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.