Sunday Afternoon

photo by heidi helmer

The breeze gently glides
 through the tall grass on
 this
Sunday afternoon.

 It is has been a pleasant, spring day
and not only
are my sinuses clear,
but
my tummy is full.

(The roast and root vegetables sitting under a slab of apple pie.)

The glass of  sweet tea
(no mint today, thanks)
is under my fingers

as I lean back in my chair
on the back porch.

I feel so grateful
to have moved here,
      to this old farmhouse
 in rural Alabama.

My house is at the end of
a gravel road
which is just my
long-ass
driveway.

Saturday nights
I sing along with
the bluegrass program
on NPR.


The people stuck in the cities
seem
so
unlucky
 to me.

 I hear the familiar click

as the trap springs

and I see the red spray

in the distance.

The animals know better than to go near the traps,

but the zombies seem to fall for them every time.

heidi
written 5/5/14
submitted to Free Write Friday with Kellie Elmore


This piece came about because I wanted to write something, and nothing was happening. Kellie Elmore's Free Write prompts are excellent for kick-starting some writing, and this last Friday's prompt was a word bank using these words:

Red – Mint – Gravel – Sing – Unlucky

which then reminded me of a Twitter conversation I had with @LatinoDeepSouth about the article "Would Alabamians Survive a Zombie Apocolypse?" and, I was off writing.

I wrote initially as straight-on prose, but it looked like a huge word block, so I did this with it. Is this prosetry? Or am I having a hard time shaking NaPoWriMo?

While you're online, why not hastag #BringBackOurGirls, and check out the Latinos in the Deep South website and Twitter. They are doing some awesome work!

Free Write Friday:Infinite

photo by heidi helmer

Gazing through glass
into the infinite and beyond
Where is she?

heidi
written 4/11/14 for Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday

Kellie's prompt for today was this:

Tell me about this girl…


And I thought about this picture I took of my friend Kristin 22 years ago. We have lived that lifetime over again since then. I love you Kris! And how better to express that than a Collum Lune?

Charity

He would be here in an hour. She had sat up all night, nursing a never-ending cup of coffee with too much sugar. She focused on the bird feeder hanging by the kitchen window and ignored the dawn behind it. She was thinking about the odd green coat with the mismatched buttons that he wore. It was the first thing she noticed about him when she first saw him on the street corner.  He had been lost, and seemed helpless like a newborn puppy.

"Can I help you?"

That question had led her to this moment. A question that she had been taught from an early age. It was a life philosophy of service to others that she had embraced and enjoyed.

And she had been able to help him. He was lost and broke and hungry. She rarely felt fear, and this man was harmless. She had taken him with her to eat lunch. She offered to take him to a local shelter. He asked for directions to the park.

"I can drop you off at the park, but they don't like people sleeping there, and, at this time of the year, the heat and mosquitoes are a problem. You need to sleep somewhere inside."

He assured her that he had a safe place for the night, and that he could find it from the park. Still concerned, she had loaded him into the minivan, and pulled away from the curb. It was on the way to the park that he had offered to repay her.

"Just take care of yourself, and if you see someone in trouble, help them."

But no, he had a gift for her. He was going to send her wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, to meet whomever she wanted. She could spend the day with them. He regretted, however, that she wouldn't remember any of it after the day was done.  They were at the park and he jumped out of the van. He picked up her son's bunny that had fallen on the ground when he got out and handed it to her through the window. He said he would see her after dawn in the morning.

And she believed him. Driving home, straightening her house, tending to her family, eating supper, clearing up, putting her little hearts to bed, she believed that the man would be there in the morning.

And she thought about the fantasy. The dark, hidden fantasy that would surprise anyone who knew her. It wasn't the kind of fantasy that a "nice" girl had. It wasn't the type of fantasy that one would attribute to a woman who was so...white bread. Her husband would never understand, but he wouldn't know. No one would know. She wouldn't even remember, so there would be no guilt.

That night, over her coffee and the one and a half Oreo cookies, she planned. She imagined every detail of what it would be like to meet him and what she would do to him. This was going to be the best gift ever.

A movement in the corner of her eye drew her gaze away from the never really seen bird-feeder. She saw the green coat with the odd buttons. A secret, soft smile, that she had never smiled before played on her lips. She was going to do it.

She was going to kill that motherfucker, Adolph Hitler.

heidi
written 7/13/13 for Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday

heh heh heh heh heh. I don't know it y'all have noticed, but I fucking love a twist. I don't care how obscure or obvious. I also miss prose. I just haven't had the attention span to really write it. (One of the many lovely things about poetry it that it changes enough to hold my attention span...notice that I am do not write epics.) Then, this morning, I read Kellie's prompt (see it below) and this story hit me. At first I had this interesting "caught in a loop of killing and saving someone awful due to the unforeseen consequences to the time/space continuum kind of story" but when I just sat down and wrote, this is what came out. And I think I like it better. That is one of the benefits of free writing! I still don't know about the title, they usually seem to write themselves, and I am always at a loss when I have to think about it. Anyway, I hope y'all liked it. Thank you Kellie Elmore for the cool prompt. (You can visit her site by clicking the link above.) Below, please find a copy of the prompt.


Here is your FWF prompt…
Today you have been granted the opportunity to go anywhere, do anything, meet anyone, travel in time…whatever you wish, it is yours. Now, there’s a catch. (Isn’t there always?) When you wake up tomorrow… you will not remember any of it.
Would you still choose to take the offer? Can you drink in the moment and enjoy it knowing you will have no recollection of what happened? Think about it? How important is a memory? In a time when every moment is documented via social media, photographs and video. We have lost the ability to just ‘breathe in’ and enjoy what is right in front of us because we interrupt the moment by grabbing our phone to post about it on Facebook, or snap a picture and share it on Instagram or try to define the moment in a 140 character tweet. Think about it…

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!

Free Write Friday Submission: Fly Away

Credit: Richard Baxter
Free Write Friday 2/15/13



 

Fly Away


She has hidden in the old house
clutching her dolly
praying for a magic that will save her.

Outside, he looks for her.
He didn't see her run into the house.
He reeks of the beer he used to try to forget his troubles.

She is little for her age and underfed.
She has been her own caregiver
and she is too young to raise a child.

He didn't start out a bad man,
or a drunk man
and he does not know what he is supposed to do with her.

She is praying for escape
squeezing her tiny eyes shut
wishing she could fly away.

He hears the sounds of birds
and looks up.
They form a dark cloud and are flying towards the old house.

She is exerting all of her strength, hoping.
She does not notice the sounds or the dark, or the motion
as the birds circle, and then lift, the house.

He watches the house fly away and
crushes his beer can with the hand holding it
and never notices.

She feels a breeze and opens her eyes.
She sees the birds.
They have saved her.

He vomits on the street.
He calls the cops, and becomes a
suspect in her missing person case.

A far way away, the birds unceremoniously
drop the house onto the grey ground.
They fly away.

He is interrogated, suspected and
she is gone. Eventually, he is released.
Her case goes cold.

She is not in Munchkinland, or Oz, or even
Kansas. But she feels free, and as she looks at the
dark skies around her, she feels safe.

heidi
written 2/25/13 for Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday prompt for 2/15/13

Click here to listen on Chirbit

This is a late submission. I discovered some cool prompts and decided I want to do them all, so it has taken me this long to get to this one. Check out Kellie's site  by clicking on the link about to find out about her Free Write Friday and to read some cool submissions. I have to admit that with this prompt (write a response to the picture about) I kept thinking about The Wizard of Oz, but I couldn't come up with anything. Last night, I was looking at this picture again and focused on the birds rather than the house, and that's when the idea hit me.  I hope you like it!

There was also an interesting discussion on the dVerse blog Pretzels and Bullfights post about commenting. I am happy to get comments (not spam) and critiques. If the critique is long or complicated, or you're too shy to post it publicly, please feel free to email me . I would love to hear from you.

Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday Submission: I Lie in My Bed

I Lie in My Bed

I lie in my bed
with you
to you
and then sleep whirls in.

I lie in my bed
and I dream
of a life without you
and of vague single happiness.

I lie in my bed
next to you
and the cold chills
my bare skin.

I lie in my bed
awake again and your stillness
conjures a siren's song with one rephrase
escape.

I lie in my bed
but the sheer curtains float
at my open window, blown from the winds of
a coming rain.

I lie in my bed
thumbing the opal on
my wedding ring
and I am trapped.

I lie in my bed
and the allure of leaving tortures me
as you wake and ask how I slept.
"Fine" I say

as I lie in my bed.

heidi
written 2/9/13 for http://kellieelmore.com/2013/02/08/fwf-free-write-friday-word-bank-5/

 Word Bank: Opal, Vague, Whirl, Dream, Sheer, Conjure, Bare, Allure

I really wanted to write a small short story with these words, but this is what came out. Hmm, funny how that happens. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. I live in fear of being melodramatic, especially when I write poetry. It is way too easy for me to go overboard, and ruin a good concept. Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear from you.

FWF Submission: Up the Creek

Up the Creek

She was in kindergarten in an all girl school. This was the seventies, and Katie loved everything about school except for getting up in the morning. Lately, the fun thing was to lean over and look under the partition into the next stall while you were in the restroom. That way, you didn't have to stop your conversation with your friend just because you had to go. It was also a fun and interesting way to meet new friends when both kindergarten classes were in the bathroom at the same time. There was an etiquette for initiating a conversation. You were supposed to stick your hand under the shared wall of the stall and ask "who's that?" The other girl would answer and you would look and say hey and life was good. If there was no answer, then you should look immediately, because this was still basically a public restroom and those could be tricky. Your friend could be in trouble and was depending on you to save her!

That day was like any other day. There was a break, she went to the bathroom with the rest of the class. She waited towards the end of the line. (She liked the ends, they were more special.) She entered her stall. She got to business. She looked down and saw shoes next to her. These were different shoes. She began protocol. Pointing, she asked "Who's that?", but there was no answer. She asked again, and again, no answer. Clearly, someone was in trouble. Katie was a very helpful girl and knew what she had to do. She looked under the stall "Who's in here?"

It was a woman. A woman she did not know. A woman with blond hair in a tight flip and a shocked expression. Katie sat back. She wanted to giggle and she wanted to throw up. She was very still and waited until she was sure that it was time for her mom to come get her. She was going to get in trouble with her teacher if she didn't leave the bathroom. She walked out and to the sinks. There was the woman.

"You! It was you!"

Katie ran. She ran and ran and ran and ran and ran. She ran all the way to her classroom and sat down quietly in her seat.

Someone came to the classroom and took her teacher out. When Mrs. May came back, she was not happy.

"Miss Wills has said that someone peeped on her while she was in the bathroom. Who did it?"

Peeped! Katie didn't peep! She looked, it was different. If Miss Wills was in trouble, Katie would have been a hero. What should she do? Katie decided. She was going to keep quiet. If she was discovered, then she would probably cry and that would be bad, so keeping quiet was a good idea.

The classroom clocked ticked. Mrs May said "we are going to wait until someone confesses and apologizes to Miss Wills."

There was no way Katie was apologizing; Miss Wills had ugly hair. The clock kept ticking. Katie thought that she may cry soon and be discovered.

Evie raised her hand. "Sarah and I looked under the wall." "Thank you Evie. Will you and Sarah come with me?"

Katie watched them go. Miss Wills would know that it wasn't Evie and Sarah. She did have ugly hair, but she had good eyes.

Mrs. May brought Evie and Sarah back.  "Evie and Sarah have apologized. They are very brave. I expect that no one will look under the stall doors and walls again."

Katie had no idea what had happened. She was free. All she had to do was avoid Miss Wills.

In second grade, Katie met her new teacher, Miss Wills.

heidi
June 4, 2012


This is my first blog post in response to Kellie Elmore's Free Write Friday (FWF). For those of you who are unfamiliar with Free Write Friday, you can get more information here http://kellieelmore.com/free-write-friday/. I have tweeted some micropoems in response to a FWF prompt. This is the prompt for this story:

O.k., I know you have all heard that old saying, “…up shit creek without a paddle”, right? (Or maybe it’s just a southern thing, I don’t know.) Well, if you haven’t let me just break it down for ya. We have all been in a mess, a pickle, in a …tight spot, right? When times were hard and you couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, hence…up shit creek without a paddle. Often times we are able to look back on those situations and find humor, a lesson learned or just realize that it really wasn’t as bad as we thought…or maybe it was but you survived. Some great stories can almost always be found from these…ripples in life and for FWF, I’d like you to share them. Be poetic, be humorous, be inspirational…just don’t forget to be real, raw and most importantly, just write! You know what to do.