Story and Poem of the Month

Our Story and Poem of the Month for March have very kindly been chosen by Drew Gummerson:

Picks of the Month March

I joined AbcTales back in 2003. I posted my first story thinking it would disappear into the black hole of the internet but then, to my amazement, I started to get email notifications, praise, comments. 

It encouraged me to write more. Get better. Entertain. 

And I made friends. Read lots of wonderful writing. 

So, 18 years later, it is a privilege to still be here, having had 2 books published that appeared first on the site, and to be choosing this month’s Story and Poem of the Month. 

And what a month! 

I can’t tell you how happy I was to see artofminima’s wonderful Martha appear back on the site. This is my Story of the Month. 

Read the first chapter here https://www.abctales.com/story/artofminima/martha-rewrite-chapter-one and then read the rest of this tale of a single mum dealing with her mental health, her love life, money, men, work and bills. It’s glorious and deserves, one day, to be in every bookshop across the land. 

Honourable mentions must also go to hudsonmoon’s Craven Gets Flashed https://www.abctales.com/story/hudsonmoon/craven-gets-flashed-xiii#comment-747066 which gets more bonkers and silly the more you read and Sean McNulty’s equally bonkers (but with hippies) House of Elder - https://www.abctales.com/story/sean-mcnulty/beginning-other-side

And then there was Mark Burrow’s Christopher L Johnson’s Heroic Act https://www.abctales.com/story/mark-burrow/christopher-l-johnson’s-heroic-act, TJW’s Ambush, https://www.abctales.com/story/tjw/ambush, and Ross Low’s Step Forward Harry Salt, https://www.abctales.com/story/rosslowe/step-forward-harry-salt-part-ii#comment-747957.

Read them all! 

My Poem of the Month is Parson Thru’s BIKE, https://www.abctales.com/story/parson-thru/bike. It’s a perfect example of how short and simple can be profound and moving. It touched me, in these times we’re all going through, in its cry for movement and escape. It looks back and forward at the same time. 

I also loved Jane Hyphen’s I am a Fruitcake, https://www.abctales.com/story/jane-hyphen/i-am-fruit-cake, well I am, and I think we all fell in love with marandina’s Fungie, The Last Time I saw Fungie https://www.abctales.com/story/marandina/last-time-i-saw-fungie-2005.

Onemorething is consistently outstanding and June is just that, outstanding, https://www.abctales.com/story/onemorething/june. It is another poem full of longing. I think we all can’t wait for June. For something other than now. 

And that’s it, but before you go, I suggest you also check out mark_yelland-brown’s Daisy, Sitting on a Grave https://www.abctales.com/story/markyelland-brown/daisy-sitting-grave and bhi’s The Orestan Oak https://www.abctales.com/story/bhi/orestan-oak.

Take care and hope to see you all at the next AbcTales online event, or even better, in the flesh. 

Drew (@drewgum on Twitter)