a taste of ‘Achievement’

118 writers reach for …

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A colleague once sneered / at my ambition. from Win some, lose some by Mandy Toczek McPeake

From your new secondary school you take a different bus home to avoid the route they all take from their school. from The world turns by Sandra Arnold

Antique /shops in civvy life failed. Bankruptcy, another role / he stumbled into. from Pneumonia as Metaphor by Christian Ward

Going to the New School / Was like being sucker punched / And landing on the concrete. from New Girl in School by Linda Barrett

She once said he had a way with words, which he remembered when blank cards started to tempt him. from Season’s Greetings by Emma Phillips

… you wouldn’t want 100,000 tons of oil tanker accidentally rocking up outside Budgens, would you? It’s only common sense. from The Lighthouse Keeper by Ken Cumberlidge

I decided to ‘improve’ Gaston’s life by presenting him with a good bottle of Beaujolais-Villages purchased from the Nicolas across the street. from A Good Wine by Mike Lewis-Beck

All that training for nothing, I moaned when they informed me in the emergency room that my ankle was broken. from Pigs Can Fly by Howard Brown

No, being human is not a race. from First step by Allan J. Wills

Alas, but earth-bound after all, / down it came according to a law. from Village Gothic by Anne Harding Woodworth

‘Rita, out of a hundred entries, I’m on the cusp of winning it outright. Don’t you see?’ from The Shortest Story by Ronald T. Hardwick

Clearing his throat, he approached the stage / smiling he took the trophy and shook the presenters’ hands. from The Award by Rob McKinnon

I stopped growing. / That’s the day I began to die. from Autobiography by Remngton Murphy

Shadows haunt the backstage, / in Company with a Queen, and a children’s hour. from Jinxed by Barbara Meier

Stern circled the grass with his right toes. Ground still there. Better be no poop. We had a dog. from Keep Walking by Kenneth M. Kapp

Clearing out the ante-rooms of the dungeon, / I sorted and wrapped disparate memories from Fairy Tale by Dianalee Velie

“If I vote for you, will you do something about this?” from Careful what you wish for by Chris Leonard

She really should’ve got a robust drink, but only discovered / this remedy later, often at the wedding receptions of family friends. from Insecure Audrey by James Gering

I welcome learning and growing and deepening in my understanding, but that progress is no longer a measure of my worth from Four to Fifty-four by Cynthia Leslie-Bole

She picked up the scale, opened the door, and flung the deceit into the mirror. from Liars Everywhere by Len Kuntz

She should get most of the credit for our longevity, particularly because as my editor she will read this. from Credit Where Due by Doug Hawley

You see, we lived in the suburbs – the burbs, as we called it. It was cool to call it “the burbs” when you were a teenager in the sixties. from It’s Time by Don Magin

I slept a lot. Ate little. Moved minimally. I could not concentrate on anything – a TV show, a book, a conversation. from Steps to Recovery by Meryl Baer

I read The Art of War & I / didn’t really like it. from Highschool Reunion by Eva Hale

Such thoughts, once ruffled, should be raffled, / placed upon a bidder’s scaffold from A Rum Rap by Ken Gosse

I say under my breath / to myself trembling with a smile, / “Good work, Mike, well done.” from Graduation Reached by Michael Shoemaker

No laurels for this poetess. / My readers had inconvenienced staff. from c/o Somerville High by Wendy Freborg

The heart balloons and sentimental love crap / in the stores make me bitter. from Another Year by Steven Dee Kish

My interview next day with the CEO is astounding. He is overflowing with praise for my work in the EU. from Virginia Water by Tony Warner

I had begun to avoid her as far as possible, especially when she preened in front of the mirror from Mirrors, Maths and Magic by Abha Iyengar

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