Sunday, December 30, 2012

Lucky Strike


     Image by R.A.D. Stainforth 

I remember
gentle pressure of your lips.
Friction, spark, fire:
you ignite,
I burn.

But that’s past.
Turns out the brass ring
was only smoke.

A stale future
permeates my clothes and hair.

Ashes,ashes,we all fall down.

Check out more responses to the picture by R.A.D. Stainforth at The Mag weekly, online writing prompt provided by Tess Kincaid.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Monday, December 24, 2012

                 Let Heaven and Nature sing
              Peace on Earth, good will to all...

Friday, December 21, 2012

Apocalypse: Plan A


   Image by fanpop.com

   Here I sit at the end of the world
   with my bags packed and hair neatly curled
   I’m expecting the Doc’s
   great, big, shiny, blue box
   with its red carpet neatly unfurled.

   Plan B: "Go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for all of this to blow over." –Shaun of the Dead


  This is just a little fun for G-man's  FF55.  Go there to check out more 55's of wit and wisdom, and maybe even add your own.



Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Sandy Hook 12-14-12

    Image by cnn.com 

Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle - AR-15
Charlotte Bacon, 2/22/06, female
Caliber: 5.56 NATO/223 Rem
Daniel Barden, 9/25/05, male
Weight: 6.7 lbs.
Rachel Davino, 7/17/83, female
Length: 32.5”
Olivia Engel, 7/18/06, female
Barrel length: 16”
Josephine Gay, 12/11/05, female
Muzzle: ½ x 28
Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 04/04/06, female
Barrel: 4150 chrome-moly steel w/chrome-lined bore/chamber
Dylan Hockley, 3/8/06, male
 The .223 caliber load is popular because it has better fragmentation upon impact…
Dawn Hochsprung, 06/28/65, female
Parts, whether newly manufactured or surplus, are plentiful from dozens of companies - which will sell you non-restricted parts.
Madeleine F. Hsu, 7/10/06, female
Ban Criteria Features: Post-Ban AR-15 rifles, by law, cannot have more than 2 of the following features:
Catherine V. Hubbard, 6/08/06, female
a. Detachable magazine
Chase Kowalski, 10/31/05, male
b. Pistol grip
Jesse Lewis, 6/30/06, male
c. Threaded barrel/flash hider
James Mattioli , 3/22/06, male
d. Collapsible stock
Grace McDonnell, 12/04/05, female
e. Bayonet lug
Anne Marie Murphy, 07/25/60, female
f. Grenade launcher
Emilie Parker, 5/12/06, female
With a Bushmaster for security and home defense, you can sleep tight knowing that your loved ones are protected.
Jack Pinto, 5/06/06, male
. Bushmaster offers everything you need to ensure the safety of you and your family.
Noah Pozner, 11/20/06, male
Our high-quality pistols, carbines, and rifles are extremely reliable, easy to shoot, and include lightweight carbon models that are perfect for women.
Caroline Previdi, 9/07/06, female
With the "Sunset" of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban on Sept. 13th, 2004, Bushmaster can again offer features on the AR15 type rifle that had been deemed illegal for those 10 years
Jessica Rekos, 5/10/06, female
such as
Avielle Richman, 10/17/06, female
flash suppressors,
Lauren Rousseau, 6/1982, female (full date of birth not specified)
 bayonet lugs,
Mary Sherlach, 2/11/56, female
collapsing telescopic stocks
Victoria Soto, 11/04/85, female
and high capacity magazines.
Benjamin Wheeler, 9/12/06, male
Availability: As a result of the military’s adoption and continued usage of the rifle, the shooting public is blessed with a variety of manufacturers of AR-15 variants.
Allison N. Wyatt, 7/03/06, female
The author - or Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. / Quality Parts Co. - assumes no liability for accuracy of the information herein contained.


Note: Victims’ information from Huffington Post 
Weapon information can be found on the Bushmaster Website, including an article, A PROSPECTIVE AR-15 OWNER/BUILDER'S PRIMER, by Ron Wu. 

This is linked to dVerse Poets and IGWRT where each has an open link night.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

The Ride Home

    Image by Andy Magee

My throat tightens 
when I spot you waiting,
among the clump of students filled with
young, slouchy energy.

Then the mom-worry kicks in.
You look exhausted and rumpled,
smell faintly of stale beer and cigarette smoke.
I wonder how much sleep you've had this week,
this semester.
But finals are over and you’re mine again,
at least for the next three hours
while we drive home.

Your dark, 5-day growth
reminds me that you are a man now,
but still my baby - always my first baby.
You stretch and push the seat back to its furthest  position,
as we head west out of the city
listening to System of a Down.

It should be snowing, you say.
I agree as we look past the windshield wipers
into the grey December drizzle.

I turn up the defrost, as the atmosphere
inside the car is changed by the warm breath of two.
Then the special magic of a long car ride begins.
You shift in your seat, turn down the volume
and start talking…
And then
everything is all right.

This is prompted by The Mag creative writing group.  Check it out.




Friday, December 14, 2012

A Tolkien 55


We shouldn't be here,
if we'd known…
but it's often that way;
a habit of the old.

Their paths were laid
from ashes,
from shadows
both sweet and bitter.

Brave things, old tales, adventures,
ones that really mattered
they had forgotten.

Turning back, inside the story,
can we change 
the course of the future?

Written for G-man's Friday 55, this is a variation of Erasure poetry, which is a form of found poetry created by erasing words from an existing text in prose or verse and framing the result on the page as a poem. It can be allowed to stand in situ or arranged into lines and/or stanzas.  The poem I've assembled above is from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, as a tip of my cap to him on the opening day of The Hobbit movie. If you're interested in Erasure Poetry I suggest you go to dVerse Poets Pub.
To read more 55 word tidbits click on FF55

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Lost in You


     Borders  drawn, 
     points plotted,
     artificial boundaries
     matter not.
     All you need to know is
     YOU ARE HERE

And now for another edition of the "Top 10 Immature and Inappropriate Comments" List (all 12 of them!)

    1.       Go West young man!
    2.       What do you mean the borders are being re-drawn?
    3.       Who says there’s nothing left to explore?
    4.       No wonder the polar ice caps are melting…
    5.       Hmmm…I think maybe I’ll get a piercing in Belarus.
    6.       So, what about continental drift and tectonic plate movements?
    7.       No wonder there’s always a waiting list to get into the new geography teacher’s classes.
    8.       He’s got the the who-o-ole world in his hands…
    9.       How the hell do ya fold that?
   10.   Gives a whole new meaning to a year abroad…
   11.   Henry Miller’s inspiration for Tropic of Cancer?
   12.   And always remember: be good to Mother Earth!

    This inspirational image was provided by Tess Kincaid at The Mag.  Join us there!


Saturday, December 8, 2012

Reflections


Image: Google images

I wonder who looks back at me
When two-way pane is all I see.
Who’s hidden there behind the glass
watching me as I walk past?

From underneath the polished sea
I wonder who looks back at me
My eyes can’t see what swims below;
what worlds are there that I can’t know?

And walking through the misty night
beyond the edge of pooling light
I wonder who looks back at me;
my shoulders hunch, protectively.

With everything that’s come to pass,
reflected in the looking glass
while it’s my features that I see,
I wonder who looks back at me.

This is an example of a Quatern, which is made up of four quatrains with the first line appearing in descending order in each stanza, ie: Aabb aAcc ddAa eeaA.  It one is also iambic tetrameter.  This is the Form for All over at dVerse.  I'm too late to like up but you should still check it out; you won't be disappointed.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Dear Santa




I’m trying to be a good girl and not expect too much
but do you think that you could manage a little Prada clutch?
and a shoe or two by Jimmy Choo
would keep away the holiday blues
Although…
the geek in me wants a ‘Big Bang’ T
and blue box next to the Christmas tree!

This is my Christmas list in 55 words for both Mr. Knowitall's FF55 and Mama Zen's IGwRT prompt.  Check them both out!  And for all you non-geeks out there, the last two things on my list refer to 'The Big Bang Theory' and Doctor Who.  And I actually already have the big blue box  :o)

 This is me helping keep the Universe safe.  You're welcome.

Monday, December 3, 2012

About Time




















Image: Object to be Destroyed by Man Ray

Object
to be Destroyed
keeps watch over me with
disdain as I practice my scales.
I never did like piano lessons
in that room that smelled of cabbage.
So go on, destroy it;
you know I won’t
object.


Here's another take on the image:


Tick,tick, tock
scolded by the clock
I never could keep time…


And then I got long-winded:


Tick, tick, tock
scolded by the clock
I never could keep time…

Keep it, spend it,
measure it, treasure it
race it and chase it,
but never erase time.

If I could
I woul leave,
lose my place
in this line of time -
coil my time line
like a lasso
and tie it in a lovely knot.

Then my 70-year-old self
could remind the 7-year-old
to floss and study hard,
and 26-year-old me can
reassure me-at-13
that Jeanette is only a mean girl,
and not really important.
And just perhaps, 14-year-old me
could remind the 41-year-old
to lighten up and have some fun.

But, tie as I might,
the knots won’t hold;
my time line
is cut into snippets
by clocks and calendars.
Tick - there goes another golden moment
tick – and another,
tock…


Thank you for taking the TIME to read this and thanks to Tess Kincaid for this prompt at The Mag.  


Friday, November 30, 2012

November


   November strips down to her essence-
   a dozen shades of brown and grey.
   October’s color-riot fades into memory,
   while a spare, somber beauty remains.

   Geese call mournful farewells
   as they retreat to the southern kingdom.

   The spring will bring an agony of birth
   but now, Earth folds in upon herself
   as she prepares for sleep.

Written for FF55 writing prompt.  Join us with 55 words of your own.

Image by Mary Bach 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Fit for a Queen

    Photo source can be found here

The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.
She looks out through the window with disdain
at these mere mortals crossing her domain.
The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.

She looks out through her window with disdain
then summons churning forces of the dark
to seek out innocents,  and leave her mark.
She looks out through her window with disdain.

She summons churning forces of the dark.
The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.
High in her crumbling castle all alone
she summons churning forces of the dark.

The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.
She looks out through the window with disdain
at these mere mortals crossing her domain.
The Queen of Chaos sits upon her throne.

Written for The Mag creative writing group.  

This form was created by Robin Skelton, academic, writer, poet and anthologist. It is a Quatrain, and the second line forms a rhyming couplet with the third line and is also used as the first and fourth line of the following stanza. Any number of stanzas can be created this way and the final stanza is a repeat of the first. This gives a rhyme scheme of: A. B. b. A..... B. C. c B…. C. D. d. C .… D. A. a. D...... A. B. b. A.           (capital letters are repeated lines, and small letters are rhymes)







Thursday, November 22, 2012


            THANKS!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Never Mind



Have you made accommodation
for gradual hurt?
Are there places
you no longer frequent
in your own mind?
Places that are too treacherous,
too raw, too honest...

Have civility and formality
calcified your best intentions
into a cage you can no longer escape?
Has it become too dangerous
to even think
of escape?


This is for G-man's FF55.  Go there to read other 55 word long pieces, and feel free to add your own. 

Image: Health.howstuffworks.com


Friday, November 9, 2012

One Smooth Stone



One smooth stone
I hold in my palm,
yet it remains
discrete, separate.

Filled with potential energy
and a history I cannot access,
I touch only the cool, outer surface.
Secrets within remain hidden;
giving up nothing.
It simply is.

Silent and unyielding,
an inscrutable mystery,
I hold in my palm
one smooth stone.

Image: peterbolland.blogspot.com/2010/07/smooth-as-stone.html 

This is for G-man's FF55.  Check it out for 55 words of wisdom, humor or pure good storytelling.  Maybe add your own.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I Got the Low-Down-Political-Dead-Lock Blues


"Meet the new boss
 Same as the old boss"

Mama Zen directed us to tell her how the presidential election turned out in twenty words or less for IGwRT, but Pete Townshend already said it better than I could.  Listen to 
The Who sing it on youtube.

*Disclosure: While I think Barack Obama is basically a good man and the lesser of two evils, with the system we have even the best president is rather ineffectual.

Image: 123rf.com




Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Late Groom


She smoothed her skirts of ivory lace
while pondering their recent tryst,
and made sure things were all in place.

Her marble features showed no trace
of all the places he had kissed.
She smoothed her skirts of ivory lace.

 His love was spirited, not base,
some discipline was all he missed;
she’d make sure that was all in place.

Six hours late - she was disgraced -
he stumbled in completely pissed.
She smoothed her skirts of ivory lace.

She saw he was a desperate case
when she reviewed her growing list
to make sure things were all in place.

A glacial smile upon her face,
she gave her bridegroom’s neck a twist,
then smoothed her skirts of ivory lace
and made sure things were all in place.



This Villanelle is for dVerse open link night.  Click on the link to see more.  
Also, thanks to Christi Moon for help tweaking the meter.  Here is the Villanelle form using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes: A1-b-A2/ a-b-A1/ a-b-A2/ a-b-A1/ a-b-A2/ a-b-A1-A2

Image: photo.net





Sunday, November 4, 2012

f/64


    Image: Charis, Lake Ediza, California, 1937 by Edward Weston

Take me as I am
unrefined and unretouched;
not a vessel to hold
your feelings,
or a mirror
 to reflect yourself back
to you.

Do not oppress me with your
need for perfection.
Accept my beautiful scars
and creases.
They are me.

Do not superimpose
your romantic notions on me,
but see me as I am:
brave, sharp, focused.
I will not flee;
I will not fly into the sun.
I am here.

Written for The Mag where Tess Kincaid provides a weekly writing prompt.  I highly recommend it.  

Notes: f/64 was a group of American photographers, including Weston, who usually set their lenses to that aperture to secure maximum image sharpness in the foreground and distance. In 1934 Weston  resolved to make only unretouched portraits.  This was taken in 1937, the same year Amelia Earhart disappeared.

Leaden



   Dark and threatening
   hammered tin November skies
   split and fall on me

Image: Kreuzberg'd blog 'Spotted in Passing'

Friday, November 2, 2012

Dilution


The world is filled with echoes of
tissue paper sighs;
littered with
soft, sibilant requests
and soliloquies that wither on the lips.

Hope is stored on the top shelf
of a closet
safely wrapped in old newspapers,
only taken out for special occasions.

With desire sketched in pencil,
longing diluted,
it only hurts a little.


For G-man and his FF55.  Go there to find 55 words of wit, wisdom and whimsy from a variety of bloggers.  Maybe add your own!

Monday, October 29, 2012

The Drought is Over



Kiss me
to the bone
with your
rosebud lips.
Make me oblivious
to thunder.

Dance through my veins
as I breathe you in.
Drenched and dripping,
surely I will drown
in you.

Enfold me in
your arms
as rain
puddles at our feet.
Gene Kelley
ain’t got nothin’ on us.


This is written for The Mag where Tess Kincaid provides a weekly writing prompt.  Join us there.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Galilei



Push aside the curtain of day
looking to eternal night:
breathless sight.
Longing sigh, clutch the sky;
hold me to you tight.
Smitten with the inky blue
I give this night to you.

This is for IGwRT Sunday Mini-challenge.  The challenge is to use the rhyme and meter form created by Paul Lawrence Dunbar.  Specifics can be found at the site. Go read what everyone did and give it a try!

Image from: lakeobigwater.com



Willow Manor Ball


How exciting – my first Willow Manor Ball!  Thank you for everything Tess; you are the perfect host.


I carefully chose my dress
from the tree where they grow
behind the house.
The gloves I knit of
licorice laces.

As music saturates me
the elephant in the room
sits at my side on the couch,
imploring me with absinthe eyes.
How could I possibly say no?

At first I couldn't find a thing to wear
until I remembered the dress tree out back:

It was a tough decision, but in the end I chose this black and white number...
...and elephants of course.


And the mask I will be wearing looks like this: 

Of course to go with elephants I must have the simple elegance of pearls:

Finally, to complete the ensemble, I've opted for these tied up heels...

...so there won't be any lost shoe incidents.

I promised to save the last dance for Babar, but could I have THIS dance with you?  Please won't you join me at the ball?






Thursday, October 25, 2012

What Were You Thinking?


I feel a difference in the air.
if you go out, please have a care;
All Hallows Eve’s within the week;
when spirits rise, your soul to seek.
The undead, ghosts and demons
will be upon us soon, but
 I’ll take my monsters hairy, wild
and hoOowling at the moon!


Image: top10films.co.uk

Here is a FF55 for G-man in keeping with the spirit(s) of the upcoming holiday.  Follow the link and check it out, or add your own 55 words of poetry or fiction.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Eckleburg


Does anyone look on
as we fashion
our monuments to death?

Decorate our bodies like sarcophagi;
arrange the canopic jars:
liver, lungs, intestines, spleen.

Lay out bones like dominos,
triangulating the distance 
between soul and abyss.

Written for The Mag and also linked to IGwRT open link Monday.  Both are well worth your time to have a look.  The above image is from Tess Kincaid.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Karmageddon



I have the list that karma missed,
penned the last time I got pissed:

dog-kickers, boot-lickers,
whiney little nose-pickers,
men who say they’ll call then don’t,
or promise to be true but won’t,
tattletales, bullies, hypocrites, thugs,
global warming doubters, litter bugs.

I’m attorney, judge and jury,
and you know well, hell hath no fury…

This is for everyone's favorite G-man and his FF55.  Check it out, and leave your own 55 words of wisdom or folly.
*Disclaimer:  This is only a partial list, other infringements and character flaws may be subject to Karma (or me) without prior warning.  Especially if it's a day that I'm having a snit.  Always be sure to read the fine print, cause you just never know!

Image: Karma-recto by Corporatecounsel.net

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Midnight Snack


There is homely magic
in this late-night kitchen.

We gather
in a communion of teacups
resting on worn Formica,
encircled by elbows
and infused with cinnamon and safety.

Warm, buttermilk light wraps
around our shoulders
like a 60-watt blanket.
It spills from the windows
carving shapes in the night.

Together we weave
our disparate stories.
They rise like steam before us,
between us;
twisting and converging
until we belong.


The image Midnight Snack, by Curtis Wilson Cost is offered as a writing prompt at The Mag.  Join us.