Fiction of 111-words

Lydia Gil, La Bloga's regular Thursday columnist, is responsible for many good things, including introducing La Bloga to the genre microcuentos. Her original article is worth reading, here, and perhaps she'll one day share more with us about the latinoamericano micro-story tradition.

I started contributing my share of micros to La Bloga, here and here, and though they may not make it into any anthology, I'd recommend the practice to writers out there. Trying to fit plot, character, story arc, etc. into so few words is a rompecabeza, no matter how literary it does or does not emerge. The practice tends to flush out chingos of the unnecessary from one's writing, though not necessarily all.

Below is my latest microcuento. (111 is the word count; 4 = for; the last digits are the intended date.) And as Lydia suggested, if you've got some of your own, send them to us for possible publication here.

111 4 10.4.10

Chaneco the shaman frazzled his retinas
scanning untold texts for secrets
locked in science, fantasy,
obscure mischievous myth and lore
so he might achieve
Divine Awareness.
He learned much,
yet ignorance clung.

So, he ground the soles of his feet
down to pixie dust,
wandering the Earth,
seeking Portals opening into ironical otherworlds.
Many he found,
none assuaged his longing.

Then he ascended
through galaxies,
squandering his soul's luminosity
for that distant planeta más increíble
promised in Ancient Scrolls.
Thousands he explored,
but his thirst for the wondrous persisted,
unquenched.

Finally, he returned
to his inexorable mate,
entered his adobe home.
And discovered that
what he'd always needed,
had found him.

from R. to C.

© 2010 Rudy Ch. Garcia

Es todo, hoy
RudyG