pressed into the corner
of the closet
hidden behind long
silky party dresses
that smelled of mommy, the
darkness wrapped it's arms
around me like a blanket

silent tears streaming
hotter than the welts
freshly belted into my flesh.
they would heal,
the welts,
faster than my heart,
looking back

His words rin… Read full post »

 

Euthanize Eeyore???  

Remind me that tongue in cheek humor & brevity aren't good bedfellows.

To back up a tad, John wrote an article called; "The Best Advice On Writing a First Novel: Don't."  

Bill posted a comment about the "give up" attitude  and&… Read full post »

There are dead people in the water he says in a hoarse whisper.
They horrify him. He won't drink water.  Can't I see them floating there?

But, it's okay to bathe in, you know, as long as you put bubble soap in the water the minute you start running the… Read full post »

If you saw a man with no legs in a wheelchair, you wouldn't push him out of the wheelchair and tell him to just freaking walk, would you? Of course not. Clearly, you see that he can not. Seeing is believing, as they say. And thus, the real problem with… Read full post »

I always know when he's thinking. He sits like Rodin's thinker, head in one hand. Lost in thought..

"What are you thinking, Dad?" I asked, sitting down in the high backed deck chair beside him.  It was getting dusky out.

He looked up at me with wide, round milky eyes.… Read full post »

I can see his bones poking through the back of his shirt as I watch him through the window. He knows I'll work a bit and come back. But sometimes, I pause to watch him as he sits there, enjoying the sun on his skin

It all started in March. Dad's in the hospital, com… Read full post »

If I keep my eyes straight ahead, I won't see it there,
haunting me from the corner of my eye.
 
The bits of straw under the table overflowing with food.
Tall twisty candles that made little eyes shine.
May I light the candles this year, Mama, may I?

Dad laughing, proudly bringing in… Read full post »

Corneille will never forget the night she left her aunt's house to fetch water and was attacked and raped. She'd crawled back to her aunt's house and said nothing, ashamed. She says her baby, named Joy, is the only brightness in her future. Corneille is only 13.

Some mothers get… Read full post »

He's gone, now, but he didn't even learn to talk until he was almost 4. Didn't do so well in school either.

12 weeks into the first grade, his teacher called his mother and told him… Read full post »

At precisely 5:21 a.m., 20 thousand men, women and children parted like the Red Sea to let the young man pass by.

Flanked by deputies and followed by a Catholic priest, Rainey Bethea passed through the crowd. He stopped at the base of the platform to pull on clean… Read full post »

There's been a lot of "belief" posts recently. Me - my questions are bigger than my beliefs.  One in particular.

I've been asking this question since I was a small child, and no one can answer me. I'm older than dirt now and I still haven't found the… Read full post »

Read full post »

Yesterday, I posted a piece called "Ego, Ethics & the OS cover. Rant Alert..."  Really great conversations in there.  And this gem...
 
(comment #61) BBE said:

"Have you ever considered that cuteboysmakemenervous and Joyce of the Hard Balls might be editors or Salon Staff writers go… Read full post »

 Thanks to Dorinda and Odetteroulette for inspiring this...

Last night, I read Dorinda's post "Writing and Ethics." She said she reminds students that "learning to write and communicate persuasively comes with ethical considerations."

Not a fan of debasing humor, I loved her post. But at t… Read full post »

Somyr Perry started it.  I found it through Skeptic Turtle. And then it took over recent posts. Mine was inspired by The Objectification of Men, by marytkelly, whose writing always inspires me.

“He doesn’t talk to me enough,” she said.
 “She d… Read full post »

I liked when the cover was full.  Yes, it was a special Halloween cover and there were so many good stories.  But beyond that, I always scroll all the way down to read the sidebars and see what's rated, what's new, etc.  And the last half of the trip down the… Read full post »

Kicking and screaming in terror, the girl was carried into the stadium. 1,000 onlookers watched as her hands and legs were forcefully bound.

When anguished family members broke from the crowd and ran towards her, the militia opened fire. A small boy was killed.

13 year old  Aisha Ibrahim… Read full post »

Dear Voter - may I suggest that if a color is going to decide your vote, perhaps that color should be green?

Because while you may not be able to see The Big Apple from your window - or from Alaska for that matter - the National Debt Clock in… Read full post »

Dear God;

I don't want to be a minority anymore.

Do you remember when I was a little girl, skipping down the sidewalk in my little maryjanes, curls bouncing on my shoulders and holding my pretty Mommy's hand? I remember Dad would look at Mommy and whistle, and she would tip… Read full post »

November 15, 1917. The guards beat Lucy Burns, chaining her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her there. Bleeding. Gasping for air.

Forty prison guards, with their warden's blessing, wielded clubs and fists on an angry rampage against 33 women.

They hurled Dora Lewis into… Read full post »