Space dangles freedom before the tired mind Yet hearts still incarcerate one’s will When desire haunts isolation And longing stifles healing They say to start within But it is in depth that yearning thrives The Empty That is full
Roots of a soulmate To be lost, yet ever claimed undying fealties
Tiny Treasure Corner
Fabulous Linguine with clam sauce by Eileen Slovak. I really hope to try this some day soon.
This dish brings me back to my roots, a small town in Rhode Island called Narragansett, where the ocean was only steps away. I was spoiled by the abundance of fresh seafood readily available. Boy do I miss it!
Linguine with clam Sauce by Eileen Slovak
This is an easy dish to make even if you don’t have access to fresh clams. But if you do, all the better. Gather your ingredients and let’s go!
Calm seas ńeath brewing storms where morals turn agile and perspicacious drifters long for Self
Pity enshrouds the spy the unwitty witness Innocence pays the maiden price World’s Way
Of hope on same wavelengths fickle, is life’s grapevine upon the volatile current Of truth
Our fear Precient ally reveals and then withholds bitter endings, brave beginnings The Call
The You you always tame dewy-eyed explorer wandering through life’s hypnosis The spark
Tall Tales Corner
Le Jardin de l’artiste à Giverny by Claude Monet
It is said that ‘art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.’ Or so their picture-perfect family hoped, as they mounted a piece of spring in their livingroom. It was odd that on sunny days, those trees seemed to bleed and a face lurked in the background windows. The patch of sunlight surrounded by shades induced a claustrophobic feeling, like conflict was closing in.
New petals may sing to mask whispers of winter lavender secrets
The teenage daughter, in the first trimester of a problem-pregnancy, saw a little girl waving from those distant windows, longing to play, to climb trees and eat the juicy-red fruit. To her, the painting held hope. The mother, a neighbourhood leader, dreaded what people would say about her daughter, and worse, about her. But the painting made her think of swings in the backyard, and lullabies long abandoned, of a baby’s gay laughter and the way she’d say to people, ‘this is my grandchild.’ She too, smiled at the painting.
big trees, wider shades when night and day seem furthest their likeness deepens
The father, a model gentleman, was a chin-high kind of man. Indeed, he knew himself to be without flaw. And that’s why he’d fought so hard for that painting at auction. The art plunged chaos into order. It was wild, free, and yet the flowers remained flowers, and the trees were still trees. Now that his pride-and-joy son had discarded their christian beliefs for the rainbow movement, and his sweetheart daughter was pregnant in High school, maybe he could find the beauty in his own chaos. His eyes were always drawn to that patch of sunlight. Perhaps it was the light eating away at the shadows.
face in the window judging from winter’s recluse I know you are me
sighs of solitude listen to conflict’s whispers reconciling depths some woes come from good intent rebirths that will never die
In the deep stillness, I ponder scars long etched in my blemishfree beginnings, healed yet forever barren. I ignore the itch of scabs that inflame with the lightest touch or slightest approach; a decay upon my soul. I think of trials past that left behind monuments of fear, conquest, and survival. I cannot change what festers within me. But the most beautiful flowers often bloom from decay.
Soul divinations beneath these troubled guises seeds longing to bloom when dreams and life commingle they know, Growth must beget growth
Book Candy Corner
The Necromancer’s daughter. A retelling of the legend of Kwan-yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Set in a winter world of dragons, intrigue, and magic, The Necromancer’s Daughter is a story about duty, defiance, cruelty, and sacrifice— an epic tale of compassion and deep abiding love where good and evil aren’t what they seem. By D. Wallace Peach
Hey Everyone, Happy Women’s day. I don’t really need this day to appreciate women, but I do understand its significance to past achievements and the ongoing struggle for equality and mutual respect. I wrote these poems in the last ten days on my twitter (@JItakali), with no awareness that Women’s day was around the corner.
The lines of prose in bold are just wild ponderings and curiosities.
Beautiful faith That wholesomeness of purpose Soiled by disciples bereft of acceptance Can the universe be contained in one thought and one way If you open your mind You may see that your choice need not be mine
New believer Boots with an evangelist sheen Your way, or the highway.
Each person is unique and they deserve a choice. A choice that should be respected.
She holds him to his word If he tells, she leaves! It’s different for a man He’ll be exalted by peers While she, will be labelled pariah Their secret must bloom in shadow For with hearts already claimed they cherish an affair knowing their love can never be
Isn’t it odd that the harshest critics to polygamous/gypsy women are fellow women?Maybe the men just like an abundance of available women but I’m not sure.
When a loveless existence was the dread of virgin dreamers, death played along a ribcage stairwell, as if poised to reap souls and scythe the hearts of any who chose the lone way. Would we become sheep, Enduring much to adhere to custom? Killing dreams for this love perception
I have nothing against marriage but I hate seeing parents peddle this as a MUST accomplishment in life, often keeping their children, especially girls, in abusive marriages. People, the planet is already full. It’s about time having a family became optional. (this coming from a guy who wants to raise five daughters)
When love teaches by breaking The damsel sharpens her widow-maker and abandons the exuvia of dreams She savours love’s darker proclivities If you Obey She’ll grant your deepest fetish But just like love She blesses for a moment To curse for eternity
Just a bit of horror to highlight the darker powers of the fairer sex – purely entertainment.
Patient as night Soft as a breeze A pacific embrace And Neptunian depths of acceptance All she wants is you The way you are- furrow and crease But deep down you know- She deserves more
her tropical love an evergreen rainforest I’m inadequate
And a bit of the woman’s powers of light – though I think this is changing. Queens want ‘what they desrve.’
On the flipside of pain her hands stroked his dirty pages Arousing the other side She reached into his darkness Tormenting passion’s dead lagoon- with a storm’s caress Her tears fell like freckled rain glimmering with light Their stories mingled Bursting into new beginnings
Book Candy Corner
A collection of short stories where dreams and nightmares co-exist.
Nestled inside these pages, you’ll meet a couple in their golden years who take a trip with an unexpected detour, a boy desperate to give his brother the Christmas gift he asked for, a girl with a small glass dragon who is at the mercy of her cruel uncles, or a young mother who has the same dream about murder. You’ll be introduced to worlds where people get second chances and monsters might be allowed their desires while angels and dragons try to help. Happy endings occur, but perspective can blur the line between good and evil in these twenty-seven tales. Since the stories vary between 99 to 12k words, whether you have only five minutes or an entire evening to settle into reading, there is something that will suit your time and taste.
Hope you enjoy, Happy Women’s day. I’m always writing these short poems on my twitter. Feel free to follow me and engage @JItakali. Looking forward to your thoughts on any or all poems, and how about that Book Candy Corner…
Hey everyone, I’m bursting with good news. I finally dispatched the beta copies of Book2 in the Realms of the Mist trilogy. (Title and cover coming very soon).
My eyes welled up as I glossed those famous last words in an intricate font: “The End.” Guys, I don’t know how to describe the happiness and accomplishment I felt. I whooped and jumped and gave my laptop a giant KISS.
Now I can wait for Beta feedback as I concentrate on the promo campaign. I can catch up with courework which I’m sure I’ll ace. Trust me, there’s no coursework that can compare to even writing one chapter of a book.
All that’s left after the Beta feedback is a final copy-edit for the little bits that escaped my own personal edit. I would have been practically alone in my author dream but for a number of remarkable people from the wordpress community, who have given me invaluable guidance and encouragement. THANK YOU. It only gets better from here.
Okay, enough about me. Here’s some poetry for you.
The world may change us. Misplaced deeds or words may incubate hate. Thank God our love is bound in nostalgia. #TWT
Tall Tales Corner
Between forsaken lines
dwell cocktails of musings
He writes a heart that stings
The spice of life
Of cinammon romance
And currie betrayals
Black pepper portrayals
Balance in life
In the bachelor's kitchen
variety is scarce
but potency is terse
Just - what - matters
Hope you enjoy.
I feel I should apologise for always joining prompts but I post once or twice a week and I have so many favourites.
The first poem is for both Eugi’s moonwashed weekly prompt and Sadje’s #Whatdoyousee In bold, is an accompanying twenty word story for Bookish bubble’s TWT The Tall Tales Corner is for Colleen’s #tankatuesdaywhere she asked us to use spices in our kitchens to write about recent events in our lives. Since I’ve been submerged in editing, it’s a cocktail of mental events, but I did use the spices in my kitchen to portray some of that in the three Abhanga poems.
Hey everyone, I got permission from Amy of HeavenOn Earth blog to use her amazing nature photos to write this haiku journey. Alongside, are short twenty word stories for Bookish Bubble’s #TWT. Hope you enjoy.
pale sun and cold winds memories in the empty where beauty lingers
Beneath the Vivid, are the secrets of where it all began. For who you have become, there was once nothing.
lost forsaken seed you must fight lonely battles to bloom from the murk
Beneath the Vivid, a story of defiance unfolds. Though the voice cannot be heard, a thought takes root. A dream!
against fell winters comes the test of endurance how bad you want it
Beneath the Vivid, the struggle goes unrewarded. And the one who is something, but not yet that intended thing, despairs.
the first fruits of spring a pittance to thorough-breds Was it all worth it?
Astride the Vivid, you come to a Crossroads: who you want to be, who you are, and who you can become.
twigs on the vine fallen branches do not mourn the room made for growth
Aloft with the Vivid, beauty flocks to beauty. But you were not born this way. You see deeper, further, Beneath the Vivid.
Book Candy Corner
HYPE is a story of survival and resilience and hope.
Cici’s junior year in high school is going to be the best year ever. Popular co-captain of the varsity cheerleading team, she’s dating the starting quarterback. Even her jealous co-captain’s attempts to steal her boyfriend can’t curb her enthusiasm.
When her mom moves in with her fiancé, a handsome, wealthy man, only one small detail threatens Cici’s perfect life. The school’s social pariah is about to become her stepsister, and Cici wants nothing to do with her.
Everything changes when someone Cici cares about throws her life into a tailspin, and the one person Cici couldn’t stand becomes her only ally.
Warning: This story contains scenes of sexual assault. Visit Yvette’s website for more of awesome work: Yvette Calleiro.
Hope you enjoy.
I may have gone overkill with five twenty-word-story submissions for BookBubble, but I’d promised to send one in yesterday, so this is me making up for being late. The prompt word was Vivid, so I made it a major theme and used it a lot, lol. But most importantly, it fit so well with the message arroused by Amy’s Photography.
Once, we painted the door to shared dreams of two Unloved, it now reminds me of you Fades of time corrode its sheen Too long left unseen Glum relic Pinned Pedantic with hope grating thin My soul barters for its queen Must I swap new greens for an old blue Or evolve, to sparkle in different hues
Great expectations On the tip of a lone gaze longing for the stars I stretch for the heighest leaf When grass below has all I need
...
Shine little glow worm glimmer glimmer
Shine little glow worm glimmer glimmer
Lead us lest too far we wander
Love’s sweet voice is calling yonder
Shine little glow worm glimmer glimmer
Hey there don’t get dimmer dimmer
Light the path below above
Lead us on to love
...
Extract from this beautiful rhythmic poetry and song.Glow worm by LadySighs
An Andaree has an 11/9/7/5/3/1/3/5/7/9/11 syllable structure with an AabbcbcbbaA rhyme scheme. Hope you enjoy. Looking forward to your thoughts
It is not an impotence to shine, that anchors me in the obscure. Neither is it loneliness or despair that keep me from the sun. Perhaps it is the clarity from rays beaming upon glamour and gore alike, or the beauty that can only be dreamt in the dark, which keep me here, away from where I must go. Am I incomplete, if I bloom where the world cannot see?
demeure of shadows does light hide in the hidden where the pollen floats
It is not wonder but a yearning to wander, that chains my gaze to the lady in red on a backdrop of sullen winter. The only cold I have known is the one from a shoulder, as my pleas wisped into nothing. She draws the eye, gay in the grey. And I think, maybe the light I seek, must come from within.
thralls of mystery a rapscallion wonder looms virgin decisions
The days of going-with-the-flow are behind me. These be monstrous tides. I cannot survive if I cannot swim. The old strokes won’t do, a minute’s breath falls short. I must find those pockets of air. Here in the depths, I must evolve.
dirigible ways call the wide-eyed butterfly to bloom in the dark
In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies, and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.
From Autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world.Book on Amazon
Hope you enjoy this. Looking forward to your thoughts. Just one more paper to go.
We named her Aangaz
the village clutz
Clumsy to a tear
Tinkles trailed her tippytap step
pots and pans broke in her wake
coins and trinkets fell from her pockets
the children chortled with laughter
but always returned her lost treasures
and how she loved them so
One day the earth shook
trees fell, roofs collapsed, wildebeests stampeded
Many passed, more were injured
but none of them children
For Aangaz the village clutz
Tippytapped through the mayhem
Clumsy with everything-
except what she truly loved...
Looking forward to your thoughts. I’m still getting a hang on telling tall tales, I’m not writing them just right, but I’ll get better.
In the midst of a hero and villain She contemplates a colourless whim In the gray she’s found no rewards Only aches from toeing lines She weighs ambivalence On slabs of regret Between echoes All answers Demand Choice
The unscratchable itch! Only another can relieve you But who, depends on you Your deeds lure them Your intentions harness karma Hope alone is futile For this thing you want requires faith And faith is tested Is strengthened Is nurtured So get up Maybe you can’t do it on your own But still, you must do
Book Candy Corner
Mama, me and Mother nature – By Eugenia Francie Hoffman. “This book relates to my childhood and takes place in the late forties through the sixties. It could be about anyone’s childhood during that time. I was a curious child, always wanting to know more, always wanting to create something and always busy with anything and everything, just like my mom and just like mother nature.”
With the addition of corners to my blog posts in yet another busy study-work-write… year, I think I can maintain my blog presence better than I did in 2022. The corners allow me to create quicker posts but still offer more to the reader.
judeitakali.wordpress.com 