Catch Me If You Can
**Catch Me If You Can** _by Altivo Overo (copyright 2007)_ Rusty rubbed his eyes and stretched, then pushed his chair back and stood up. He groaned. Too much time bending over the tiny piece of equipment on which he'd been working was becoming a...
A Close Port of Call
A Close Port of Call by Altivo Overo "What beast couldst thou be, that were not subject to a beast?" --William Shakespeare, _Timon of Athens,_ Act IV, Scene 3 Dockmaster Mark Partine looked up from his terminal when the proximity chime sounded....
Gibbous Moon Waning
**Gibbous Moon Waning** _by Altivo Overo (copyright 2016)_ Francis sat there for quite a long time. He had heard of students breaking under the pressure of college work and doing strange and dangerous things. Could he really have fractured so badly...
Harvest Home
**Harvest Home** _by Altivo Overo_ _(copyright 2016)_ The sun glowed like a dying ember behind the silhouetted trees and rooftops of Westvale. Birds nattered to each other in the dusk as they settled in for the night. The first stars, boldest and...
Found and Lost
Found and Lost (excerpt from a longer tale, copyright 2007 Altivo Overo) After a while, Fennec's sobs subsided to little hiccups. He sat up, still feeling utterly miserable, and looked hard at the bracelet. There could be no doubt about its...
All That Glitters
**All That Glitters** _by Altivo Overo (copyright 2016)_ Sequel to "Gibbous Moon Waning," please read that first. Francis already felt his heart growing lighter, with the awareness that if he had his token, then he obviously couldn't have lost it...
Jack'll Do: a poem
**Jack'll Do (Cow-horse Poetry)** by Altivo Overo (copyright 2017) Some folks there is doesn't like a gray: "He looks like dust!" is what they'll say. "Reminds me of a dark November day." But Jack sez, "Charlie'll do. When calves're...
Rabbit Food
**Rabbit Food** _by Altivo Overo_ _(copyright 2009)_ Phil leaned back in his chair and stretched, then rubbed his tired eyes. He squinted at the digital clock on the shelf above the monitor and blinked. Two in the morning? Enough of this leveling...
Samovar: a poem
**Samovar** _A poem by Altivo Overo_ _(with no apologies to Sir Walter Scott)_ O bold Samovar galloped into the West, Through all the wide country, that steed was the best At brawling, at boozing, at schmoozing the mares, Even while he avoided...
Coyote's Voice: A Fable of Creation
**Coyote's Voice** _by Altivo Overo (copyright 2015)_ In the dawn of time, ever so long ago, after Mother Gaia sang the world into existence with all its oceans, lakes and rivers, mountains, plains and forests, she made the creatures to be her...
Procyon Prowling: alliterative verse
**Procyon Prowling** _by Altivo Overo (copyright 2020)_ In silence she slinks through the silver-dewed garden, Wandering walkways, wishing for sustenance. Her three ring-tailed children thirst in the home den For this...
Dürnstein
**Dürnstein** _by Altivo Overo (copyright 2020)_ It was the early spring of 1193 when the fox Blondel discovered the place where his friend and master Richard was being held as a prisoner. The minstrel fox liked to tell the story in later years,...