On the Birthday of My Oldest Child

Beautiful. Redswrap.wordpress.com.

Jan Wilberg's avatarRed's Wrap

IMG_4065I was never one of those moms who grieved their kids growing up. I thought it was great.

I didn’t want them to be babies forever. Or to be toddling around the house indefinitely. I didn’t want to stand on the sidelines of wet soccer fields with a cold cup of coffee watching confused kids kick the ball to each other on Saturday mornings that seemed to last for months. I liked being the mother of little kids but only because of its impermanence.

I love that my kids are grown up. And I say that without the least bit of angst.

Oh, I look back and I remember them as little kids. How I carried them everywhere, how I stroked their cheeks to calm them, laid on the couch with their little selves asleep on my chest, sang to them songs I made up and that no one else…

View original post 155 more words

Thanks for the Help

Laugh with her, not at her! rachelwhims.wordpress.com.

rachelwhims's avatarBecause BECAUSE is not an answer!

January 2016 005
Oh Little Clinic
attached to the store
You’ve been there awhile,
but I didn’t notice before.

See, the kids see a doctor,
the pediatrician I chose,
but today was no good
to hear of my woes

And tomorrow, the weekend
he wouldn’t be about,
I don’t blame him too much,
but still there is doubt.

My baby is sick
he’s been sick for awhile,
I hate him so fussy,
and I miss his sweet smile.

So the doctor, he told me
I should give you a try
and I pinched my lips
and maybe rolled an eye.

Oh wonderful, I thought
do they even know what they’re doing?
If they were good at all
they’d be too busy for a viewing.

But I went just the same
I went a bit grumpy
I went with my baby
who was feeling quite dumpy.

We waited a bit
and then we got…

View original post 45 more words

Stuck in a Whorehouse

Yesterday I wrote that I was fiddling with a draft piece on my blog and my characters weren’t giving me a clear idea of where they wanted or needed to go. In particular my heroine is stuck in a house of ill-repute for reasons I can’t go into at this time.

This afternoon in the middle of a deep tissue massage I clearly saw her, and she gave me a hint as to her dilemma. Apparently, she doesn’t feel stuck in her situation. I argued with her a bit, surely she was being exploited or victimized, but she was adamant. 

If you write fiction, do your characters argue with you? Or am I going crazy? I am weaning myself from the antidepressant, Effexor–could this be a side effect? At any rate, I need someone to proof this piece before I proceed. Any takers?

Peace, people!

  

Favor

the favor of her friendship,
forged in youth,
had strings attached.
acknowledge her privilege
accept her status
unwrap her gifts
or succumb to the vacuum.

it pains me to admit that
I once felt adrift
without her approval
the old habit of relishing
her other-directed
sarcasm, snideness,
an affliction of belonging.

heaven knows I cried some
in anger and loss;
who could I be without her?
my soul answered in a flourish:
you are nourished now
deep within, all your own
healthier, wiser, independent.

  

My Three-Point, Two-Point, One-Point Plan for Blogging Superstardom

All bloggers struggle with this. My friend Bun at bunkaryudo.wordpress.com just says it better than almost anyone else.

Blogging

Some days writing posts for a daily blog is a grind. The post you’ve scheduled for publication doesn’t feel quite right, but you don’t have anything else ready so you publish it anyway, or worse yet there’s nothing in your queue and you find yourself scrounging for something, anything, to publish. 

Hey, here’s an amusing picture of a pregnant pig practicing Lamaze. It’ll do! 

But some days are just fun. Like today. I found several gems written by bloggers I follow. Some I reblogged and others I shared on Facebook or Twitter. My own scheduled post turned out well, and I even composed a quick on the spot piece when a flash of inspiration struck during lunch. Yes, I should have scheduled it for a future publication date, but sometimes a writer just needs instant feedback. I’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. 

I also fiddled with a draft of a short story that’s been in the works for awhile. Hopefully one day soon the characters will let me know what they plan to do next. Right now I’m having difficulty getting out of a fictional whorehouse. Don’t judge. It’s complicated.

Maybe the best part of a fun blogging day is the feedback, the comments, and smiley faces. Interacting with fellow bloggers whether about my own writing or theirs is often the bright spot in my day. I have some insanely witty commenters. Don’t even read my blog posts, just read the comments section. Wait, I didn’t mean that. Shhhh!!!
So, if you’re a blogger does this all sound familiar? If you tell me every day is a piece of cake I might just paste a frownie face in your comments section.

Peace, people!

A semi-irrelevant picture of my sELFie and me.

SVETLANA’S SPELL

Try not to laugh. I dare you. And for Pete’s sake follow Mike Stedeen at mikesteeden.wordpress.com.

mikesteeden's avatar- MIKE STEEDEN -

svetlana 4

Friends and family thought me insane

for falling under Svetlana’s spell

yet I fell hook, line and sinker

you see she was a loving kind of girl

She first sought me out at the banquet

I hosted for the Queen

played footsie under the table

had the finest cleavage I’d ever seen

Begged me to drive her home that night

in my Bentley where of clothes she shed

my chauffeur discreet in his driver’s seat

Svet unadorned as if a newly wed

And later back at her place

some hovel near Earl’s Court

she forced me to make love to her

she was a dominating sort

It seemed Svet couldn’t get enough of me

we did ‘rude’ things far and wide

at Royal Ascot, Henley, Wimbledon

in public places countywide

The PM took me aside one day

said, ‘You’re punching above your weight

for that gal is a money grabbing…

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Revulsion Therapy Diet

Revulsion therapy revealed to be
The secret to losing weight
No exercise or counting calories
Just eat while watching GOP debates.

It’s hard to keep one’s appetite
Or to hold one’s food in check
While Cruz prays like a Pharisee
And Trump spews racist rhetoric.

Bush’s bemused befuddlement
Plays havoc with digestion
Still Carson’s sonorous delivery
Works exactly like L-Tryptophan.

One caveat for those who choose
To suffer through this hell
Not only will pounds melt away
Your sanity might, as well.

Meditating

in shadowed spaces
stretching
look up into the gloom
listening
whales call sonorously
undulating
peripherally, fan blades
whirring
negative thoughts intrude
pushing
failures and regrets
begging
grant them pardons
releasing
mind making peace
accepting
body seeking balance
meditating
soul sighing gratefully
surrendering