I have not written much/any poetry for quite a while, though I did participate in NaNoWriMo this past November, completing my goal of over 50k words in 30 days. Here is my NaNo novel page, and a short excerpt:
Wednesday afternoon at 4:45 p.m., Lieutenant Ann Hunt was “snooping” around Helton University’s campus. Of course she didn’t think of it as snooping, as it was her job to investigate criminal activity. But since Dino Youngblood was only a “person of interest” in the N.O.R.L.E. laboratory break-in case, and she was not officially investigating that case, this probably fell into the gray area between professional investigating and “snooping.”
The detective came to the campus wearing civilian clothes, and parked an unmarked car in the guest lot closest to Candelaria College. [sp?] She had photographs of Youngblood, and knew his license number – for a motorcycle. Not seeing the cycle parked, she decided to start at the building where he had his office.
According to the University’s class schedule, Youngblood was to be teaching a 300-level class on astrophysics in a small lecture hall on the ground floor in the same building. Ann walked around to the closest entrance, and found the building directory. The lecture room was close by. A student passed her in the hall, and Ann pretended to be looking at her phone.
Approaching the lecture room, the detective could hear a discussion through the halfway open double door. A handsome brown-haired man wearing a white lab coat stood in the aisle and was having a a lively conversation with some of the students. Hunt recognized Dino Youngblood from his profile photo. Could this be someone who would break into a lab in another university? If it was, why would someone suspect him unless there was definitive evidence, she thought to herself.
She decided to visit Youngblood’s office while he was occupied. She stepped back quietly, and found the nearest stairs. The office would be on the second floor, near the other end of the building. It was a fairly long, narrow building dating probably to the 1970s, with no obvious updates aside from some of the windows.
Ann passed through a corridor designated as the astronomy department, and found several of the offices were occupied at this time of the day. This could complicate, or perhaps assist her “snooping.”
Coming to a bend in the hallway, Hunt paused and checked for other faculty or students in the area. Youngblood’s office door was near the end of a small ell in the building, where it adjoined an older building designated as the chemistry department. The overhead lights were not on in this section, and the door was partly in shadow. However, Hunt could the more clearly see a light under the door. Either someone was inside, or Youngblood left his light on. She decided to knock.
Approaching the door, she saw a small board with announcements tacked up – upcoming lectures, Youngblood’s office hours, and a journal rack with a recent copy of an astrophysics periodical. Hunt listened, but could not hear anyone moving or speaking inside the office. She knocked twice.
No answer. She thought the light under the door wavered momentarily. That seemed like someone inside, possibly aware of her but trying to be unnoticed.
“Hello?” said Ann. “Doctor Youngblood?”
She silently cursed herself. If someone challenged her, she would not be able to explain how she did not see that Youngblood was currently in a lecture without looking foolish.
Ann detected no sound or further sign of movement inside the office. She checked the doorknob. It turned with a slight click. The door was not locked.
Slowly pulling the door open, she found the room small and cramped with shelves, filing cabinets, two desks, and stacks of journals and textbooks. There was no living thing, but a wall calendar and a few posters depicting plants and animals from tropical places. Puerto Rico, and, she guessed, Hawaii.
