Mirror

#21 by Rick West

Our holiday prompt, Colder Weather, by Zac Brown Band was the bomb💥 or maybe it brought the bomb🌀… sorry if you’re getting hammered by the wicked-awful winter storm descending on the US🥶 Thanks to everyone who participated — what a great batch of stories! Here’s our Headliner, Wyoming, by Hank Cotton.

I am excited for what 2026 will bring, and am wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Week #20 Feature🏆

The Week #20 Feature goes to Bill Ferguson 🇨🇦, for his short story titled, A Fool If You Think It’s Over. Poor Jerry is fighting his way through a storm — will she win, or will he make his destination?

I say Jerry’s outmatched. Bill says he thinks he’s got just enough backbone to make it. What do you think — will Jerry make it?

The incessant whistling winds of change blew through his mind like a cold Alberta clipper winding its way amongst large buildings. The more he pushed against the breeze the more it pushed back.

A Fool If You Think It Is Over

“Look,” he said to himself, not looking over at the passenger seat. “We have tried this long distance relationship. We have tried settling into one place or the other for a bit but our work keeps calling us back. You have put 10 years into your job. I have put the same into mine. We can’t just get up and leave. And then what about families and friends?”

Curious to read other Feature 🏆 Award Winners? I’ve created an Awards Page to serve as an index for all our Featured Stories!

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Now here’s this week’s prompt, Mirror, by primalbeet.

Most of us carry a working explanation for why our lives look the way they do. Some of it is true. Some of it is inherited. All of it is useful in the same way scaffolding is useful, lean on it until the structure feels stable.

Over time, those explanations begin to feel permanent. They turn into stories about circumstance, other people, systems, timing, luck. The world becomes something happening to you.

Check the glass. 

For the first time ever, our song prompt has been brought to us by it’s author, primalbeet. I am stoked to be able to Headline an original piece — and I encourage other song writers to bring their talents to the Jukebox!

This song is a primalbeet special. The idea behind Stories From the Jukebox is to present music that inspires you to respond from your heart. This song is exactly that. I recorded it a couple years ago. And I think of it daily.

AI musical elements are heard in this version of The Mirror. I don’t have a horn, for instance, so I approximated a horn using Ableton software. AI in this context is an updated method of sound engineering and mixing. Everything about this piece is most assuredly human.

The song itself is a very accurate reflection of my personal view of the world. Mind is a mirror. -Rick West

I am in love with this essay. It’s reflective look at life’s ups and downs, and what we tell ourselves about them are no illusion. “Check the glass” is a mantra that will stay with me. What a great way to bring in the New Year!

Mirror

“Check the glass” dissolves that posture. It doesn’t accuse and it doesn’t reassure. It redirects attention. If the world you’re living in feels dysfunctional, the instruction isn’t to hunt for a culprit. It’s to examine the mirror.

Okay, now it’s your turn!

Calling all Poets, Fiction, or Non-Fiction writers that love music — Share your prose of 1500 words or less, using the prompt, Mirror.

Remember:

• Each Wednesday I’ll publish a newsletter with that week’s song prompt — along with a featured writer’s submission from the previous week.

• Anyone is then free to run with it! Just add the link to your story or prose in the comments of this newsletter.

• Subscribers to Stories from the Jukebox, also have a chance to be featured in the following week’s newsletter. And I’ll do my best to give feedback and restack each submission.

There’s always rules:

1. All forms of prose are welcome, just keep it under 1500 words.

2. Submissions must be published by midnight on Monday.

3. Submissions must include a tag/link to this week’s Song Prompt Newsletter embedded within the post.

   While anyone is welcome to add their post in the comments at any time — all rules must be followed for a post to be eligible to be featured or shared.

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I’m so excited to see what y’all come up with this week!

Thanks for reading this edition of Stories from the Jukebox! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it with your friends and clicking that ❤ button, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. If you’re an email reader, just hit reply—I want to hear from you too!

Don’t like commitments, but still want to support my writing? You can make a one-time contribution here.

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