Longing for Fall (a poem)

The heat lays on my skin
Like damp gauze
I long for Fall
Even though Autumn
Will bring Kindergarten
For my firstborn

Truly, before the Fall arrives
The air will cool
The leaves will change
And the garden will ripen
The birds will fly South
Heedless of the Equinox

Ramblings, after a long absence.

I'm feeling rather like writing today, but with no particular goal in mind. I could work on the story I recently started reviving, but that's laying to sleep for a bit until more inspiration bites me in the ass. I could do some slush reading, but that's not writing, and therefore not what I'm in the mood to do.What I really want to do is find a sunny (dry) spot outside, and sit there, and write. Perhaps get a little sunburned, definitely get a little more freckle-covered.

I could work on a blog post about breastfeeding (for my other blog...) and I could give some thought to combining my three blogs into one. Or two. I don't really want to do that though. I could also start publishing my more essay-like posts over here in addition to the other blog. We'll see. I would like to keep this one as my creative endeavors blog, and keep it free of the detritus of day to day life.

I have found that getting adequate exercise helps my brain's creative side flourish a little more. There's something about running with music pounding in my ears that brings it about. I've been also using the Zombies,Run! app, which is lots of fun and I generate in-the-moment fan fiction in my head as I go, but don't bother to write it down when I get home. I should. It might at least be a good jumping off point. Maybe, now that my brain has purged a little of the bubbling-over words, I could focus my energies to work on my story.

I will leave you with a poem I wrote on my way home the other day (at a stoplight, lest you think I was texting while driving).

Traffic sucks
Stopping all the time
This is lame

Hey, there...want a free Kindle book?

I am a big fan of Mike Bennett and his work, and he has a number of short story collections available. One of them, Salvation and Other Stories, is currently available for *free* via the Amazon kindle store. This is only available for free for 3 days, so hop on over there and get it, read it, and rate it!

This collection includes "Night Crossing" which is the introduction to Mike's epic vampire saga Underwood and Flinch which is available as a free podcast through iTunes. I really, really love U&F and can't wait to buy it when it does come out in paper.

Brain Purge Friday

(Cue movie announcer voice)

In a world, where a Prince is the Antichrist...where men are men and women are women...where chickens rise up against their oppressors and text messaging has all but destroyed the English language...Can one small girl beat the odds and win her local spelling bee?

*******

Susie skipped slowly along the stream, silently supposing that slippery slime might be succulently supped upon with scaly snakes.

*******

Coffee is the ambrosia of the modern day gods. Gods of dreamland excepted, of course. They especially enjoy a new "Refreshers" beverage, the energy source of which is differentfromcaffeinewepromise.

*******

The muscle twitches. There are enough cells now that it can be called a muscle. Lymph flows, the organism grows, awaiting its destiny.

Fire

Lightning skewers the clouds, penetrating the dry fecundity of the earth. Flames seethe and dance as they flare outward and envelop a newly hatched life. Trees splinter and crackle as they crash to the ground. Sap simmers and sputters, smoke plumes overtake the once-blue sky. A sharp crack echoes as another home, another cache of memories, collapses under its own wounded weight. Rain is nothing to this awakened inferno. The young beast writhes and moans in ecstasy, snorting redundant sparks. The blackened forest weeps with the charred blood and flesh of the life it once hosted, and the dragonlet feasts.

Tacos

It all started at lunch today, when my hand caught the edge of my taco plate. Spicy meat juice splattered all over me, to the great amusement of witnesses. I smell like tacos now. No big deal, right? Yeah, well, I wasn’t counting on the rats. Apparently they have a thing for tacos. I’m not sure if they want to mate with them or eat them, but they’ve been following me all day. Skittering and squeaks behind my back, but as soon as I turn, they’re gone. Oh God. Is that a...NO! It’s a Rodent of Unusual Size! RUN!

With a Flapping of Wings

I can feel it here, inside, under my skin. It begins just beneath the muscles in my back, goose-flesh rippling against the bones. There’s a writhing along my vertebrae. Maggots. Terror solidifies there, trying to build, making my body an ill fit. It is trying to break through, but hasn't yet. I fight it. The sensation grows; I try to convince myself that it's just a feeling, crawling along the nerves of my spine like a repressed shudder between my shoulder blades. Phantom wings trapped beneath my skin, twitching and pulling. My skin crawls as I begin to doubt that this is just in my head. There is really something there, hiding along my bones and inside my muscles and my nerves. It spreads its arms and wings and legs and stretches luxuriantly. I feel something wrapping around my ribcage and creaking against my sternum. My stomach clenches and I want to vomit but do not feel nauseous. My heart can't decide whether to pound or to flutter. Tears prick my eyes and I cry out at the intensity of the horrid itching that has replaced the goose-flesh ripples inside. I feel the slithering of some plurality of limbs moving along my torso and my arms and legs, buds pushing out from the sides of my body, not yet bursting through.  The skin on my back stretches with painful sharpness and I experience a burning like childbirth as my back opens up.  My fingers seize and I watch in horrified awe as something sharp and black begins to protrude from each fingertip. The flesh rends and peels back, revealing scaly claws where smooth skin once lay. The scales seem to absorb light, yet they reflect, like oil, a diseased rainbow. Black. I feel new, supernumerary arms emerging from their buds on my sides, tearing through, flexing and seeking freedom from their cage of meat. The flesh of my face begins to stretch with the same sharpness as my spine. I feel sharp ridges emerge, splitting my skin, finally shedding my former flesh like a husk. I stretch my maw in an experimental yawn and tap my newly emerged talons against the ground, then leap skyward with a tremendous whoosh of my leathery wings. 



With a Flapping of Wings by Tena Kolakowski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.