NaPoWriMo Day Three: Charmed

specifically chosen chemicals
must be consumed before noon
lest gremlins arise

heidi
written 4/3/14 for



I am beginning to feel a little like a one note asshole here. I did sort of work in the NaPoWriMo prompt to write a charm...sort of...and look, a Collum Lune! Last year I spent the first week writing Cinquains, hmmm. Also, Blogger is not letting me comment on my posts, so that's been frustrating.

Maybe I shouldn't write these post poem comments when I'm feeling grumpy...

 

NaPoWriMo Day Two: How I Think Now

my head emptied
of nasty negative self-talk
now echoes quiet

heidi
written 4/2/14 for





So, after 43 years, I have been diagnosed with ADHD. They said that I have been able to compensate for so long because I'm smart. Now, I have started taking medicine for it (see yesterday's very similar Collum Lune). Maybe I'm not as smart as I used to be. :)
 

NaPoWriMo Day One: Methylphenidate

the magic pill
clears my head of demons
leaves lonely silence


heidi
written 4/1/14 for


I am getting a late night start to the month of poetry. I think I have channeled all of my creativity into cooking lately. Not so great for the blog, but man, is my tummy happy. So, I am starting with a little Collum Lune. I love these things.

A Man Like That

His voice
               is
 erotic-amphetimine

I n j e c t i n g
                napalm daylilly-desire

E
 r
  a
   d
     i
      c
        a
          t
            i
             n
                g
                         all

logic-vomit

                     Wilting the boldness-bearer
of my resolve.

Burning me with the
                                 ice-blue-fire
of
     his
          gaze.

My body

 trembles 

with well-being
                               and 

the sweet

ache

of time-halting.


All I do is wait for the freedom-flame
                                                         That is the caress of his fiery stare.

heidi
written 3/21/14
for dVerse Meeting the Bar

Bjorn introduces us to Kennings in this Meeting the Bar at dVerse. They look like so much fun, and I think I did it all wrong. Oh well. Happy World Poetry Day anyway! Make sure you go by and check out the other poems using Kennings. You won't regret it!

Lovely Spring

Art by Sunita Khedekar 

She is Spring
Strong, fragile, funny, sweet, volitile
My lovely daughter.

heidi
written 3/18/14
for my Aoife and
dVerse Poetics.

Grace's Poetics prompt today is to use the amazing artwork of Sunita Khedekar as inspiration for a poem about Spring. I love this piece! Please visit her Facebook page or her Blog. I have chosen to write a Collum Lune (one of my favorite forms...very Twitter friendly) about my sweet girl. For more poems using the art of Sunita Khedekar as inspiration, go check out the submissions over at dVerse!

Apple Pi

                                        My husband likes it cold. I prefer it warm to hot

                                    moist, tart and gooey. The crisp of the flesh as I sink 

                                my      teeth down                      in. Savoring 

                                           the flaky                         delicate crust.

                                           I inhale the                      ripe, sweet 

                                           odor a hint                      of nutmeg?

                                           cinnamon?                       Carefully

                                           blow, it may                     burn my 

                                           mouth. And                      yet, the pain

                                           would be                          worth it. I 

                                           consume the                     Pink Ladies

                                           with sweet                        whipped cream               &

                                           a bit of cheese                  sometimes feta                or

                                           maybe some                     cheddar. There               is a 

                                           sweet perfection                in this moment.              As I 

                                           once again                        surrender to homemade apple pie!
                                                                                             heidi written 3/13/14 for
                                                                                              dVerse Meeting the Bar

Brian at dVerse made an interesting observation; that we write appealing to our sense of sight. He asked us to write to our other senses. Since this year all of March is Pi month, and tomorrow is Pi day (3.14) I thought it an excellent opportunity to write about one of my favorite food groups. Y'all know the four food groups? Pie, Sweet tea, Fried Things, and Chocolate. I did cheat a bit, though, but I wanted to see if I could write in this shape. Yay! If you aren't finding me through the dVerse linky, then why not pop on over and check out some of the other awesome submissions. (Anna's is scary and sad...I highly recommend it!)

Last Prayer

Last Prayer by heidi helmer

a mantis offers up her
last prayer
attached to my screen
dreaming of freedom outside

heidi
written: 3/12/14 for dVerse Poetics

It has been too long since I have participated in a dVerse prompt. This week, Shanyn challenges us to write mircopoetry about macophotography.  I'm not sure if my picture qualifies as macrophotography, and my poem is micro-micro, but I am happy with it. Click the link above to check out the submissions to dVerse, and try one yourself!

Repost of February 19, 1999

February 19, 1999

I don't know all the names he was called,
but I can imagine:
son
brother
uncle
friend.

What I know about his death is from
what I've read
what I've seen on tv.
Things
I won't
write
here.

So today, the anniversary of when
he died. I say a
prayer for him,
and his friends
and his family,
and for those who killed him.

And I pray for a better world
full of love
for all of us.

heidi
written 2/19/13 in memory of Billy Jack Gaither

An Average Lunch in Mobile, Alabama.

I spent the first five months of 2001 in D.C. working my MSW field placement at NIH. I shared a studio apartment with a friend who was working her field placement at Walter Reed. This story is not about that semester. This story is about what happened during lunch one day during that time while my parents were taking care of my sweet puppy, Emma.

Indulge me a little longer and let me give you a brief history of Emma. My dear friend, Kristin, gave Emma to me as a Christmas present in 1994. She got her from the Humane Society in Tuscaloosa and they said that she was a "Shepherd mix." I am pretty sure that the "mix" part was mostly doberman. Emma was eight weeks old, and Kristin said that she chose Emma because when all of the other puppies ran away, Emma charged her. I was smitten. Emma and I were made for each other.

When it was time to move to D.C., I had to leave Emma in Mobile with my parents and their dogs (Daisy, Cassie, Katie, and Jasmine). They live on a busy street in midtown, Mobile and there are many businesses on their street. Like their house, several of the buildings on this street are old houses; some house residents; others house businesses. There are also some people who practice shadiness for a livelihood that hang out in that part of town. My parents and Emma got along and they understood each other. During the week my dad would come home from work for lunch and would share his apple cores with Emma. My mom and dad liked to listen to classical music while they ate, and Emma and their  dog Daisy would howl along with some of the songs. It was a nice way to spend lunch.

On Tuesdays, Chuck, my parents' friend would come by and visit during lunch, so they usually kept the front door unlocked so that he could just walk in. Usually during this time, the postal carrier would also come by and drop the mail through the mail slot, which would cause all the dogs to run to the front door, barking. He wasn't really quiet when he delivered the mail, and sometimes, envelopes were chewed by an overexcited puppy as a consequence.

The lunch I want to tell you about happened one Tuesday. Chuck had come in and they were all sitting at the table in the back of the house. The dogs were all there with them. The younger ones, sitting and starting at my dad (the soft touch) and occasionally looking at his plate and barking. (Hey! you gonna eat that?) Emma was relaxing next to the window, warming her dark fur in the sun. Suddenly, Emma jumped up and ran out of the room. At first, all of the humans thought that the postal carrier had come, but it was all too quiet. They decided to see what Emma was up to.

They walked to the front of the house, and as they entered the front entryway, they saw a stranger inside of the house. His back was pressed against the front door and he was looking down.

Now, Emma, like most shepherds was "of a certain height." And by that I mean crotch height.  She was right in front of the stranger, baring all of her teeth, growling a steady, low growl. Crotch height. When she heard my parents and Chuck enter the hall, she carefully rested her nose against the fabric of his pants, with her teeth still bared.

"Mister, could you call off your dog?" The man was clearly scared. In my dad 's Genteel, Southern straight-forward style, he asked,

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?"

He told them that he was looking for a business a block up and thought that their house was it. Emma never moved, and never stopped baring her teeth.

They called Emma off and the man left.

You know, just an average lunchtime.

heidi
written 2/13/14

This post is for my friend, Jeff, known to the blogging world as Bone. I was supposed to have it written and posted yesterday for his birthday, but the day got away from me (although it is still his birthday in Hawaii, so that counts, right?) You should go read his awesome blog, If You Only Read One Blog This Year.  Bone has told me that he would like some more Mobile stories, so I thought he might like this one. Happy Birthday Bone! (yesterday, and in Hawaii!)

I poems about Emma called Emma and The Truth About My Emma. Emma also has pictures of Emma. I decided on an Emma story because I have a friend who lost her sweet Olivia this week, and now my Emma is on my mind.

It is a first draft, and I am open to any critiques. I would like for it to be nice, since it is a birthday present and all.

Housekeeping: Let's Catch Up

Hey y'all.

Happy February!

I have been away for a while. I am not a multitasker, so sometimes I have to live one thing at  a time. I have some plans this year for the Lasagna, and I am a little behind, but I am late for everything. So, here's what I have planned.

First of all, I have met some amazing people through their blogs and I want to share their work. I am going to add a post where I feature on of my favorite blogs/bloggers. I have decided to just put all the names in a hat and draw at random. I will contact the blogger before I post to get permission and let you read the blog post before I publish it.

Secondly, I am going to try to expand on my writing. I really enjoyed my short stories that I wrote for reddit and want to write more horror stories. I also received some nice feedback from my memoir piece about mayonnaise, so I want to try some more of that.

I also plan to participate with dVerse and other prompts, and I can't wait to try NaPoWriMo again. I have also liked the Word Porn page on Facebook, and it post a new word a day that I want to use as a poetry prompt. I am also going to get #FridayFartPoem to gain some popularity on Twitter.

Finally, if I meet about 70% of these goals, I will be ecstatic. I am so okay with average.

Thanks again for reading and your continuing support!

heidi