Self Reflection

Introspective
Uninspired
Moody
Sad
Lost
Unwound
Confounded
Disenfranchised

Devoid of conscience,
Willing to go there
Even knowing regrets
Will flow like wine.

Exonerate
Justify
Alarm
Cry
Soul
Testify
Elaborate

Medal Count

Good intentions pave
That crazy highway to hell;
Buckle up, baby.


Embracing the blame
A badge worth acknowledgement
Bloody medal earned.


Sarcasm and hope
Those strangest of bedfellows
On bright shield inscribed

Women, Arise!

Vonita's avatarPoems and Petals

I went to a single-sex school with all of our teachers being female. I studied a predominantly male course, but all my peers were very respectful towards me. I was never treated like an object. I started work, and the same applied. Perhaps I had very strong boundaries that helped. I would not have tolerated anything less. I dressed modestly, and perhaps my conservativism showed.

Until I reached my mid-thirties, and my babies were born. Something changed. I had a monster of all crushes on someone close by, and knew my conservative attire would not turn any heads. And especially not his. I wanted attention! So I did what I could do. Aka Sandy in Grease. I changed my style. I started wearing more low cut tops. More tight-fitting jeans. And I started to see a reaction. I started getting attention. It was an attention I had never really experienced…

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Calibration

Measuring the distance, accounting for wind direction and speed,
He set his cap for perfection, but consoled himself with need.
The targets seemed to waver, concentric circles in the sun,
His aim was true, calibrations right, as he exhaled and shot the gun.
Shocked silence followed sharp reports as bodies began to fall,
He could not reclaim the bullets, nor could the lives lost be recalled.
But the dream played out, his rights upheld to own a deadly weapon
While widows wept and clasped their children, bereft without exception.

Studly and Subtitles

I’m married to a wonderful man. I call him Studly Doright on this blog for good reason. He’s a man’s man kind of guy. Physically stong, mentally stalwart, with a firm sense of right and wrong. 

He’s also rigidly entrenched in his habits. He gets up at a certain time. Goes to bed by 9. Eats only certain foods. Drinks an occasional American beer. Watches mainstream tv and movies.

So when I came into the den after my evening shower to find him watching a French film, The Confession, complete with subtitles, I immediately grabbed a thermometer (oral) from the medicine cabinet and firmly instructed him to open wide. 

I fully expected to discover he had a raging fever and was subsequently suffering from hallucinations. 

“Well, you’re fine,” I said. “Why are you watching this?”

His reply, “The words got to me.”

I love this man, and after 40 years of marriage he can still surprise me.

https://g.co/kgs/iKfY79
Peace, people

Studly’s feet.

Dust Bowl Tour Day 4

Beautifully done. Read more at redswrap.wordpress.com

Jan Wilberg's avatarRed's Wrap

We have a friend, a flamboyant, beautiful woman, a singer who can electrify a room with her voice, a person who can talk to anyone anywhere and make them love her. We’ve known her for years and we always knew she was born in Kansas.

But we didn’t know she was born in Nicodemus until a few weeks ago. And we didn’t know what that meant until today.

Our friend’s ancestors were among the former slaves who bought shares in the Nicodemus Town Company and traveled from Kentucky to Kansas in 1877 expecting to find houses waiting for them, instead the folks who had come before them were literally living in the ground in dugouts. From this hard beginning, the families founded “what would become the oldest continuously occupied town west of the Mississippi planned and settled by African Americans.” (National Park Service)

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There are still people living in Nicodemus…

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