Vacation

Hey Y'all!

I found my netbook last week, but since my sweetie-pies may have had a hand in it being misplaced (hidden), I took an unscheduled break last week to spend more time with them.  I am taking them to go build very cold sandcastles at the beach this week for spring break. (It's like a deep south version of playing in the snow, right?)  Thanks for stopping by and I will return comments and visits when I get back.

heidi

FWF Submission: Six Years Was Way Too Long

Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday

Six Years Was Way Too Long

Once I dated a guy
who really did try by and by
to act like he owned me
and hide he was lonely
Until finally I was able to fly.

heidi
written 3/15/13 for Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday

listen to ‘Six Years Was Way Too Long’ on Audioboo

Hmmmm, well at least it's not a cinquain, which is what it tried to originally be. Kellie's Free Write prompt gives you a prompt and then you just sit, open your mind, and write, and see what happens. This week's prompt is the picture above. So, what we have is my fist attempt at a Limerick. But I don't know how I feel about it. A Limerick is supposed to be witty...I did not achieve witty (although I did look up "witty" just to make sure.) I think that I need to work up some more courage if I am going to out others in my writing. I do love this prompt, though. Maybe I'll come back again. I am going to post this, even though I feel ambivalent about it, because...well...it's my blog and I wanna. And look- it's not a cinquain, and I haven't retold a movie, TV show, fairy tale, or a mutilation of  Queen. Yay me!

3WW Submission: Cinquain for a Hologram

Cinquain for a Hologram

Careful
Rimmer, that  "H"
isn't for hug. Mistake
that drive plate for fixed and your a
smeghead.

heidi
written 3/15/13 for 3WW
This week's words: Careful, Hug, Mistake

listen to ‘Cinquain for a Hologram’ on Audioboo

Someone stop me before I retell again!. I have been on a cinquain kick, and a retelling other stories kick, and here I've done both.  I have noticed that it seems to help me keep writing and not burn out. Maybe I should limit myself to only one retelling a week at the most. Maybe I should also cut down on the Netflix (although maybe it's too late for that.) Finally, for those of you who don't recognize it, this is about Arnold Rimmer, BSC, SSC of the Jupiter Mining Corp. Ship, Red Dwarf. If you have never seen Red Dwarf, go watch it now, and you're welcome!

dverse Form for All: Pi Day

Pi Day
Today
Fooled me when
I wanted apple pie.
What I got was three point one four.
Math sucks!
heidi
written 3/14/13 for dVerse Form For All

listen to ‘Pi Day’ on Audioboo

I have lost my netbook, which means that I am writing this on my phone. So thank you Tony for the prompt for a cinquain! I've been practicing these, and I think I am still writing prose rather than poetry. Oh well, it'll click sooner or later. I write another cinquain in response to the prompt that  is more prosey, but I'll save that for another day. Now let's see if I can link this baby. (and if y'all see my computer around, please tell it to come back home)

dVerse OLN: Repost of Groceries

Groceries
  (the ride home)

Alright sweet boy,
let's get you in your seat.
No, in your seat.
Sit down,
Sit down,
Sit down.
There's a good boy.
I know, I know, Mommy's being mean.
Okay sweetie, your brother's in.
Let's get you in the truck.
Here, help me lift you out of the cart.
Now stand, okay, put your foot there-
no there, there! sweetie.
upsydaisy!
Now whose heinie is this in my face?
Let's get you in the truck. Watch your head!
Oh! I'm sorry sweetheart, are you okay? I'll kiss it.
There's a girl.
Okay , who wants juice boxes? Yay juice boxes!
Here you go sweetie. Here you go sweetheart.
Okay- the buggy is corralled.
Damn it's hot.
Let's start this up and turn on the AC.
Phew! That's better.
Y'all ready to go home and eat some lunch?
Oh Shit!
Did I turn off the tea?
Is the stove on?
Oh shit the stove's on!
Damn red light.
What if it's boiled down?
How long were we in the store?
Crap! TWO HOURS!
crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap
Comeoncomeoncomeon.
What if the house caught fire?
What if I have burned down the neighborhood?
I just bought all those Courage cartoons on iTunes!
Shit! the computer! Shit! The Dog!
Please dont' be on fire.
Aw come on! Another light?!
Please don't be on fire.
Sweetie, who taught you the diarrhea song?
My house is on fire and my little girl is singing about runny bowels.
When you're sliding into first and you feel a juicy burst...
Okay-good-i don't see any smoke.
Here's the neighborhood...still standing.
Here's our house.
No fire in sight.
Stay here kids, Mommy will be right back.
No smoke in the house, but the stove is on.
Now it's off, (big sigh).
Oh damn, I bet that tea is ruined.

heidi
written 8/28/11
submitted dVerse OLN 3/13/13

listen to ‘Groceries’ on Audioboo

I was really excited about Claudia's post introducing the OLN, and I was just going to read and comment and not post. The pieces I have written lately have been in response to specific prompts and I didn't have any ideas for something to write for it. Then I started looking at older posts here and decided to repost this piece. It was one of the first pieces written for this blog, and I think it's funny. It hasn't really been read, though, and I thought I would use this opportunity to reintroduce it. (I was actually torn between this and Thank You.) It also has a second part, Groceries II. I think that this is pretty representational of my poetry, especially the more comedic things.

The Mag 159 Submission: Waves

Meal Beach, Burra Isles, Shetland by Robin Gosnall

Waves

Anxious
and depressed the
waves wash through me. The lie
"I'm okay" sparkles on my face
like sun.

heidi
written 3/12/13 for The Mag 159

listen to ‘Waves’ on Audioboo

I've been practicing cinquains on Twitter and most of them are more statements than poems.  I'm still working on whatever it is that separates poetry from pose*...what is that? My poetic voice? Maybe I'm a little too much in my head right now.

*okay, so a few hours later, i come back to reread this and see that i wrote "pose" instead of "prose". i thought about just editing it, but then wondered if it was a freudian slip, or is it that my "r" is not wanting to work?

The Sunday Whirl Submissions: Wordle I and Wordle II

Wordle 99

Wordle I.

I think that a part of me
reserves the hardest challenges for myself,
so that I will fail.

These selfish, cruel sprees
are familiar to me
and make me want to put away more fearsome desires.

I use failure like a talisman
to distance me from more intimate
disappointments.

I am an outsider in my own body.
Painting myself in inadequacy.
Closing my window to a future.

Wordle II

Outsider

part intimate

uses reserves paints

body window soul love

written embroidered stamped

away fearsome

sprees

heidi
both written 3/10/13 for The Sunday Whirl

listen to ‘Wordle I and Wordle II’ on Audioboo

I decided to write something short(er) this week after using last week's prompt to finish my story. I read about diamantes on Aprille's blog  more memes and wanted to try it. I am not happy with the outcome (although it is my first one.) Hence, my first poem. I think I need to go get my extra hour's sleep back.

dVerse Submission: Regina, A Fish Tale

Regina, A Fish Tale

A shark swims quiet down in the deep,

A pretty girl swims at night.

The island is already asleep.

Unaware of a great big fright.

The shark is hungry,

He’s hungry for food

And he’s hunting off of Amity

The beaches stay open, now Pippet is gone

And…little Alex, he eats.

Beware the Great White shark!

Beware the Great White shark!

He’ll drag you down and eat you up.

Beware of the Great White shark!

Hey! We need expert help!

Beware the Great White shark!

First came Hooper from the Institute

Who supported a holiday ban.

Beaches stayed open another day

The Great ate another man.  

They hired Quint, at a handsome fee,

That drunk and crazy old goat.

At sea the shark attacks “You’re gonna

need a bigger boat”

Beware the Great White shark!

Beware the Great White shark!

He’ll drag you down and eat you up.

Beware of the Great White shark!

Shit! I’m gonna have bad dreams!

Beware the Great White shark!

I really love some Queen

I thought that this’d be fun

The music’s stuck in my head

I’m thinking this wasn’t that smart

There are plenty of ways you can kill a shark

And answer islanders’ calls

You can lick him

You can kick him

You can stick him with the poisonous

Chemicals

But in the end, Martin he blew him up

With a bullet and compressed air.

Just when you thought it was safe to go

Back, “Jaws 2”,  no wait, that’s not fair.

Beware the Great White shark!

Beware the Great White shark!

He’ll drag you down and eat you up.

Beware of the Great White shark!

Fuck! I’ll never swim again.

Beware the Great White shark!

heidi

 written 3/9/13 for dVerse Poetics: Interactions (Click to visit dVerse)

listen to ‘Regina, A Fish Tale’ on Audioboo

Brian and Gretchen co-tended tonight and gave us some cool prompts, which I kind of took liberties with.

Brian's prompt was to get a list of words MadLib style and work them into a poem. My husband provided me with these words shark, man, swim, is, are, pretty, handsome, smart, food, music. I love MadLibs, and I love sharks, and I thought that I should retell Steven Spielberg's movie Jaws (although maybe let the shark win this time...I always root for the shark.)

Gretchen's prompt was to think about music that has inspired you and  that moment when it first happened or listen to it again with a new mindset and see what happens.  Hopefully, y'all recognized Another One Bites the Dust (click for lyrics and a video. Lyrics and music written by John Deacon.)by Queen. My first memory of this song was when I was around 11 or 12 and my friend told me that if you played it backwards, you could hear them sing "I love to smoke marijuana." So, of course, I was never going to listen to Queen again. That's the nice thing about growing up...you can laugh at those silly childhood thoughts...never listen to Queen again? Let's try not needing oxygen first. Gretchen, this is what happens when you ask me to think about music that inspires me.

So you see what happened. I wrote a parody combining Jaws and Another One Bites the Dust. (Yes, Weird Al has had an unusually strong influence on me.) 

I also have no musical ability whatsoever. I hope that one day Freddie will forgive me.

Mag 158 Submission: The End of the Affair

photo by TheFoxAndTheRaven
The Mag 158

The End of the Affair


If I'm honest, Frank, no, Splash Mountain was not my dream spot for a proposal.

listen to ‘The End of the Affair’ on Audioboo

heidi
written 3/9/13 for The Mag 158 (check it out!)

I've been writing heavy stuff lately and then I see these wonderful prompts from Magpie Tales and it brings out the smartass in me. Can we pretend that I am writing a Monostitch and not just a cheesy caption?

dVerse Submission: Sweet Home or Psalms Fell on Alabama

Sweet Home
     or Psalms Fell on Alabama


My home is also the home of the first U.S. Mardi Gras.
     My home is also the home of the last tree to grow Strange Fruit.

We have small, proud mountains.
     We mine them.

We have beautiful rivers and bays.
     We pollute them.

We wear a black belt of rich farmland
      which  we sell to corporations.

We are strong in our faith
       but we use our bible belt to beat down .

It is the home of the Tuskegee Airmen.
      It is the home of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

It is the birthplace of Coretta and Condoleezza; Harper and Helen; Rosa.
      It is the resting place of of Michael and Billy Jack.

It had the meeting place of the United Klans of America,
      until Mrs. Donald took them down for her son.

It is a land of beauty and richness.
       It is a land of hate and poverty.

We fear Them because
      we don't understand that there is only Us

I love my home state,
     and it breaks my heart.

heidi
written: 3/8/13 for dVerse Oh the Places We Live prompt

listen to ‘Sweet Home, or, Psalms Fell on Alabama’ on Audioboo

I had to think about this one for a while, and I am never satisfied with the stuff I write that has required intense pondering. I liked this challenge, and, in an attempt to learn more about poetry forms,  I have been reading Poetry for Dummies by John Timpane. I have never written psalms before and I thought this would be a good opportunity. This could have gotten very long, but there is only 10 hours left in this linky and I really am not trying to write a book on Alabama. If you are curious, I have posted links (and there are Wikipedia links, but I am running out of time here) below about the song references, and people mentioned in the poem in case you want to read more. (in order of appearance)

Sweet Home Alabama     Stars Fell on Alabama     Strange Fruit      Tuskegee Airman     Tuskegee Syphilis Study     Coretta Scott King     Condoleezza Rice     Helen Keller     Harper Lee     Rosa Parks     Michael Donald     Billy Jack Gaither     Beulah Mae Donald
 x

3WW Submission: Contagion

Contagion

My girl
wakens
me. The brutal
virus gropes at her. Her
fevered vomiting transfers it
to me.

I douse
myself
in alcohol.
Naughty virus makes us
worship pale porcelain gods. I
hate colds!

heidi
written for 3WW using 3/6/13 and 2/27/13 prompts.

I missed last week's prompt so I worked it into this week's submission. The words for this week are brutal, grope, and transfer. The ones for last week were douse, naughty, pale. My sweeties have been sick this week and it is horrible and funny, and what is most on my mind.

The Sunday Whirl Submission: From That Moment On

The Sunday Whirl-Wordle 98

From That Moment On

She is gone. Her body has stopped, following her heart, which was carried away weeks ago in tiny hands. She has found peace and more, and some might call her blessed. There are people here, though, who miss her. Many of those who were forgetting her as she sat in her room, remember her now. They are all sad, and some are very angry. Some of these people need to forgive her and will never be able to. The life that was meant to be hers is now gone, as well as the life that was supposed to be his.

He stands at the graves, both still new and wonders. All of his thoughts are incomplete sentences swirling like dust in his mind. The most developed thought focuses on the size of the mounds of dirt in front of him. The unbalance...He imagines that he hears wings...He is guided away by well-meaning hands, never hearing the words of comfort offered. As he rides home to the casseroles and hams and roasts and salads and cakes and pies he stares at the sky and wonders what is that color blue called? Has he ever seen that color before? He has captured a moment that he can think about later when he starts to feel again, and he is already beginning to survive. As the moments move to days, and weeks, and months and years, he sometimes feel that he has more than he deserves. He misses her and their baby, but he can think of them and, in that instant,  feel happy that they were his. Then he feels a slap of guilt that he was not able to save them. In the end, he is just a human being. What he couldn't give his wife, he is able to give himself, and he lives a good life.

So, here I am, writing this ending. This has been the hardest segment to write, and sitting on top of these three paragraphs are earlier versions that I am going to delete. I was not able to snare the happy ending that I wanted for her, but I think I did her justice. From the first written line, I was worried that I would end here. I have followed the story rather than exerting my will over it. And the bitch of it all is that I *gasp* like this version better.

The End.

heidi
written 3/6/13 for The Sunday Whirl Wordle 98 (click the link to see other submissions)

I'm tired, so not much of a write up here. The other parts of this story (in order) are

One Moment in One Day
 At Some Point Later
The Final Moment

You can click on the titles to read those posts.

Almost Past My Block

I think my toastiness is fading. I was able to write a poem and I have been working on my latest Wordle, but it is slow coming. I decided to take this morning to catch up reading some links to prompts that I wished I had written for, but missed. I may still write for them and post here, but I think I have learned my lesson. I won't try to catch up, read and respond to other links, and respond to comments all in one Sunday (or Tuesday as the case may be.) I am also trying to figure out Chirbit because I think it may be fun to post me reading my stuff up here. So far, I can't get the little player to work here, although sometimes the link does, and sometimes it doesn't, and the Twitter link seems to work. If any of y'all are familiar with inserting Chirbit into a Blogger/Blogspot blog and have some helpful hints, please do share.

Hope y'all are having a great day!

heidi