Competition entries

Love to Read Local Flash Competition 2023

The Love to Read Local Flashscapes! Competition invites West Australian writers to create original, flash fiction and non-fiction pieces of 100-words or fewer, inspired by WA landscapes, seascapes, towns and landmarks.

Writing WA acknowledges the Copyright Agency Limited Cultural Fund, Raine Square and Night Parrot Press for their generous support in enabling Love to Read Local Week.

This year we had a record 128 entries, posing a tough task for judges Laura Keenan and Linda Martin of Night Parrot Press.

"The stories this round are so good. It’s been such a pleasure to read them all, but narrowing them down to a shortlist has been difficult." Linda Martin said.

"Every story was a delight to read for its location, flash principles and unique voice. What amazing writers we have in Western Australia."

The 10 shortlisted entries are:
- Carolyn Abbs for "Woman at Gothic Window"
- Alison Davis for "A taste of the great life"
- Lydia Evans for "Sunset"
- Rebecca Higgie for "The banksias and the bees"
- Tegan Huntley for "To the Islands"
- Esme Lee Wilmot for "Tooth Fairy"
- Rashida Murphy for "Haphazardly put together"
- Faith Pollard for "Midnight Wash"
- Belinda Rowe for "Long Haul from Perth to Exmouth"
- Shelley Timms for "Seat 7A"

The judges would also like to give a special mention to Jeanette Stampone for her entry "The Last Feast".
They said, "The judges want to acknowledge one story in particular, whose subject consistently provided time to idle and write flash stories (especially dark comedies)."

@moonlitslumberbecomesher


A Return to Her
Years (and much more) had passed since visiting these childhood shores. Guilt and grief drowned the token relief that it...

Abigail Spiers


Seeing is Believing
The beauty of the Kimberley cannot be expressed in words. Seeing is believing. Red dust is all around you, and...

Aileen Boyer


Close encounter
Close Encounter The barrel heaves, lip shivering. I’m pummelled forward as I hear a crunch. A silver streak darts across...

Alicia Valli


Blue Streak
“Get up! We need to go, now!” We were running around the campground like headless chooks while Mum and Dad...

Alison Davis


A taste of the great life
‘I’m lookin’ for the Big Banana,’ he said to the petrol station cashier. ‘Why’s that, then?’ ‘Thought’d be worth a...

Alyce Schotte


Underneath
In the shadows of the jetty, five meters below the gentle swell of the Bay. Blowfish investigate, looking around I...

Alyssa Shapland


The Gap
On the very edge of the coast, buffeted by an Antarctic wind off the Southern Ocean, giant granite guardians watch...

Amanda Viviers


The Secret She Keeps
She whispers in the morning. Ignored by dwellers near. Her collection of untold stories chant beauty. Metal shadows cast along...

Amberley Laverick


Hyden Seek
They said this place was 70% water. I was counting on it: my planet’s been dry for years. Stealing a...

Amy Budrikis


That weird holiday that one time in Exmouth
On the highway out from the airport my friend asks how fast I think we’re going, the speedometer is broken....

Ana Lynch


What’s in a name?
What’s in a name? ‘There's no place like home.’ Albany California, Albany Georgia, Albany Illinois, Albany Indiana, Albany Island Queensland,...

Angela Aris


Along the Coast
Up-North palm trees are stapled to the Earth and down-South pines are drilled into it, soon to be replaced by...

Anna Leah Luna-Raven


WUNDER©
Wander? I wonder. Experience life? Or escape it? Is it to… Savour a heavenly rainbow, dewdrops on Pink Minks and...

Anna Leah Luna-Raven


WUNDER©
Wander? I wonder. Experience life? Or escape it? Is it to… Savour a heavenly rainbow, dewdrops on Pink Minks and...

Barry Divola


A Bench At Cottesloe
We sat on a bench at Cottesloe, the sun dying, the light fading, the gulls screaming. She said it was...

Belinda Rowe


Long Haul from Perth to Exmouth
A hot wind blows across the tussocky grasslands as the truck hurtles along the North-West Coastal Highway. When the tears...

Bianca Breen


Solace in the Forest
‘Here?’ I asked the possum. The possum stopped licking its paw; stared down at me from the eucalypt. ‘Here, yes,’...

Brody Stevens


Nature’s Bridges
As I trek Western Australia's gruelling 1000km Bibbulman Track, a singular kangaroo paw flower catches my eye - its vibrant...

Carolyn Abbs


Woman at Gothic Window
I am drawn to a daub of yellow, freesia on a sill, set deep in the lime-stone wall. Jarrah boards...

Cass Rowles


Outback Lizard Life
I blink slowly, stretching luxuriously in the morning sunshine, and scenting its aromatic air with my fine forked tongue. Flickering...

Charlotte Kemp


Red Dirt between my toes
The dirt was red, the air was hot. The days were long and simple, filled with hard work and good...

Chrissie Horley


The Secret of Roebuck Bay
Nine Japanese fighters approached, like angry mosquitoes, without warning, or challenge. Tracer bullets destroying the calm of the bay, streaming...

Christine Smith


Walking With the Moon
The sun is setting, and the inky night sky is casting the day sky aside. The full moon rises above...

Christopher Young


Sentinels
I can not resist this place. Sentinels shield me but the violence of open water is unnervingly close and evident...

Claire Stewart


Kings
“Fifteen seconds!” She rushed to the front of the blowhole, miraculously without slipping and interlocked her hand with his. The...

Claire Stewart


Kings
“Fifteen seconds!” She rushed to the front of the blowhole, miraculously without slipping and interlocked her hand with his. The...

Daniel Tang


Passing By
A cat - small, brown, black swirling waves. It watches me, on the bridge. Am I a threat? Is he...

Dawn Wellsted


A Perfect Mirror
One hardly breathes; afraid to fracture the majestic stillness of the water or to disturb the air. The mist, cloaking...

Diana Grove


The Farm
“Morn’n!” called Jared’s neighbour from his quad bike. “You hear about the prisoner on the loose?” Jared nodded, continuing to...

Elizabeth Spencer


dunes like white elephants (with a nod to Hemingway)
Dunes like white elephants ( with a nod to Hemingway) The first white dunes appear five miles out from Cervantes....

Emily Robertson


Winds of Ash
Smoke rolls down the hills, a blurry blue haze masking the green as that howling easterly pushes its way out...

Emily Robertson


Winds of Ash
Smoke rolls down the hills, a blurry blue haze masking the green as that howling easterly pushes its way out...

Emily Tsokos Purtill


The return
From the morning sand at Pinky’s, you see the city across the ocean as a final, irregular heartbeat. The white...

Esme Lee Wilmot


Tooth Fairy
The night the tooth fairy was meant to collect Lily’s tooth was the same night a meteorite landed in the...

Eva Cocks


Home Time
You wanted me to write about somewhere lovely. Tough. I am writing about somewhere real. A weekday quagmire if you...

Faith Pollard


Midnight Wash
The moon grabs me tonight. Scrubs me all over. She washes away all this hatred and uncertainty, the remains of...

Fiona H Evans


Indian Gift
We ride bikes to the beach, laden with boogie boards and warm bottles of coke, coasting down hills, hooded towels...

Gay Taylor


Shank’s Pony: Margs to Rosa Brook
The listening bush, humming and alive, jarred by the crash of a skinny boy’s footsteps. Blind to the bracken’s fragile...

Glennys Marsdon


Progress
Towering over scurrying ferry patrons. Chiming 14th century bells fill hearts with delight. Dividing opinions when proposed for a dawning...

Hannah Cockroft


Swimming Lessons
The teacher tells us not to put our head under the water while she’s speaking, but it’s hard to drown...

Heather Wallace


Anticipation
Roo poo on the front lawn every summer morning as there are poor pickings elsewhere. Purple bougainvilleas separate the lush...

Humphrey Tipping


Water-Colours
My memory is blurred The details run together Like a watercolour painting Or a wet newspaper. Cool water presses softly...

Isabelle Biondi Saville


Swerve
We pass another one, sprawled on the side of the road, sun burnt skin clinging to sandy bones and stretching...

Isabelle Southern


Starving in Plain Sight
Each year the landscape seemed to change. The feeding trees were farther apart. Great islands of warmth pressed up against...

Jane Hall


Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The short trip down Hospital Avenue brings mixed emotions. Sadness that gleaming green panels and windows with glimpses of toys...

Jane Wallis


Colours of Coastal Life
Her mood changes daily – azure blues, sunshiny sparkle, and turquoise – radiating the brilliance of nature. The birds revel...

Jay Chesters


In the Pink
“It’s a long drive to dispose of a body,” Kate says. I jump at her voice. “Sorry, my bad.” “You’re...

Jeanette Stampone


The Last Feast
It had been too long since she devoured her last victim. She ached to wrap her jaws around another unsuspecting...

Jeimer Ng


Safe For Use
The Bald Head Trail, wild and rugged, re-opened after what seemed like forever being closed for maintenance. Boundless blue seascapes...

Jen Rewell


I Should’ve Told Someone Where I Was Going
The bullet-grey clouds splintered open, unleashing solid blocks of rain across the wide horizon. Water rushed down the bluff and...

Jess Checkland


Search History
Google Searches, 12 May Perth Airport flight SQ3146 status Maps terminal 1 Perth Airport should you sit in front uber?...

Jess Gately


The precipice
On a remote beach, counting turtle eggs, you caught one to take measurements and let me hold it. A life...

Jodie Watts


Slumbering Giants
They sit or lie on ancient ground, unmoving, silently guarding. Sculpted from the trees of old they contain the memories...

Jodie Watts


Slumbering Giants
They sit or lie on ancient ground, unmoving, silently guarding. Sculpted from the trees of old they contain the memories...

Joe Tomai


Summer Ghosts
I hear ghosts whisper in the breeze. The summer easterly wind speaks of the past and tales of old. Long...

Joel Huey


Subterranean Desert Dwellers
They once covered the continent, Dracula’s denizens of humid forests. A prehistoric wilderness that was already vanishing before the marching...

Josh Radwell


Frightened of A Beautiful Thing
I've got one foot in the wet sand and one in the dry and it's a taunt, if the ocean...

Josiah Smith


Foresters Wood Picnic
“Ouch,” its voice is slow and aged, years working in the cellar will do that. There’s colour in the voice,...

Jude Bridge


Boab
King’s Park baked in the lazy heat, drowsy with bees. Selfie-takers came and went, iPhones attached to their eyeballs, eschewing...

Julie Duxbury


Flotsam
She was found by a local as they wandered along the beachfront. It was like she'd been thrown there, out...

Kate Lippiatt


A Natural Pause
Breathe in. Hear the patter of tiny feet, children, joeys, echidnas, and…what is a woylie? Breathe out. An old steam...

Kate White


Garage Sale
‘It’s just stuff,’ Uncle Ed waves a lazy hand over Nan’s yard. I take it all in. Haphazard piles of...

Katelin Hawes


Looking Up
Again, I reach out. My effort wasted as a I crumble through the sand, each granule snags before I wither...

Katherine Sanders


The Reassurance of Ghost Gums
Trees at the park in the next street up from mine in Bicton mirror the neighbourhood–old, white, Australian. The pale...

Kaz Campbell


That Rock
They called it a croissant, a seal, a mouthguard, a bobtail lizard. They saw a slug, a sea horse, a...

Keith Critchett


Memories
She smiled. I can smell it now, the sea. I breathe in, it smells good. I can feel the evening...

Kim Aikman


Disrupted Water
I was crossing the bridge when I realised that I was pregnant. The train was heading north and there were...

Kim Aikman


Disrupted Water
I was crossing the bridge when I realised that I was pregnant. The train was heading north and there were...

Kit Holmes


Rocky Shores/Rocky Road
We used to go to Hillarys on weekends. I would beg to go – mostly for the ice cream, really....

Kyeesha Bonney


Waves
I sit and soak. Soak up the faint wind as it brushes through my hair, The sun on my caramel...

Laura Scott-Brown


Along a Quiet Road
She cradled the head when no-one was looking. It felt illicit: exploring sensations through fingertips, testing degrees of touch in...

Lauren Cirillo


Mettams
The uneven terrain nipped at Abby’s feet while the sun brazenly coated her delicate skin. The lagoon was dotted with...

Laurie Steed


Wish
Most school days, Kayla and I walked Third Ave until we reached Beaufort Street, and after that, I'd veer left...

Lea Smith


Rottnest Island – Wadjemup
We played in the shallows, in brown skinned innocence under vast cerulean skies. Salt clung to carefree hair, crusted on...

Lea Smith


Rottnest Island – Wadjemup
We played in the shallows, in brown skinned innocence under vast cerulean skies. Salt clung to carefree hair, crusted on...

Leanne Tololeski


A Return to Her
Years (and much more) had passed since visiting these childhood shores. Guilt and grief drowned the token relief that it...

Lee Reader


Road Trip
THEN Kilometre after kilometre, squeals, appeals for silence, sobbing. Not enough room, not enough air, not enough anything. “WELCOME”….to Hell,...

Lisa Wolstenholme


Welcoming Committee
My friend stands on the gravel driveway, phone out, head down, checking the entry instructions for our bush accommodation. A...

Lydia Evans


Sunset
Best you don’t come, they said. The water is too cold. The wind is too strong. The sand is too...

Lydia Evans


Sunset
Best you don’t come, they said. The water is too cold. The wind is too strong. The sand is too...

Maggie Szabo


Tending the vines
Pain rips suddenly at his chest. A gasp dribbles from his lips. His body collapses beneath his beloved vines, his...

Makenzi Prince


Sea Monster
Sea Monster “Isn’t it beautiful?” Her grandmother was visiting from the city and had gaped at every weeping green tree...

Mara Alice Papavassiliou


Mining Accident, One Dead
She sees the wrecked CAT machine that marks the place. She sees the small apocalypse of the mineshaft below, the...

Marceline Luna


Halo
In front of the queer youth ball, In the back of my friend’s truck. My ill-fitting skirt, a gift from...

Maria Blackman


Dust
Red, red everywhere. Red sand, red dust. It got into every crevice, sill and frame. Red dust in the eternal...

Mark Dove


Bron’s Lament
Bronwen scans the hollow horizon. Out in the bay bronzed surfers soporifically take their last dance with the oily ocean....

Marlis Grosseholz


Being Lost
I walk and walk Do you need a lift? Thank you, no, I am fine. Although lost There is freedom...

Marq Sebastiano


Southwest Allure
You are lifestyle goals. I am just a passer-by. I talk of you with intent and willing. You reply with...

Max


Matilda Bay
My palms relish the sunlight sands beneath, Approaching pairs of black swans cruising to their next shaded spot, Along with...

Megan Anderson


Just Another Glass-off at Binalup
The flat sea chews morning sunlight into tinsel. Early swimmers slap and glide in the shark net, its smug necklace...

Melanie Hobbs


Welcome to Gnomesville: Population 7000
There had been four of them, see. Two adults, two younglings. The dream. I could taste that suburban life. Hills...

Mia Millar


Perspective
The relentless pounding in my head starts vanishing with each crunching step. Why now, alone in this endless expanse of...

Michael Burrows


The Giants
The giants have always watched. They saw the ships arrive. Tired men fighting through bush. Bushrangers on horseback hiding in...

Michael Burrows


The Giants
The giants have always watched. They saw the ships arrive. Tired men fighting through bush. Bushrangers on horseback hiding in...

Michele Nugent


Call your own Bluff
when little miss "i need to test my physical and mental resolve 12 months post-surgery for a life-mangling ruptured L3...

Minela Ibisevic


Letting Go
As the sunset at Two Rocks, I gazed in awe. The clouds were painted in fierce hues of red and...

Molly Tipping


When the Gorges are Gorgeous
When sun shines low over campers drinking tea and fingers of light creep down ashen walls When the sun unfurls...

Mona Farrokhi


That summer at our favourite place was where we got the best of him.
We’d run across the sandbar whenever it emerged at low tide, and when sea foam appeared, we’d pretend it was...

Natalie Leitao


Perth to Geraldton
In the flurry of final farewells to family and friends I’m distracted from the reality that my youngest is leaving...

Natalya Hawrylak


Road to Me
I am not city nor country. I don't know where I belong. Skyscrapers and concrete blemish Perth. Pigeons forage at...

Nicole Wilson-Rogers


Transformation
“Aliens” Sam squealed, threading one tiny arm around my leg like a corkscrew, the other pointing skyward towards the long...

Nicole Wilson-Rogers


Transformation
“Aliens” Sam squealed, threading one tiny arm around my leg like a corkscrew, the other pointing skyward towards the long...

Nikki Wilson-Smith


Synchronised fishing
A flock of pelicans circled overhead. One by one they landed on the lake. Gently paddling to form a loose...

Pat Saunders


Albany Wind Farm
I brought her here for a reason. A surfer since she could swim, it had to be wind or waves....

Pete Mitchell


The Ring
We’d go fishin’ every Sat’day. I’d catch enough to keep the kids from getting hungry for a day or even...

Phillip William


Sibling Mountain
I’m a rock, this is my rock brother. A sedentary chore up front of the deep blue lake. Plump frog...

Pip Brennan


Taylor’s well
Before he died, some of us went to Taylor’s Well, Pingelly with Dad. He’d lived there in the 1930s, the...

Rachael Jane Little


Intent
The water is always described as crystal, but you can’t see all the way through crystals. This water was completely...

Rachael Robertson


Leafy Sea-Dragon Adorning the Shores of the South West
Leafy Sea-Dragon. What a sight! Relative of seahorse though no twisty tail. Named after mythical Chinese dragons in legends, alluring...

Rashida Murphy


Haphazardly put together
Like the sentinel Boab trucked in from the Kimberley to Mooro Katta, the bus driver is big bellied and small...

Ray Doyle


The Old Courthouse
Twas convict hands that built this place With blood and sweat and stone Their tortured bodies made it rise For...

Rebecca Higgie


The banksias and the bees
‘Go on, babe, flip off Old Vicky.’ I refuse but still follow. He breathes in the lemon air from the...

Richard Grant


Sunday Brunch
A lonely figure sat by the statue. His wheelchair bathed in sunlight. Families relaxed on the benches having brunch while...

Robin Bower


River shells
All day we dug. It must be big enough for a man, she said. The sand was white, but as...

Rory Lefroy


Salt Town Waltz
Eyes to floorboards punctuated by stolen glances. Floor, look, floor. Floor, look, floor. Our first time at one of these...

Rosanne Dingli


Taken Too Soon
Fists clenched in pockets, she stopped at the edge. The notice on the steps announced another beach closure. She wanted...

Rosanne Dingli


Taken Too Soon
Fists clenched in pockets, she stopped at the edge. The notice on the steps announced another beach closure. She wanted...

Rosemary Argue


The Reef
The car shudders over corrugations and ancient reefs until we reach the sea. We unpack and trek across the soft...

Rosemary Argue


The Reef
The car shudders over corrugations and ancient reefs until we reach the sea. We unpack and trek across the soft...

Ross Jackson


The Driver
Rain along the tracks. Crows lurking each station of the Armadale Line. Whenever not seeing an unscheduled passenger on the...

Sabian Wilde


The Recurring Milestone
When I was younger, I’d distract myself from the decrepitude by trying to see bums peeking from hospital gowns. Looking...

Sabian Wilde


The Recurring Milestone
When I was younger, I’d distract myself from the decrepitude by trying to see bums peeking from hospital gowns. Looking...

Sarah Leighton


Family Holiday in the 1960s
We kneel on the back seat of the station wagon, stare out the dusty window. Our mother stands resolute, holding...

Scott-Patrick Mitchell


When Did My Life Suddenly Become A Movie?
I am standing in Rabble, looking at the poetry books on the rotating bookshelf when he appears. Him: slightly taller,...

Serena Reese


Reflections
Years had passed since they had been back to the lake, the place where they had once fallen head over...

Shannon Brie


Morning Stroll
A howling wind tries to wrest my coat. I clutch it tighter, my arthritic hands screaming in protest and swollen...

Shannon Meyerkort


Where the Koonacs Play
Delia Owens stole my line. The car is hot, an old cloth nappy flapping in the window. ‘We’re almost there,’...

Shannon Meyerkort


Where the Koonacs Play
Delia Owens stole my line. The car is hot, an old cloth nappy flapping in the window. ‘We’re almost there,’...

Sharon Kennedy


The Old Dray
Slowly sagging, rusting into the lumpen gravel soil. Vainly resisting the roughening and chiselling wind. Life chirps on around the...

Sharron Hough


On the Road to Mullewa
Mid-West miles in silence, save the wind through heads of wheat. The distance is insignificant to the gap between our...

Shelley Timms


Seat 7A
The plane tilted gently to the left, bringing into view the expanse of the Esperance coastline. Kilometres of white sand—scientifically...

Sophie McGeough


Scarecrows
They were planted along the main road of Balingup, draped in their creator’s old clothes. I remember their faces detailed...

Susan Braghieri


But Now I See
Bagpipes invade the daybreak quiet luring her across the road to Whitfords Nodes. Wintry open-mouthed waves assault the shore. Rotting...

Tahnee Clarke


The Family Bones
I was digging up the family bones outside Old York Hospital when a soldier tapped me on the shoulder. I...

Tegan Huntley


To the Islands
The waves are as hard and grey and wild as the granite hugging King George Sound. Not a good day...

Tegan Huntley


To the Islands
The waves are as hard and grey and wild as the granite hugging King George Sound. Not a good day...

Tess Allen


Worlds Away
Overlooking the darkening landscape, I sit. The chair’s creak sounding as tired as I feel. Citronella wafts gently around me...

Thomas O'Reilly


Crays
We sit atop a rolling blue field, constantly in motion. As day melts to dusk, the sea breeze gives up...

Ying Xiong (David) GOH


Palimpsest
Time is a landscape composed of billions upon billions of memories. As each life comes into existence, it leaves a...

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