A tinker, a tailor, a soldier, a sailor...
‘A one and a two and a three and a four, guys…’
The amphibrach sings one of poetry’s basics;
a metrical foot – though a difficult one; it
is named from the Greek, meaning short at
both ends – that is, short, long, short, short, long short;
a poet can use it like this for a few lines, or longer;
however, it always seems trying to be something
else – like, some poor donkey who’s lame in one hind-leg;
it’s happier changing to dactyl or ana-
pest – see what I mean, now?
poem by Michael Shepherd

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Early Works - Reader and Listener
A circle of faces
smiles and frowns
ears listening
to the readers words
the rhythm of the voice
as it rise and falls
in mellow tones
a snigger, a laugh
as humour surfaces
over some joke
whom the reader has missed
slowly the story ends
a silence reins
its sad ending
has stunned them all
reader and listener.
24 October 1979
poem by David Harris

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Enduring M's.
Mosquitoes have endured long
Biting people
The same old story of
Insects causing plasmodium
Marriage has endured long
Bonding people
The same old story of
Interested adults wed
Money has endured long
Buying people
The same old story of
Inflated goods sold
Misery has endured long
Bullying people
The same old story of
Injured hearts bled
Motherhood has endured long
Bearing people
The same old story of
Incarcerated fetuses freed.
poem by Samuel Nze

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